Another day, a whole lot more junkie activity!

I was discussing the drug-dealing in my neighbourhood on another forum recently, and it provoked an interesting reponse. I see it going on just about every day, and I joked about starting a blog...

My position in that discussion was that use and dealing in Class A drugs is known to the police, and yet they seem unable to control it. I expect it is an issue of resources, but still, it exists, and so despite being illegal it is essentially to an extent tolerated.

Some people questioned how I am able to recognise that a person is a junkie (which for the purposes of this blog I am categorising as a user/dealer in heroine or crack), or claimed that I could not, and that the people I describe might have Alzheimers disease, have suffered a stroke, or have psychological problems. This is probably a topic for future debate, but for the time being please accept that I can spot them, and usually instantly.

I have lived in the area a long time, know the people, and have scores of stories of junkie activity, but as this is a new blog, I will start as of today. As I said, I see this activity just about every day I go out (I work from home), and today was no exception.
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This morning I was heading out for a walk in Hyde Park, when two junkies that I recognise passed me by. As I had time to spare (and mulling over the idea of starting this blog), I decided to follow them. The two are quite well known to me, I'd put them in the 'pretty far gone/far gone' category.

The first one is caucasian, probably early 30's, circa 6'-6'2", and has black unkempt straight hair - basically sticking out in all directions, slightly receding at the front. He has a long thin face and long nose to match, and has a rather haunted or startled look. I'll refer to him as 'Sta' in future, not to demean him, but just so that I can remember who is who... He was wearing pretty scruffy clothes, and carrying an aluminium crutch, although not using it. For some reason the crutch is something you see quite often with junkies. I've heard various ideas, they're injecting in the veins in their thighs (the veins in their arms and hands being shot to pieces), and it leads to complications that leads to difficulty walking. And secondly, that dealers carry a crutch and keep their stash in it. I don't know, but if you see someone who looks like a homeless person, carrying a crutch and not really using it, I'd say odds on they are a junkie. I've seen Sta around for the past year or so, he is probably too messed up to walk into a shop without being challenged, 'pretty far gone'.

The second guy has only appeared in recent weeks. He is caucasian, maybe 5'8", with dirty blonde hair in a pony tail, and a black and yellow head band. This guy has a really messed up face, it has clearly been kicked in severely a few times. So determining his age is not so easy, but again I'd imagine somewhere around 30, given the ravages of the junkies habits. He is usually sighted holding a can of cider, and perhaps as a result is frequently drunk. In any case, as he walks he weaves, and as he stands he dodders. I'll refer to him as 'Dod'. This guy probably wouldn't make into a shop full stop, he is definitely 'far gone'. The 'shop' measure is notable, because the local junkies are all shoplifters, if they can get away with it.

So these two guys pass me on Porchester Road, W2. I thought I'd follow them for a minute or two, to see where they were headed, but then it got interesting.

They crossed the road opposite the church by the rail bridge, and hooked up with a third guy.

This guy is Middle Eastern (Morroccan) in appearance, maybe 5'8", late 20's/early 30's (never easy to tell with junkies), short dark loosely curly hair. He walks with a slight limp and has a hooked nose. Today he was quite scruffily dressed, but he is usually smarter. This guy has been around years, he was the first junkie that I mentally registered. I see him just about every day up to something, either shoplifting or heading off with other junkies somewhere or other. He is also known to the police (another story), which is not surprising, as I expect he is responsible for a good proportion of the shoplifting and purse theft in W2/W11. He is an alert guy, and bright eyed. He is a dealer (see below), but probably a user too who is not yet raddled. I've seen him trying to get into shops, he doesn't necessarily visibly look like a junkie, though his behaviour patterns do, but he is just too well known, and security are usually right onto him once he has a foot through the door. I'll refer to him as Ali.

So Ali, Sta and Dod are now heading off down Westbourne Park Villas. You can usually tell when something is up with these guys because they are in a hell of a rush. They were today, Ali leading the other two. Why would what most people perceive as simply a homeless person, or a group of them, be in such a rush to get anywhere? What do they have to rush for? Well with junkies it is usually because they are about to go and get their next fix. This is one of the easiest ways to spot them, mismatched behaviour, people behaving contrary to what you would expect them to be doing given their situation.

Westbourne Park Road, St. Stephen's Gardens, Shrewsbury Road, where I almost lost them they were going so fast, Talbot Road, Colville Terrace, the basement flat of 29 Colville Terrace to be precise. I did a loop around, and noticed that the front basement flat window had been broken into and was boarded up. The two sides of the bay window had bars in place. Perhaps the owner had removed the bars from the front window, anyway the sad fact is that the flat is now squatted, and the occupants are probably dealers and user/prostitutes. This place will now be attracting every junkie from the borough, 24 hours a day - party time. If you live in the area consider your home security, you'll have junkies wondering around trying to steal anything that is not nailed down. I also note that someone has crudely pencilled arrows and '29' on the two pillars at the street entrance. This is another give away, as whacked as the occupants might be, they realise that if the local junkies are knocking on doors at #28 and #30 all hours of the day and night, they are much more likely to get police attention and raided...

A minute later a police van cruised by. I'd have stopped them but they probably already know what is going on there.

So, on for a lovely walk in Hyde Park...

On my way home heading down Queensway, I ran into all three 'usual suspects' again. Firstly Sta was sitting outside the HSBC, looking very forlorn. He had his hands in the prayer position and was looking at the pavement. Westminster Council report that 80% of street beggars test positive for hard drug use, and discourage people from giving to them (they ran a campaign last Christmas 'Don't kill with kindness'). For some reason he was wearing a pair of black woollen gloves. Either he was feeling the cold, or perhaps trying to hide needle tracks in the veins on his hands.

Continuing down Queensway 50 yards and there is Ali, he seems to be really to and fro. He does a 180, and stops at the junction of Inverness Place, looks around the corner, another 180, back down Queensway towards Whiteleys, gets to Boots (always a favourite for their shoplifting) does a 180 before the Post Office, walks back and into Porchester Gardens (with all this to and fro I thought that he had clocked me), reappears a minute later and continues back down Queensway. He passes Dod who is standing outside the Post Office, doddering around as usual, imploring passers by for money. Ali doesn't stop but they exchange a quick word or two, and Ali is back on his way.

Ali finishes up in a telephone box on Bishopsbridge Road outside Pizza Express, and now its time for me to go...