In 2000, I fell in love with a blue-eyed recorder player and thief named Mitch (not his real name) in Bath, England. He asked me to run away with him and I did. I was not right in the head at the time, but that's another story. Now, I'd lived all of my life in Pennsylvania, in comfortable flats and houses, and so to suddenly become homeless in south West England was a bit of a shock. But I survived. One of the reasons I did was because of the many variations of plastic roofing I came across in the years I was homeless.
Plastic Roofing?
My first experience with plastic roofing while homeless was a plastic two person tent with a plastic tarpaulin covering it from the worst of the rain. The only real problem with living in a tent (besides no indoor plumbing) is that when it rains, the inside of the tent eventually becomes wet with condensation. You can't touch the sides of the tent when it rains. So plastic roofing certainly has its drawbacks.
Also, plastic roofing needs to be checked every day for new holes or tears. These can often be patched up with duct tape, as long as the plastic roofing is both clean and dry. Otherwise, the tape can't get a proper grip and peels immediately off.
Living in a tent became comfortable and convenient when the weather was warm. When it turned to October, though, both Mitch and I knew that we would never survive in just a tent. He could not get housing, so we had no choice but to build our own home in a corner of the woods on disputed land that no one could develop.
The Bender
Our home, which the English call a bender' looks like a short longhouse. It's a framework made of green young tree trunks with all kinds of materials thrown about it for a roof, and a smoke hole for when you install a metal stove and makeshift smokestack. We tried a few materials, but an under layer of plastic roofing seemed to keep the bender dry (for the most part). Over the plastic roofing we threw old Army surplus tents, which had us blend in well with the surrounding woods.
The Greenhouse
Eventually, we tried our hands at growing our own food. For that, we needed a little greenhouse. We made that out of a couple of wooden arches and clear plastic roofing and a desk someone put in the trash. It got right tropical in there at times. The greenhouse was still standing when I left England. The bender lasted over a year longer than my relationship with Mitch. So plastic roofing can help in survival situations.
