Rob Locke ex QVC Presenter

[Starlight]

Rob seemed to bounce back, adopting the Anthony Robbins mind set, 'walk/stand tall like you're wearing a cloak' and all that

I remember the cloak!! When selling jewellery he would try and convince us that a certain piece of jewellery would make us feel special and give us extra confidence when walking into that party/event, and he'd say 'I'll tell you my invisible cloak story' and all the camera men used to groan loudly.

 

[Awkward Annie]

Don't come back to the UK Rob. We've got enough scroungers here :mysmilie_865:

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

It's disgusting even thinking about this useless piece of trash when you think of what that young lad Steven Sutton (memorial service today) achieved on this deathbed for others. Awake up and smell the coffee, I for one would never buy anything from his shows if we ever had the misfortune to have him back on our screens.

 

[miss molly]

I very much doubt Q would have him back after this.

 

[Julius]

Maybe Rob Locke should listen to "Midnight Train to Georgia! by Gladys Knight & The Pips" and pay close attention to the lyrics. They are quite poignant.
I know how it is to be at a low ebb. I was in 2008 yet by the skin of my teeth I got through it myself. I did cleaning with a steam cleaning machine I bought from Argos, I stayed in an awful hostel full of broken people, psychos and weirdos, rats, mice, bedbugs, fleas, people urinating in the shower, drug dealers, criminals, you name it! I did temp work, writing letters, buying items from the Pound Shop and selling them on to people at the hostel for a profit. You name it, I did it. I felt suicidal at one point but but I got over it. I am quite a well qualified and reasonably cultured person. Yes I found the experience demeaning, but I always tried to focus on the fact that it would come to an end, even if I didn't know when that would be. Rob Locke will simply have to take on work that he might consider beneath him.

Here is the ****hole where circumstances forced me to live in 2008. The room that has a boarded up window was my dormitory - Room 17. The first day I arrived an Algerian man held a knife to my throat for my jacket:

http://www.buildington.co.uk/images/projects/f8e66fff3893b5f353b153c0ed1b9f36.png

 

[Awkward Annie]

Aw Julius now you really have tugged at my heart strings, or is this another one of your fantasies:sad:

 

[Brissles]

Um, he doesn't appear to look too bad for someone who has little money for food. Weight loss is generally the starter for 10 when money is tight.

Most of us have a 'dream' job that we would be preferring to do, but life's tough, and I'm surprised his partner lasted 10 years!

We can all give a sob story, me included, but we knuckle down and take any job that pays. Back in the 70's I had a full time day job, plus 2 nights bar work, on Saturdays I worked as a cashier in a hardware shop, bookies runner in my Saturday lunch hour, plus extra cash for cleaning the office I worked in. 5 jobs at once, not for long - but it got me on my feet.

Where there's a will ...............

 

[Julius]

Aw Julius now you really have tugged at my heart strings, or is this another one of your fantasies:sad:

Nope. It's absolutely true. In fact that picture makes the hostel (it wasn't a hotel at all) look nice. It was full of awful people. It was opposite a block of flats called Maite Court which was actually used as a brothel. The only good thing about that place was its central location. Throughout the 5 months I lived there I always told myself: "I don't belong here. I'm not staying here." There was a French alcoholic guy there. One day I returned to the room and noted he was wearing my shoes! He claimed that another resident (a Slovak mental patient) had sold them to him and he asked me if I could give him some money to buy MY OWN SHOES back. I so desperately wanted to kick the **** out of him or take his eyes out with a fork, but with every bit of strength I had in me I refrained from doing that. I told him that he could keep my shoes, and that I was not going to beg for my own property, but that he was to watch his back as I would get him when he least expected it. About a week later I bought some ground white pepper from Tesco. When he was asleep at night I tipped it on his face and over his eyes. He woke up screaming. They carted him off in an ambulance. As they took him away I said: "The next time you cross me it will be caustic soda." He didn't press charges. The tales I could tell about that place. Only 3 people I met in 5 months were decent human beings. It was probably worse than prison - and I was paying to be there.

I do not regret doing what I did. Prior to that happening I had been subjected to just about every kind of humiliating, degrading treatment imaginable and I was close to cracking up. I believe that revenge is a meal best served cold, but in his case it was a meal best served spicy.

 

[Awkward Annie]

I'm still not 100% sure your not making this up!! But if it's true, I really do feel for you, and I'm glad you came through it,and I hope your life continues to be good:happy:

 

[JR's Ego]

I do not regret doing what I did. Prior to that happening I had been subjected to just about every kind of humiliating, degrading treatment imaginable and I was close to cracking up. I believe that revenge is a meal best served cold, but in his case it was a meal best served spicy.

Such an inspiration - maybe you should mentor Mr Locke ((HUGS)) to you

 

[Julius]

I'm still not 100% sure your not making this up!! But if it's true, I really do feel for you, and I'm glad you came through it,and I hope your life continues to be good:happy:

It is true. The only works of fiction I have created have been my Flint novel characters. Everything about the hostel is true. I got through it without help from anyone. It involved a lot of self-belief, determination, humility and even humiliation. One day I will write a book about my experience. I did pitch an article to The Big Issue about it, but they didn't want to know. Strange really, seeing that their magazine is supposed to tackle homelessness yet they don't want to publish articles on the subject. These days there are lots of hidden homeless or people living in places like where I lived. As long as I live, I will never, ever, ever forget that place.

Here are a list of the main people I remember from my time there:
1) A young Christian called Lukas (he was actually suffering from mental illness and would go out having gay *** in parks, then return to the room and take 3 hour showers).

2) A man called Alex with long matted hair - he would go around collecting bruised fruits from the gutters of Petticoat Lane and eat them. He used to tell people he was from Hell and slashed his wrists when his rucksack was stolen. He had an aura of evil about him.

3) A young Moroccan man who was mentally ill and would fry bananas and tuna fish in the room.

4) A Chinese man who couldn't throw anything away and had bagfuls of rotting vegetables, and a blow-up *** doll called Porky Paulina (I kid you not).

5) A Slovak man called Stefan who was totally deranged. He would collect items from rubbish skips and bring them back to the room. He would sit rocking back and forth clutching an old fashioned alarm clock to his ear and laughing to himself when he made it ring.

6) A black man called Carlitos - a serial liar who said he was Venezuelan. he wasn't. He was a drug dealer.

7) A builder called Ian who was 62 years of age and would come back drunk and swearing every night.

8) A French man called Eric - the one who stole my shoes.

9) A truly bitter Italian man who covered his bed in diarrhea.

10) A man who has long grey/blond hair like someone out of Status Quo. He became violent if anyone touched him.

11) A Cleaning woman called Nadia from Romania who sprayed WD40 on the beds as she believed it would kill bedbugs.

12) An Italian man called Christiano who would pace up and down, up and down the room constantly, stating that "he couldn't have ***."

And numerous other ex-convicts and undesirables. The list goes on and on and on. I remember them all - in detail.

 

[Awkward Annie]

Oh my god!! I'll probably have nightmares just thinking about that lot! You must be very strong to come through that and be as sane and funny as you are ( well reasonably sane) You could have so easily given in and ended up like them!

 

[Julius]

Oh my god!! I'll probably have nightmares just thinking about that lot! You must be very strong to come through that and be as sane and funny as you are ( well reasonably sane) You could have so easily given in and ended up like them!

For me that was never an option, although I nearly did crack up, twice. The one thing that carried me through it all was my mini DAB / FM personal radio. I would listen to that and it would keep me going. Also there was a really nice guy called Michael there. He was a busker from Ireland. If he made a few quid he'd buy me a meal and when I got a few quid I would return the favour. We would cook jacket potatoes in the dump of a kitchen downstairs and eat them with Tesco Value cheese, beans and salad. Out of everyone there he was really the only one I could trust and who had a good heart. I don't know what happened to him but I hope he found his way. He was a good guy who had fallen upon hard times and I wish him nothing but the best.

 

[JR's Ego]

It's disgusting even thinking about this useless piece of trash when you think of what that young lad Steven Sutton (memorial service today) achieved on this deathbed for others. Awake up and smell the coffee, I for one would never buy anything from his shows if we ever had the misfortune to have him back on our screens.

Im in agreement regarding Steven Sutton, but that wording is harsh!

I think basically the consensus is Rob should now realise he has to yet again, start from square one of the snakes & ladders board of life, but his method is not the way to go.

 

[Awkward Annie]

Yeah it helps when you've got at least one person on your side! must have been fate that he was there to help you through . Funny how that seems to happen isn't it , aw have to go now batteries running out! funny how that always seems to happen as well. Now you've got me wondering about the other guy!!

 

[miss molly]

The goal amount has been lowered to $6,717.00.

 

[Kathy]

Reading this thread I think Rob Locke isn't the only one taking the pith.....Smashfruit etc... anyone....:mysmilie_17:

 

[thatu]

Those places existed in the sixties in London, too. I stayed in one - single girl first night in London, no family, no contacts - before I found a bed in a YWCA hostel. Scary. And I got a job, so I could pay for something better. Hence no sympathy at all for RL.

 

[donna255]

Ah Julius you really pick them. Is this hostel not the Victorian doss-house like one you had to stay in London, when the bank defrauded you out of your mother's flat? You really did give an in-depth description about the beds, the smell, the unsavoury characters. When a member here who works in these homeless shelters says they are nothing like that.

 

[Wornoutcreditcard]

This is a very sad situation to be in, and worse its not unique. Yes we're lucky to have a generous welfare system designed to help people in such situations. I feel sorry for this guy and his son and wish them a better future but perhaps he needs to take a more pragmatic view about his career and look for a different type of job. Lets be sensible, he won't starve but being homeless is bad enough, time to put his sons welfare before his own quest for fame.