I don’t remember anything else but waking up in the alcohol unit at the local hospital feeling very ill with awful pain in my throat and chest. Yes, my stomach had been pumped out…again.
"Not you again ROB!" Tom had said annoyingly. I could tell Tom had had enough of my visits and this time was going to do something about it.
" No more drink Rob, how many times, you cant live this way anymore" I clearly remember him saying. At the time I didn’t agree with any of this but in hindsight he was totally right, although I was young and foolish at the time.
Tom tried his very best to help me by giving social services a call, who came and spoke to me about my alcohol addiction and accommodation. They said they would help move me out of the "rough area of Birmingham". I bluntly refused saying things like "I'm fine" and "I don’t need any help", when quite plainly I did!
Pause
A few days later a got a job in a local café. I was on three pound fifty an hour as well, which of course all went on booze.
As I didn't know many people I often felt depressed and very lonely. The only thing that kept me going was that one day things would be different, things would change. How lucky I turned out to be….
Pause
I lost the job in the café, due to not turning up in the mornings, on several occasions, due to hangovers. Life wasn’t good, I just couldn’t help myself drinking, I just couldn’t stop. As I had no money to buy the drink with I went a few days without it. I became very ill, and had no money to even get some medicine or pills. I tried committing suicide several times, although thankfully unsuccessfully, and was found by this oldish woman, about sixty or so, lying on a park bench dying.
Oli Lee 4P
She took me by the hand saying "I'll help you son", and I gratefully followed her. We walked back to her car (which I immediately thought of stealing, but I couldn’t drive) and got in. As left the park, back to her house I thought that I should give her a chance and not steal anything and see where it got me.
When we did eventually get back to her house Madge, which I later found out was her name and was married to Pete who was at the time out on business, quickly got me inside and fed me. "Come on eat this", she said encouragingly, offering me a roast dinner. I accepted and ate it all very quickly. It was the nicest meal I have ever tasted and still remember it to this day. I had some medicine to help my desperation for alcohol which I had mentioned to her and then had a bath and went to bed.
Pause
I clearly remember waking up to the large silhouette of a man leaning over the bed staring at me.
"Hello son", he had said. "Madge has told me all about you. Says she's seen you regularly in the park looking for food and shelter. Says you might need help?"
I said nothing. Who did he think he was, how did they "know" me? How does HE know I need help? I kept all these thoughts to myself though which proved a very good decision. My gut reaction was to steal what I could and get out of there, but they had taken me in so I didn’t follow the reaction.
It turned out that Pete was the manager of a large computer group, Packard Bell. He was looking for a new receptionist type person for his company's warehouse. When he asked me to do this, I accepted without any questions. This was a major turning point in my life. Madge and Pete were extremely kind, and I worked as the receptionist there for about three years.
I knew that I had outstayed my welcome with Madge and Pete so I bought a house, just down the road, with the money I had saved and bonuses Pete had given me.
Pause
Scene is set in his living room with his wife Lucy sitting next to him.
Life was great, a far cry from when I was an alcoholic living on the streets. I had even met a woman named Lucy to whom I am now married. We have a son called Luke who is just starting Nursery school.
I could never have dreamt this would happen and it is all down to Madge and Pete. I have also been reunited with my own family who are very proud of me for changing my life and finding happiness now.
