| Description | An interview with Big Issue Vendor, a single woman with no children, who is a Big Issue vendor, born in Birmingham and now living in Birmingham. Big Issue Vendor’s father was a Managing Director, born in England and her mother a Housewife born in England. In the interview, she talks about …
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BIG ISSUE VENDOR. Logged by Louise Harvey
01
“I was born in Birmingham in 1966 and grew up in what I consider to be the family home”.
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“With my mum, my uncle and my grandparents…found out in later years…my mum, my uncle was her father and my grandparents were really my great-grandparents…”
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Describes how family connections came about.
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Talks about own father, how they came to live at grandparent’s house etc. “I didn’t know much about my own father…”
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Talks about early childhood recalling lots of aunts, uncles, cousins etc. “My memories of my early childhood are very pleasant ones…”
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3” Talks about area she lived in and school being local to home. “The area in which I lived was Kings Heath…lived in a detached house with a very large front and back garden…”
30” “The area itself…has changed quite considerably since those days”.
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Mistake
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Mistake
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Begins talking about changes in the area. “My grandfather told me when he was a child that the area was very countrified, lots of fields, and his father would go out poaching…and my grandfather himself said there were a lot of fields and actually…”
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Continues
“where Sainsbury’s is at the moment on the opposite side of the street, there were actually orchards there”.
31” Talks about race of people who lived in area at the time. “When I was a child the area was white…”
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Mistake
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Talks about changes in shops in Kings Heath
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3” Story about going to school and being very proud of school uniform. “When I first went to school…I can remember being very proud of my first school uniform which was immaculate with a nice leather satchel…”
30” “I would have started infant school in about 1971 and I remember it as a very pleasant place to be”.
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Talks about infant school.
28” “…and then I went to Junior school and I have very happy memories of Junior school also”.
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Talks about moving house “When I was nine in 1975 my mother remarried to my now father and we then moved to Rubery…we moved into a semi-detached house opposite a big park”
47” “I found it quite strange. I’d always wanted a Dad and when I got one I didn’t realise almost what I was…letting myself in for because we moved to this house so I moved away from…the comfort of my grandparents…” Talks about what life was like in the new house.
1.47” Talks about new school.
2.07” Grandmother (really great-grandmother) died.
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4” Talks about coping with grandmother’s death.
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Talks about schooling from the age of nine and moving house. “From the age of nine, I went to middle school…in Rubery for three years and at the age of 12 we moved to Droitwich Spa…in 1978…and then went on to high school in Droitwich in 1979…stayed on until the age of 16 when I did my O Levels…”
39” Talks about high school and its strictness. “The high school was quite strict. If you got into trouble the boys would be caned, girls would be slippered…”
1.31”Talks about school and the way it was divided in “4 houses”
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Talks about “three bands” at school for levels of intelligence.
29” “I was in the top groups in the top bands through school most of the time”.
41” “My favourite subjects at school were art, English, and I did like maths as well…”
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Talks more about high school school dinners, pupils etc.
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Describes going to school, generally a good pupil but was prone to talking.
34” Description indication of having low self-esteem in early life. “I never felt that I was doing particularly well at school. My mum would always pick flies with me…I could go home with a school report mostly As, Bs…the bit that said ‘You’re talking in class’, that’s the bit she’s pick on. She’d never congratulate me on…achieving anything…she’d just put me down for the things I hadn’t done so well so I felt…totally lacking in any importance whatsoever and not really feeling I had much value in life…”
1.20” Good at art, teacher told her to do a degree. Parents said they would not keep her and wouldn’t allow her to do it. “The thing that I was doing very well…”
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“At the age of 16, in 1982 I went to North Worcestershire College in Bromsgrove to do a hairdressing and beauty course which lasted for two years…”
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Continues
7” “…which is never what I would have chosen for myself”. Immediately after, goes on to describe being pulled out of lessons by an English lecturer who said she should be applying for university, because her entrance exam marks were so high.
50” “Although I heard what he was saying, from being put down for so long I…didn’t realise…it was me he was talking about.”
1.06” Describes being a punk and becoming flamboyant in her appearance, getting the blame for things she hadn’t done. “From the end of school to college…”
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14” Describes when she first left home “…and also at this stage I’d left home, I’d not been getting on at all well with my mother. She would get very angry at me for any reason…I left home and was living in a guest house…that was financed by the state, I got income support…I ended up living off my own steam…I probably could have changed my own destiny at that time…”
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Describes completing hair and beauty course. College did not want her to come back and do more intensive courses. “I completed hairdressing and beauty course…”
43” “I think this was because they thought that I was a more boisterous person and less serious about life…than I actually was…”
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5” “I kind of gave up when the college wouldn’t have me back…”
12” Talks about being a mobile hairdresser, building up lots of customers, and having a car.
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“In the mid 1980s” aged 18 got a flat, rented from the local council.
18” Getting a job at Top Shop after doing a British Display course. “After a couple of years, I decided I wanted to change what I was doing professionally in life and started…”
1.05” Talks about different areas she was in charge of
1.57” Made redundant from Top Shop.
2.18” Got new job with company based in Scotland, also doing display work.
2.50” Getting a company car, expenses etc.
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3” Describes being made redundant. “My redundancies were happening roughly in the early 1990s”.
32” Describes meeting boyfriend. “Around about this time…I’d met a boyfriend who was very charming and very good looking and turned out to be very violent…”
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“I’d been with this boyfriend for six to eight months before things came to a head…”
20” Offered a job in Scotland – regrettably declined.
1.14” “…not only was this person violent but, I finished with him immediately that things came to a head but he threatened to pursue me…and menace my life…I felt totally threatened at that time”
3.11” Hadn’t gone to the police.
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Describes why she didn’t go to the police.
Linking sentence: “I think at this time, the people who I was hanging round with in my local area”
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Linked to: “would smoke cannabis and whether they were into drugs or not they’d got a very cliquey idea of how things should be…some of them were petty criminals, shoplifters”.
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“I’d got to know these people basically through my boyfriend”.
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Describes splitting up with boyfriend and going back to doing hairdressing.
1.06” Describes exchanging flat, selling CD Player so ex-boyfriend would not steal it.
2.38” Describes new circle of friends who she began travelling around the country with. “There were a lot of people at that time who were travelling a lot…around the country. I got involved with some people like that and for a while I got a truck and a caravan and went off myself and lived on what you called ‘site’ with them”.
34
Describes ‘illegal’ festivals she attended, rave scene, Ecstasy etc.
2.13” Describes appearance at the time – dreadlocks, army boots etc. “At the time I was dressed…it was very typical at the time…I would wear great big army boots, and I had dreadlocked hair right down by back…”
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2” Describes daily life in mid-late 20s.
37” “I’ve lived in a caravan, in a truck, stayed in buses, in lorries, people would live in things called benders which were bent-over branches with tarpaulin…”
1.35” Describes the aims of travellers and the bad press which they received. “The aims and beliefs at the time behind this were…just about having fun…and defying convention to a certain extent…”
2.49” Describes how press mis-represented the travellers.
4.43” Talks about how police tried to stop festivals and travellers, often used violence.
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Continues
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Continues
42” Went back to live in Droitwich. Lived with new boyfriend. Caring for a man that lived locally.
1.20” “Unfortunately, I have met some not very nice people in my life…that’s something that’s been an eye-opener. I believed when I was very young that even if people were considered bad they’d still got a kind of goodness about them…and it’s not true and to this day now I will pick and choose who I have around me. I’d rather have nobody around me than band people around me…”
2.11” Talks about the man she cared for – pretending to be ill to gain social security.
3.25” Describes another boyfriend who took advantage of her.
4.53” “This is kind of leading up to me doing the Big Issue now”.
38
Continues describing her boyfriend and the things he stole from her.
17” Describes moving to a shared house and then evicted from there.
40” Describes how she came to sell he Big Issue. “While I was just in Birmingham shopping I…bumped into someone I kind of…knew and I came to Birmingham and lived in a …shared house-hostel situation…he started selling the Big Issue…and because he was doing the Big Issue I went out and helped him…I just decided I would rather do that than just be totally dependent on the dole, I’d rather earn my own living…”
2.12” Uncle (really her grandfather) died.
3.07” Talks about family arguments which occurred when grandfather died.
39
7” Describes coming back to Birmingham to live after 20 years of living away.
34” “One of the main things that I noticed was the influx of Asian and black people into the area. I’d never seen a black or Asian person working in a Post Office before or…at first I was quite shocked, it was like ‘well why have they got these positions of respect?’…”
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3” Talks about some of the changes she noticed in Birmingham. “The City Centre has changed…to a certain degree…”
41” “Some of the good things that I’ve noticed about coming back to Birmingham is that I find there are a lot more interesting, intelligent people…
2.12” Talks about some of the interesting things to do now in Birmingham. “…art galleries, museums, sports facilities…a lot of things going on in Canon Hill Park…
3.29” Coming back to Birmingham means that she has got rid of the bad influences in her life.
4.04” Talks about her family’s reaction to her coming back to Birmingham.
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6” Talks about family’s reaction to her selling the Big Issue. Having to sell magazines to eat. “My family in Birmingham…have reacted very well to me selling the Big Issue because I think they’re under the impression that I’m collecting for charity not trying to earn a living for myself and not realising that if I don’t sell magazines, I don’t eat. It’s as basic as that…”
42
Talks about what happened to her family after he grandfather’s funeral.
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Talks about money she should have been given when her Grandfather died.
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“I’ve been selling the Big Issue now for about two years and I find that through selling the Big issue I’ve met a lot of nice people. I’ve also had to guard myself against getting involved with not-so-nice people…I’ve met some very very special and wonderful people and have ended up with some good friends and a place to live and am starting to get things together. I’ve been doing a computer course…”
1.27” Financing of computer course.
1.44” Describes what it’s like financially as a Big Issue seller. “I am financially not well off at all, and people don’t realise how hand-to-mouth that you do live…I’m usually behind with my bills…it depends from day-to-day how much food I can buy…bus fares have to come out of the money that I make and coffees through the day because its important to keep me going especially when it’s cold…”
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Talks about how easy it is to create a ‘rut’ for oneself.
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9” Talks about parents' reaction to her being a Big Issue seller. They are extremely well to do. “My parents are pleased that I’m earning my own money, I think they wish I was earning more. They themselves live a very very comfortable lifestyle. They’ve just moved into a £300,000 house…”
46” “My parents don’t offer me any money. Sometimes I go over to visit my mum…and she’ll give me £10, which is what the train fare is…”
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2” Talks about her hopes for the future. “My hopes for the future are to keep my head above water to a certain extent. I would like to be earning more money…I just hope things gradually get better and better…”
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8” Reflections on her life so far.
1.15” Sees her future in Birmingham at the moment.
1.45” Talks about the views people have of being a Big Issue seller. “I think the views people have…some people think it’s a very good thing, some people see you as doing a very hard job…that they couldn’t do themselves. I think other people think that you’re some kind of beggar trying to scrounge something… What I do is purely for financial gain. I think that there have been other people who have abused the system in the past…getting dole money…”
3.32” What Big Issue sellers are like, why people sell the Big Issue. “I think most of the Big Issue sellers are there for genuine reasons…”
4.28” Talks about some of the people she has met through selling the Big Issue.
49
Describes doing a talk on homelessness for charity.
50
Describes social life.
1.18” “I can’t afford a social life at the moment”.
1.54” “I have no religious beliefs”.
ENDS
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