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The strangest thing for me about The Centrepoint Sleep Out was sleeping so close to so many other people

MyBed

We lay on cardboard sheets to soften the paving stones beneath us. Above us was a canopy roof to keep off the rain.

TheRoof

We needed it. In the brief period between the last late-night talkers nodding off and the first early-morning ones waking, I opened my eyes and listened.

TheView

The wind grappled with the roof, making it ripple and crack like sails on a stormy sea. Rain smashed down like hammers. Behind these sounds the snores and grumbles of the three hundred dreamers all around me were a constant, ghostly moan.

I felt like Samuel Taylor Coleridge‘s Ancient Mariner. When I got home this morning I reread it, in the Dover edition with the gorgeous artwork by Gustave Dore.

TheMariner

It was even more thrilling and wonderful than I remembered.

Me

With thanks to all my friends and family who sponsored me so generously,

Sam

On 6th November I’ll be spending a night outside – getting a small taste of what it’s like, here in London, to try to sleep in the open.

sleepout_overview

It’s to raise money for Centrepoint, a charity that helps homeless young people. You can find out more about the Sleep Out here. If you’d like to sponsor me – and I would very much appreciate it – you can do that here.

This work of festive genius is Santa Cthulhu, by Amy L. Rawson and Brian East:

SantaCthulhu

I saw it on Laughing Squid – click here for a closer look. And if this is the first time you’ve met Cthulhu here’s a fine way to find out more.

Happy Holidays to all readers, and power to your tentacles for 2013.

Sam