A henna pattern derived from a wine chalice in the Victoria and Albert Museum

The street people in London were very polite about panhandling.  Mostly they just pass out somewhere and people toss coins near them.  Then, when they wake up there's some coin to purchase whatever substance they require to pass out again. I only heard a panhandler raise his voice once, and was only approached twice (by people who were getting quite jumpy from substance deficit). Most neighborhoods didn't have as many street people as the King's Cross area, and the "normals" rarely interact with the "derelicts". I was familiar with about 15 faces in the neighborhood, familiar enough to notice when they'd been shifted from one corner to another, or one went missing or showed up with bruises and stitches.     Women who were possessed by malevolent spirits, manifesting as depression, hallucinations, disorderly behavior, disease or tragic circumstance, might henna and attend a Zar to cure their problems. Zar was a traditional therapeutic exorcism wherein women could negotiate with and dispel malevolent spirits, and attract benevolent spirits to help them recover their well being.  Beautiful henna patterns could repulse the negative spirits and invite positive spirits during these events.

The Kings Cross street people are fairly tidy about their booze bottles and move along when the police shift them.  They were a community, and they seemed to watch each other's backs.  If one passed out, others stayed nearby to see they didn't come to harm.  Every so often some well intentioned person attempted to engage a derelict in conversation, to inspire, rescue and redeem them ... but ... it looked to me as though the street people found rescuers intrusive and annoying ...  a bother they have to put up with from time to time.  Looked to me as though the well intentioned person got a big "rescue rush" off the interaction, band if money wasn't forthcoming the "poor unfortunate" didn't put up with them for long.

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