Christmas in the open air

'What health problems? I'm bloody fit, me,' said Brian, a homeless man, who is not one to whinge and whine about his health. Brian and his mate 'Bob Dylan', each wearing a couple of T-shirts, a jumper and an overcoat, crack jokes and compete to tell their most gruesome injury tale. It is two weeks before Christmas and they sit, snuggled into a sleeping bag amid the blankets and newspaper sheets of other homeless people who occupy the disused bandstand in London's Lincoln's Inn Fields. They drink one of several cans of extra strong lager and share a cigarette. The weather is freezing and as the sun goes down the wind picks up. The rotting wooden bandstand is the focal point for homeless people in 'the Fields' and, although it's open to the elements, its roof means the ground stays dry. Nearby are three concrete tennis courts where Holborn office workers practise their forehands. The fencing that separates the courts from the green is a support for numerous bashes -cardboard and tarpaulin structures literally bashed together - where more homeless people live.