A Special Christmas

During the Christmas shopping rush in London, the intriguing story was reported of a tramp who, apparently through no fault of his own, found himself locked in a well-known chain store late on Christmas Eve. No doubt the store was crowded with last-minute Christmas shoppers and the staff were dead beat and longing to get home. Presumably all the proper security checks were made before the store was locked and they left to enjoy the three-day holiday untroubled by customers desperate to get last-minute Christmas presents.

However that may be, our tramp found himself alone in the store and decided to make the best of it. There was food, drink, bedding and camping equipment, of which he made good use. There must also have been television sets and radios. Though it was not reported if he took advantage of these facilities, when the shop reopened, he was discovered in bed with a large number of empty bottles beside him. He seems to have been a man of good humor and philosophic temperament—as indeed tramps very commonly are. Everyone else was enjoying Christmas, so he saw no good reason why he should not do the same. He submitted, cheerfully enough, to being taken away by the police. Perhaps he had had a better Christmas than usual. He was sent to prison for seven days. The judge awarded no compensation to the chain store for the food and drink our tramp had consumed. They had, in his opinion, already received valuable free publicity from the coverage the story received in the newspapers and on television. Perhaps the judge had had a good Christmas, too.