
I crossed the Alps on a space hopper - camtarn
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/sep/14/i-crossed-alps-on-a-space-hopper-experience
======
notatoad
>Most people en route dismissed me as an English eccentric

that'll happen when you cross the alps on a space hopper, dressed in a tweed
suit and pith helmet at the height of summer.

~~~
ggm
The only word of concern is _dismissed_. He is of course an english eccentric,
but he shouldn't be dismissed for it.

~~~
fileeditview
The whole sentence was:

> Most people en route dismissed me as an English eccentric, > although many
> were politely intrigued. On one occasion, a > local man offered me a huge
> meal and homemade wine.

In this context I really don't think the word dismissed should be of concern.
Seems like many people treated him fine despite bouncing on a space hopper...

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paublyrne
The clause, "so on I bounced" sounds wonderfully meaningful somehow.

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foobarbecue
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kKeh7OYBh90](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kKeh7OYBh90)

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sulam
I’m so confused. Is he not treating his leukemia? The entire article acts like
this is a non-factor, which seems unlikely unless he’s simply decided a year
to live or whatever is enough for him.

~~~
jbg_
It doesn't seem relevant to the subject of the article, and it's private, so I
don't see why it should be detailed...

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tc_rat
I live in Steven's home town of Chichester and just realised from the article
photo that he's the same chap that can often be seen riding around town on his
trusty penny farthing in his tweed plus fours and pipe, doffing his cap and
saying 'good day' to all that stop to watch. Fantastic to see how easily he
mounts/dismounts the farthing!

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jmickey
I hoped to see that the author dealt more directly with the address problem.

Is there no way to set up free post boxes with a fixed address for those that
need them?

~~~
dpwm
> I hoped to see that the author dealt more directly with the address problem.

It's a hard problem, in part because you really need the state to address many
of the problems with assuming fixed address. Instead of recognising the
reality that people were people whether they had fixed address or not, the UK
parliament decided to simply ban vagrancy [0]. Aspects of the act are still in
force today.

> Is there no way to set up free post boxes with a fixed address for those
> that need them?

The currently governing party of the UK keeps parroting the line that "work is
the best way out out of poverty" whilst passing laws and fostering policies
that make that make life significantly harder for anybody homeless.

It's quite likely that the anti-"illegal"-immigration[1] "hostile environment"
policy would view giving addresses to homeless people without proving their
right to accommodation would result in the standard £10,000 fine per person
the home office claims isn't here legally.

If an address was simply about receiving letters, then there is the Poste
Restante service[2], which I only learnt of today. I suspect that few
employers would accept that address and homeless people often don't have the
proof of eligibility for work that they require.

What was once a universal healthcare system is actually no longer: In England,
General Practitioners are required to write to patients and remove them from
the register if they do not confirm receipt of the letter. This means being
homeless without an address means emergency-only care, at least according to
policy. [3]

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagrancy_Act_1824](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagrancy_Act_1824)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poste_restante#United_Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poste_restante#United_Kingdom)

[2] It actually affected a lot of people who were here legitimately.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windrush_scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windrush_scandal)

[3] There are actually out of hours services that will see you without a fixed
address. There may also be some local clinics that reach out to homeless
people, but this is not by any central policy and if certain newspapers
covered this appalling abuse of hard-working taxpayer's money being
potentially used for homeless illegal immigrants then it would be swiftly
dealt with.

~~~
okasaki
>What was once a universal healthcare system is actually no longer: In
England, General Practitioners are required to write to patients and remove
them from the register if they do not confirm receipt of the letter. This
means being homeless without an address means emergency-only care, at least
according to policy. [3]

I think you are misinformed

per
[https://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/doctors/Docum...](https://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/doctors/Documents/how-
to-register-with-a-gp-homeless.pdf)

Message to the GP Practice

Thank you for helping to register this patient. We hope the patient was able
to show you relevant documents. NHS Guidelines say ‘If a patient cannot
produce any supportive documentation but states that they reside within the
practice boundary then practices should accept the registration’.

Please be aware that a homeless patient cannot be refused registration on the
basis of where they reside because they are not in settled accommodation. For
safety reasons they may need to change the places where they sleep rough on a
daily basis. There is no regulatory requirement to prove identity, address,
immigration status or an NHS number in order to register as a patient and no
contractual requirement for GPs to request this.

Those who are homeless, vulnerably housed or ‘of no fixed abode’, asylum
seekers, refugees and overseas visitors, whether lawfully in the UK or not,
are eligible to register with a GP practice even if they have to pay for NHS
services outside of the GP practice. The patient MUST be registered on
application unless the practice has reasonable grounds to decline. GP
practices have limited grounds on which they can turn down an application and
these are;

if The commissioner has agreed that they can close their list to new patients.

The patient lives outside the practice boundary.

~~~
dpwm
> I think you are misinformed

It appears, according to that leaflet, that I was, and that central policy is
that people should be able to register without fixed address.

It does seem that at least one homelessness charity[0] has taken up a campaign
around this, so it may well be an implementation detail within individual GP
practices that leads to accounts such as:

> "Early in our frontline delivery, staff reported difficulties in supporting
> people to register with a GP." [0]

[0]
[https://www.homeless.org.uk/connect/features/2017/oct/06/hom...](https://www.homeless.org.uk/connect/features/2017/oct/06/homelessness-
and-healthcare-right-to-register)

------
bitwize
TIL what a space hopper really is. Danger Mouse has a spaceship by that name,
and I never got the joke, being American and all.

~~~
ggm
TIL americans forget toys they invented faster than danger mouse.

~~~
bitwize
We never used the term "space hopper" for that sort of ball. That is a British
coinage.

~~~
ggm
Odd. I am sure the one I had came direct from the USA and was called exactly
that.

~~~
ggm
TIL. So "hoppity hop" it is. Oh, the innocent joys of the sixties and
seventies. we got boffing sticks from the US and silly string. I think the
boffing sticks lasted longest.

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keithpeter
[https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/modern-day-
pilg...](https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/modern-day-pilgrim-
steven-payne-48450/)

I found the pilgrimage alluded to in the article quite interesting. I hope
this chap recovers.

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tomcooks
> I researched routes and found one that seemed feasible – 76 miles between
> Bardonecchia in Italy and Grenoble in France.

Migrants from Africa use that route to die while trying to cross the border,
while he hops through it wearing a pith helmet.

That's so British I just shat a colony and a crate of spices.

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tomxor
> I’m trying to choose between cycling across the Channel and something
> involving a penny farthing and a suit of armour.

I can't wait :)

