Page 110 - Prime Time 1-5 Leaflet

Vocabulary & Reading
1 a) These words appear
in the text. What can the
text be about?
• busiest airport
• passengers waiting
• delayed flights
• departure hall
• passport and ticket
• leave the terminal
• permanent residents
• wheeling suitcases
• business trip
• loud announcements
• bustling passengers
• security staff
• cold bus terminal
• escape from debts
• legal problems
b) Listen, read and check.
f 1 A home from home
A s dusk approaches at Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport quietens down for
the night. Night cleaners begin their shifts and passengers waiting for
delayed flights curl up on benches in the departure hall. One woman, EramDar, has
found a cosy spot on the floor next to a vending machine. There is nothing to
distinguish her from the waiting passengers around her, except that she has no
passport and ticket and is in no hurry to leave the terminal. For well over a year now,
it has been her home and she isn’t the only one. Eram is one of well over 100 people
who live permanently at Heathrow airport.
Most people would have difficulty in telling these permanent residents of
Heathrow apart from the thousands of travellers that pass through the
terminals each day. Wheeling suitcases full of their only belongings, they dress
in Hawaiian-style holiday shirts or even business suits in order to give the
impression that they are on a business trip or flying to a sunny destination.
Eram, a middle-aged ex-law student who became homeless after she could
no longer pay her rent, actually considers herself fortunate to live in Heathrow.
She says, “I liked it here immediately. I have never felt lonely because there are
so many people. I don’t mix much with the other homeless, although they are of
all ages and from every walk of life. We all recognise each other, but I just like to
keep to myself.” There are showers in every terminal where Eram can stay clean
and presentable. She can sometimes help herself to food passing by the
caterers, and while away her time reading magazines and newspapers left
behind by passengers.
It’s difficult not to suspect that Eram is just putting on a brave face. It’s hard to
believe she’s truly satisfied with this way of life. Once a week, she travels to
London to pick up a cheque for £60 from a charity. “The cash goes nowhere,”
she says. “Buying food at the airport is expensive. I don’t eat anything at
breakfast because, if I do, it makes me feel more hungry.“ Living in Heathrow
isn’t easy for Eram. Besides being awakened by the jangle of coins as a
passenger buys something from the machine, loud announcements and
bustling passengers, she has to engage in a full-time cat-and-mouse game
with the police and security staff. It’s illegal to sleep at Heathrow unless you
have a flight to catch, so along with the rest of Heathrow’s homeless
population, Eram has to wash and change her clothes every morning in order
to not stand out from the crowd and be detected. If she is, she faces a night in
the cold bus terminal or worse, being thrown out into the rain. “The builders
who work overnight at the airport are very kind and don’t report the homeless
to the authorities,” she says. “The cleaners turn a blind eye too.”
Night workers aren’t the only ones trying to help this unusual group of people.
Broadway, a homeless charity, visits the airport weekly to offer the airport’s
homeless temporary accommodation, help to get travel documents for migrant
workers and attempt to reconnect people with their families. But, as a Broadway
worker points out, “Homelessness is a way of life. It can be very difficult to convince
people to receive help.” Like the passengers escaping to sunny holiday
destinations, many of Heathrow’s homeless are also in search of escape from
debts, legal problems or family responsibilities.
The saddest fact is that unless they are arrested or fall ill, many of
Heathrow’s homeless will stay there for the foreseeable future. “I don’t really
see a different future,” Eram Dar admits. “In fact, I could be living at Heathrow
forever.”
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vending machine, permanently,
give the impression, presentable,
awakened, jangle, engage in, detect,
migrant workers, foreseeable future
Check these words
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