A FRONT-line street charity is no respecter of birthdays. Sam Lloyd's 31st began at dawn and he spent the first two hours of his shift shining torches into the darker recesses of damp central Nottingham.
Yesterday morning's fractured chats with five known rough sleepers made for a mixed start to the day. An inconclusive exchange in Mansfield Road was followed by a frustrating one at a Lister Gate bench.
However, there was to be a birthday result for Sam – and a small victory for his employer, Nottingham-based homelessness charity Framework.
But that would come later.
Little John boomed six times as I met Sam, Framework's street outreach team leader, and his colleague Kieran Frost, 41, at the Council House steps.
"Our primary goal is to get people off the streets but we also help the city council establish who is sleeping rough and who is not," explains Sam.
"Everyone who is homeless needs help but rough sleeping is the most extreme form of homelessness – it can be dangerous, and that is our priority."
So what exactly is a "rough sleeper"? The Department for Communities and Local Government expanded the definition in 2010 to include not only those who are sleeping in the open or bedding down for sleep, but also those who are "about to bed down, sitting or standing near their bedding but not actually lying down".
How many are there in Nottingham? The unofficial figure this year is nine, down on the previous year's ten or 11. It's not guesswork.
Framework patrols every day and makes daily reports to the city council.
Nor is this a soup-and-sympathy operation. There is a strategy for every one of those nine men to get them off the streets.
It's not easy. Many rough sleepers take poor mental health or chronic addiction problems on to the streets. More may develop those problems while destitute, along with other hygiene and health issues. Some develop a resistance to offers of help.
From Old Market Square, Sam and Kieran walk briskly to Milton Street. There are no sleepers in the alleys to the west of the Victoria Centre but there are in the doorway of York House.
A head protrudes from a double-sized duvet – luxury equipment and highly prized as long as it can be kept dry.
It is Eddie, in his late forties. He is known to the Framework team. The duvet moves and a second head emerges. It is Mike, early fifties, who has a complex relationship with Eddie and depends on him.
Sam and Kieran ask how they are and during the conversation a third voice is heard from under the duvet. It is their pal, Richard.
Annoyingly, Richard has a place at the London Road hostel but hadn't used it. It meant a bed was denied to someone who needed it.
From Mansfield Road the Framework duo checked out the St Peter's Church area. St Peter's has a record for helping the homeless and the nearby 24-hour McDonald's offers the prospect of scraps of food and or coins from customers.
No one has bedded down in the area but in Listergate the bench outside Greggs has been occupied overnight by Vic.
Sam and Kieran have a quiet word. It's hard work. Vic, from Derby, has a history of drug abuse, antisocial behaviour and conflict with authority. He is also in poor shape, with problems including open ulcers. He says he does not want help.
"But it's not OK to let him live like this," says Sam. "That's the challenge we face."
Next stop is Broadmarsh Bus Station.
Then a tour of the Lace Market draws a blank and we head eastwards. Rush hour is starting and daylight creeps over the Sneinton skyline.
We walk across the mist-shrouded wasteland north of City Link and Sam explains that he and Kieran would like privacy for their last visit. They have been chipping away at Garry, who has been roughing it in Sneinton. There is a good chance they can reclaim him from the streets – but they don't want any distractions.
They leave us with the thought that time is vital when it comes to stopping a short-term expedient becoming an unhealthy and life-shortening way of life.
"It can take only three days for someone to get entrenched in rough sleeping," explains Sam, a Nottingham Trent University graduate who leads a team of 14.
"If we miss that opportunity, you'll end up with some of the people we've seen this morning. Those people have become entrenched and 'comfortable'. Our job is to challenge that, because if we don't, they will die young."
Later yesterday morning we received an e-mail from Framework.
"Just heard from Sam that the meeting with the chap in Sneinton was a success," the e-mail read. "They had a cup of tea with him and are taking him to London Road. A good ending!"
