Rough Sleeping

roni

roni

... since we had the subject at another thread and some people were asking:
HERE are some of the places we slept on our hichhiking-tours.

The said sleeping places on England-Tour 1993 (and maybe others after 1990) may take some time, since they're only on dia-positives by now, not paper-prints and I can't scan those.

So how about YOUR rough-sleeping experiences?
 
Mark73

Mark73

Respect! I had a look at the pictures and those places were pretty rough for a night's rest. Did you wear knifes or anything for self defense? I mean, you look very young on those pictures...fresh meat for monsters...
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
On a Reggae tour of Tunisia we slept in a five star hotel in Tunis for three or four days, but once we left the city, we often spent the next month or so sleeping on cold ground (with rock stone as a pillow, as Bob Marley said). What a great fucking trip that was.

On the punk rock tours we slept often in the van, and on a couple occasions, on the very gob and duct tape covered stages we played on a few hours earlier. I think that qualifies as rough, even though we had a roof over our heads.
 
Gerard K H Love

Gerard K H Love

Appreciate your friends
In the evasion portion of survival training I slept amidst some 3 ft ( 1 meter) bushes at the foot of some giant cedars trees in the forest of Washington state. I still find the thought of that very relaxing.
In 1970 while coming down from acid I tried to sleep with rocks for pillows, I wasn't a real Reggae guy so, No sleep.
 
roni

roni

yeah. those experiences sure "qualify" as 'rough'. And I love to hear about it and will love to see pics!
They sure belong here.
But:
[I'm not sure now anymore though, but] I thought there is a term (or idiom) called 'rough sleeping' which doesn't necessarily mean, that the experience itself was 'rough'. (In cases of our hichhiking-tours it seldom was, as it was self-chosen and you could 'go home' any time and most of the times you find a nice place anyway.)

I thought 'rough sleeping' as a term meant:
Looking for a free place to sleep - somewhere - basically. Mostly this wouldbe outdoors but not necessarily. You know, like any bum in a city looks out for the best place to lay his head.

For example, this doesn't necessarily include the lack of a roof. On the contrary: the very first night of our very first tour in August 1986 we slept just 'somewhere', which meant, the other morning everything was wet of dew. That lead us to thinking: What if it had rained? We'd spend two days at one place trying to dry our whole belongings. So right after that we decided to never again sleep without a roof above (or at least: in sight).

That's what I meant with 'pro' in the other thread: have you ever seen a bum, who still had all his senses together, sleeping in danger of getting wet?

So, sleeping on a stage or in a prison sure appeares to be 'ROUGH' - Hell yeah! - but is it 'rough sleeping'? or did I get that term just wrong?


Whatsoever: please feel encouraged to post ANY 'unusual' sleeping-experience! This will be fun!
 
roni

roni

We did have knifes - to slice our bread.

Well, there were certain places, we slept - none of them in these pics - where we put these knifes right to our sides. But to be honest: A weapon only helps if you really know how to handle it - so this was more for our own well-feeling than for the purpose of self-defense.

Usually the places to sleep were either very public (as Gare-du-Nord) where you could've been robbed if you were careless, but surely not murdered - or they were very hidden in solitude and shadows, where you'd barely be seen by a passer-by.

What we always Did have right next to us, was a torch. (and a routine to be able to open our sleeping-bags FAST - that's what counts.)
Usually a person (no matter what he/she intended) wouldn't suspect you to be awake and suddenly react, so the simple act of turning up and lighting a torch into someone's face could give you the deciding advantage. At least that's what we thought. At a place like Gare-du-Nord, of course, you don't need a torch. What you needed there was the sense to hide your important belongings in a locker through the night.
 
Ambreen

Ambreen

Sordide Sentimental
roni said:
But to be honest: A weapon only helps if you really know how to handle it - so this was more for our own well-feeling than for the purpose of self-defense.
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Indeed. And sometimes when you're face to face with a danger, fear just petrifies you so much that there's nothing to it, whether you have a weapon or not, whether you can handle it or not.

roni said:
Usually the places to sleep were either very public (as Gare-du-Nord) where you could've been robbed if you were careless, but surely not murdered -
Click to expand...
Times have unfortunately changed.

I only distinguish young men on the photos. Was it a typically masculine way of travelling ?
 
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james

james

roni,
regarding "rough sleeping", i don't think that term is used here in america. i do understand what you're saying though. i thought the thread was about sleeping in rough places! yea, either way it seems this thread is the right place...
 
roni

roni

james said:
... "rough sleeping", i don't think that term is used here in america.
i do understand what you're saying ...
Click to expand...

it's good you understand.

I seem to remember, I've heared that term first, somewhere in the late 80s in Great Britain, re hich-hiking through Europe different ways (depending on budget), one of which was 'rough sleeping'.

So, this might be a term in 'British English'?
What have hs or Blessed O to say about that?

Ambreen said:
... Was it a typically masculine way of travelling ?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say so.
Well, yes, hitchhiking seemed to be a man's way-of-travelling then. Let's say, I've met about 10% female hichhikers on the road. But I have met them! They were there!

In the 80s it was quite common to travel cheap by train through Europe: there was a special ticket-offer for that, named 'Inter-Rail', so a great lot of girls was travelling Europe then too. (since the danger of hitchhiking wasn't there)

As I said before, the huge amount of train-travelling-kids in Europe during the late 80s was a benefit for us hichhikers too. Times have changed a lot in the 90s. A Lot.
We never were sure, whether that came from us getting older or the times changing. But definitely you don't see any 'train-travellers' at the stations anymore.
 
hank solo

hank solo

Just practicin' steps and keepin' outta the fights
Moderator
Founding member
Sleeping rough is certainly a British English term for sleeping outside.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
roni said:
I thought 'rough sleeping' meant...looking for a place to sleep...outdoors
Click to expand...
Yes, that's what it means.

But "post a picture of yourself from 1987" also means post a picture from that very year, so I thought we were blurring the lines everywhere around here... ;)
 
roni

roni

yes. That's what I said in post #7.
I only wanted to reassure myself, that I, as non native-speaker, got the term right.
 
Lolita Twist

Lolita Twist

Rose-hustler
I have insomnia and can just never sleep. Simple as. Haha. Though a particular rough sleeping experience that comes to mind is when I was a kid... I was about 6 and my grandparents on my father's side took me on vacation miles away from home for about a week and wouldn't let me call my mother or anything. They got so aggrivated with my crying that they locked me in our hotel room for I don't know how long. I didn't sleep well on that trip. And didn't speak to them for a while after that.
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
Nice pics, Roni! You seem to be an experienced Inter-Rail'er. The only rough sleeping I've done was a night in jail. Nowadays, I consider everything below a three-star hotel being rough sleeping...:D
 
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homeless mind

homeless mind

I can't wait to go camping tomorrow at St. Pete beach. Electricity. Gas grills. And mattresses that blow up (see electricity).

It makes me pine for the days when I used to go to "Golden Pond." Where they filmed, "On Golden Pond." Squam Lakes. Henry Fonda's last performance. Damn fine, if I may.

I love New Hampshire, and hope to one day live there. Which may mean %#$@ to everyone here.

Live free or die.

BTW: Not far from where Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Throreau lived; nice.

Pax
 
roni

roni

Bukfan said:
[...] Roni! You seem to be an experienced Inter-Rail'er. [...]
Click to expand...

Hey Bukfan!
This is an affront!
;-))
As I said, we were Hitchhiking, Not interrailing !

To all you youngsters or foreigners:
'INTERRAIL' used to be a cheap ticket for people up to 26 to travel BY TRAIN inside Europe, back in the 80s.

It's true, that these kids made it possible to us, to sleep at certain stations. But still, it's a way different way of travelling.


So now, I'm really really mad at you for this insult!
You'll Never again get some 'regular' (hehe) blowjob from me!
(noooo, baby! - justajoke!
- but I HAD to make this clear...)
 
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Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
Boo-hoo, I'm so sorry Roni! I should've said hitchhiker. Of course, you're not one of those luxury animals who used Interrail. You're the real deal, the good old fashioned hitchhiker.
Can I get my regular blow jobs back now? :p
 
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Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
Thanks, Roni! You're a true gentleman...:D
 
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Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
I couldn't agree more, Lolita! A well done blow job is the hallmark of a true lady. :)
 
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Lolita Twist

Lolita Twist

Rose-hustler
Agreed! Like cigarettes: One when you wake up, before you eat, afterwards, and anywhere in between if you want one. :D
 
Lolita Twist

Lolita Twist

Rose-hustler
I was just explaining how Mick Jagger was a bisexual and Andy Warhol gave him a hard-on and they used it for a limited-edition album cover :p:
 
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