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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
In scenes reminiscent of The Snowman, many people in Manchester woke up this morning to a thick blanket of snow. It led to a number of school closures in Oldham and some ‘scary’ scenes on the M62, with a yellow weather warning in place across the country over the weekend.
Greater Manchester had an ‘amber’ weather warning in place until midday today, so it looks like we may have had the worst of it for now. Whilst many of us are able to stick the heating up (only slightly) and hide under a warm duvet, not everyone is so fortunate.
Omer Bin Saleh is sat by a bin on the approach to Piccadilly Station on Thursday morning, where temperatures reached as low as -3C. Despite clutching an umbrella in the bitter breeze, he admits his sleep last night was 'alright'.
Omer tells the M.E.N’s Ethan Davies that he has been homeless for ‘most of my life’ and only came to Britain ‘a couple of months ago’ after a spell of sleeping rough in Europe.
“The quality of life, even on the streets, is better," he says of why he came to the UK. "Sometimes life is just difficult.”
When asked what could help him get through the wintry weather, Omer simply tells Ethan: “I am after a good pair of quality socks.” And so, Ethan nips to the shops and comes back with socks and a drink in hand. “Thank you very much,” he beamed. “That’s awesome.”
On the other side of the city in Deansgate, Ethan finds Mark Taylor. Mark says he has been on the streets for nine months now.
“I slept literally there on Christmas Day,”
boating
Mark Taylor