News

Quaker Homeless Action (2nd of April 2008)

One of the questions I occasionally get asked is "What would you put on a list of things to do before you die?" (See the interview in About Me for answers). Like everyone, I do have a vague list of things I've always wanted to do, and the other day I actually got to do one of them.

I've started volunteering with Quaker Homeless Action on their mobile library for homeless people. It was my first shift and I'd been told that I could meet them either at the street where the van was parked or the homeless shelter they were visiting. I duly turned up at the street, only to find it full of anonymous white vans, none of which looked particularly library-ish.

I wandered hopefully up and down for a quarter an hour or so, but when none of the vans grew lights and Quakers and drove off, I decided to give up and get a taxi to the homeless shelter. Sitting happily and warmly inside, we drove across Waterloo Bridge and under The Strand underpass. As we came out of the underpass, I noticed the van in front of us - with QUAKER HOMELESS ACTION, MOBILE LIBRARY stencilled across it in big capital letters.

I leant forward.

"This is going to sound really stupid," I said to the taxi driver. "But follow that van!"

I've wanted to do that for years.