Hazel, 53, Waterloo, London

It’s amicable. It’s better to sort things out that way.

At Waterloo you get the commuter traffic, which is good and bad. Lots of people are rushing to get somewhere, but I do have my regulars. I think when I began selling I rediscovered my prose. I love to entertain, and often people come up to me and say: “You’ve made me laugh, and I’d like to buy The Big Issue.”

People know why I’m selling The Big Issue, but just because people are in suits it doesn’t mean they don’t have problems in their lives. So many people I talk to have lost their jobs – they’ve lost the things they’ve built up in their lives and they are trying hard to rebuild them.

I like cheering people up. When I first started selling in 2007 I didn’t have much confidence and I was a bit shy about approaching people and asking them to buy something. Now I stand on the steps at Waterloo with my umbrella and sing songs like ‘Singin’ in the Rain’.

I recite poems and make up rhymes. I study people’s shoes and then come up with a funny line. I’m a complete actress – a terror. I say: “You’re going on the train, it’s going to be a strain, so buy a Big Issue and you know you’ll be home again, with a nice cup of tea, to switch on the TV.”

I started sofa surfing in London when I first came here and I remember the first night I was out on the street. I sat in a stairwell not far from The Big Issue offices and read a book. I thought it was safer if I was awake. My hands were freezing.

Things have got a bit better for me. I’m rehoused and taking it day by day. Having a bit of security means I can do my writing and read a lot. I had a poem published in Street Lights a few weeks ago – I was really chuffed. It was great to see and it put a smile on my face. I’m always doodling or thinking of poems in my head. I write them down when I get home, if I can remember them.

Hazel was speaking to Helena Drakakis