I was sent this email by Sian, from way back….
It would seem that I’m maybe ‘revisiting’ my ‘vagrant look’ then..

Russ,
How you do’in ???
I’m sure that we reminisced about the time you were on the Welsh news being interviewed about something or other, you were a student then of course, and you looked liked a tramp. I think you had a rain coat on and a bottle in a bag…I remember it causing great hilarity at the time.
I hope that the people that approach you aren’t too intimidating, maybe carry some MACE spray …I did get muddled though are you being mistaken for a hobo or accosted by them…maybe both??

It sounds so wonderful where you are….NOT!! So far:

Inclement, in fact inconsiderate weather
Weird TV ads
Unsafe pavements
Hobos
Crap food joints..

Sian

In fact, I was on my lunch break from the building site I was ‘labouring’ on, in my Uni holidays ( wasn’t the sort that might get a job in the library, me ) and for sure, most tramps in Cardiff would have looked smarter than I did.
And had a better diet.

Pretty much every relative I had saw me on the telly, on the Welsh news, in the piece about the increasing problem of the number of homeless on the streets of the capital city.
The film makers knew I wasn’t homeless, but as I had all the trappings of a tramp, they took loads of footage of me!

See, don’t believe EVERYTHING you see on the TV !