Top Deck

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For More Than two decades after his asylum application was rejected, Sunny found a safe Harbor to Board the buses That zigzag over London at night. What is it like to spend every night on the lower decks?

Sunny waits patiently for the wind to penetrate his worn-out jacket, and the winter cold biting at his extremities.

It is after midnight, and his legs are tired, but he stands and smiles as the bus crashes to a halt, his wing mirror clipping overgrown branches on his way. He moved to leave aside other Passengers to rise, to greet the familiar face of The Driver with a gentle bow of The Head and taps on his weathered Oyster Card on the payment point.

Relieved, in the search for the preferred location at the rear of the lower deck is empty, it moves in and gets comfortable for the long journey. Sunny hugs his bag to his stomach, feels his wrinkled hands begin to thaw, and closes his Eyes .

Sunny's travel-card-holder-quotes Jesus: "peace I leave with you; My Own peace I give you, A peace The World cannot give. "Leaves behind the scent of Fried Chicken and the noise of the London late-night traffic, his Mind drifts.

He sees his younger self, kneeling in prayer between the concrete walls of the Nigerian prison waiting to be executed. His crime: fighting for democracy.

A guard barges into the cell, stands him on his feet and rushes him down silent corridors, out into the blinding light of the sun, where a car was waiting.

family and friends purchased his freedom, paying everyone from The Prison officials, the air-hostess on The Flight to London.

Sunny shrugged back in The Present , as a throng of drunken Men , singing tunelessly, walk through The Doors and up to the upper deck. There will be three or four o'clock in The Morning , he calculated - the usual hour for the effort.

Around This Time , Sunny is often evidence of three different groups around him. It is a nice survey of modern London. There are those who came to This Country for a better life, rushing to their pre-Dawn cleaning jobs. Another group of People - mostly indigenous British Heads home from The Night clubs, talking loudly and cramming down Fast Food . And finally, the homeless, those who go Nowhere Else as yet, for the buses, a place to rest.

Sunny to enjoy against the other; he has learned, their boisterousness. If you smile, he smiles. If you laugh, he laughs also. It is amazing how a few pints can evaporate, class limits, Stripping reserved for the English of your inhibitions, so That it corresponds to the chat with the homeless as a temporary.

Sunny tried to remember The Last time he felt so happy, as these drunken Men .

Sunny tells his story as part of a documentary photography project, Maybe it was, if his asylum application is still under review. At the time, he was full of gratitude for his Second Chance in life. He took a course in documentary film-making, the choice to a report on the lives of London's homeless, pre never making, he would soon be in their shoes

Sunny had dared to hope for a bright future, secure under the protection of Her Majesty The Queen - the flagship of familiar, sun-faded colonial posters in the whole of Nigeria. However, his application for asylum was rejected.

That left him with two options: home go to a country where his Death Sentence would finally be carried out, or to go underground.

It wasn't a hard choice.

And so began 21 years as a nomad on the London Buses , the Sunny quickly realized a safer and warmer than The Streets .

It was a pastor, a woman of unwavering generosity, The First to buy him a monthly pass to save him several overnight rates. You if you continued to do so, month-to-month, and other friends-chip.

Sunny days, volunteer at The Churches he would visit, and several during his time in London. When his work was done, he would often head to the Westminster Reference Library, where he was able to catch up on the news of The Day or pick up where he had left off, in the book he had read.

He could then ask a restaurant manager if you could possibly spare something to eat, and says he was only dismissed in rare.

Sunny's photos give a homeless perspective on The World , But not later than 9 o'clock, he would be inevitably aboard a bus for The First three, Maybe four-night journeys across the capital.

He soon discovered, The Best coaches, the for a good rest. It is the faithful, N29 from Trafalgar Square to the Northern suburb of Wood Green . But the 25 - delivery 24 Hours - offered the longest uninterrupted sleep. In traffic, it would last for two Hours , to London in Ilford in Essex, where he is - if he's really Lucky a driver could pity and let him sleep on Board at the Terminus.

it is more likely That the homeless Passengers - Maybe four or five of them would be woken up and turfed until the next driver arrived.

Most of them were poor women, or British or Africans, which the bus as a sanctuary from The Threat of sexual assault. Loaded with pockets, you would be thankful for Sunny's help, they dragged up and down with the bus.

Sunny has always been light. A small pocket allows to avoid him, the stigma of homelessness in the light of day.

Some of the homeless folk would stretch out on the seats, but he preferred not to inconvenience other drivers.

It took me a while to learn all the tricks. At First , he thought it had, where you are sitting. But then he found himself in a confrontation with two Men who had tried before to set light to the hair of an unsuspecting woman. He chased her, but determined to avoid conflict, where possible.

The lower deck, he decided to keep the reasonable People , families and older People . Difficulties broke out, So Close to The Driver . The rear seats were not optimal, not only for the headrest, but for peace of Mind .

But again and again there was a distraction: the lurching bus, the neon lights, the loud night-The Driver and the engine hum. Two Hours proper sleep a whole night was a success.

In the twilight, or when he got hungry, whichever came First - he would head to a McDonalds.

He has never begged, but friendly staff at the Leicester Square branch would give him food and let him shave in the bathroom. Other customer-friendly can be, too.

Or, if he timed it right, he might route you off at the 24-hour store in Haringey - half way along the N29. There, he was a peace That was rare in the Central London branches, resting his head on a table and continue his slumber.

For a handful of Christmas, the Sunny his routine broke and tried to the winter night shelters provided by churches.

Seven different churches working rota. But you can create were scattered in different places in the capital, a daily exodus of People , the "walking dead", in his words, your next bed trying to reach before the evening curfew.

Sunny came to the realization That he preferred the bus, to lie on stone floors, Packed shoulder-to-shoulder. It was hard to sleep through the smell of tobacco, alcohol, and unwashed bodies. And, of course, the screams of the other, as you lay there, tormented by nightmares.

From the seats of London Buses , Sunny, watching the changing face of the capital. Slowly, the white population, the proportion of the total amount decreased. The ranks of the homeless expanded.

In this the various rooms, he was sent to a. in matching faces or dialects to places of origin And he developed a sixth sense for problems, the gestures, the detection of signs: the grin of trouble-making teens, pursing the lips of an explosive racially.

There are combinations That could be created were members, in the confrontation: drunk football fans, and a Veiled Woman , tired commuters and People with hands-free devices; gang and their local rivals. In the months after the Brexit referendum in 2016 hostility to migrants seemed to be more on the agenda. "Go Back Home ", was regularly omitted.

Sunny has not it is the fault of The British government for his predicament. Had not been to his own country so bad, he wouldn't have been here in the First Place .

Eventually, the refugee centre at the Notre Dame de France Church, Leicester Square , which made an application to remain in his name. If the People prove, you can constantly lived in the UK for 20 years, you qualify to settle. But Sunny had spent, to avoid the time, all of the records, the evasion of detection. How could he show he had it the whole time?

"I understand That your client is currently homeless, but we still need documentary evidence to show continuous residence from 1995 to today-date", says a letter from the Home Office . "Evidence such as invoices, account statements, rental agreements..."

Sunny, asked the friendly bus-to write The Driver a letter of support to him. It is committed, the confirmation That he was "a regular rider in The Night ".

homelessness in the uk, homelessness, bus travel, churches, long reads

Source of news: bbc.com