Michael Hall, Temple Meads Station, Bristol
Michael is originally from Leicester but he prefers Bristol as there's always something interesting going on
Image: Juliette Pedram
Big Issue changed my life. I was sat begging after I’d just become homeless. One of the Big Issue workers came past me on their bike and stopped and talked to me. I went into the office the next morning and never looked back.
I ended up getting a place in a shared house through selling Big Issue at Temple Meads and saving up money. I got a job, but I was made redundant, and this is the situation I’m in now.
Right now, I’m sleeping rough , but selling Big Issue is helping me save to get myself out of this situation. Without it, I’d be begging. I genuinely don’t know what kind of spiral I would have gone down, because it gives me a routine every day.
My main goal at the minute is to get myself a place to stay and get a job. That’s what I’m heading towards right now, and what I want to think about after is secondary. I know what I want to do, I’m just working towards it. The council says in six to nine months hopefully I should have a place, if I haven’t saved up before. It could have been a lot longer; the first time I was homeless it was for about two-and-a-half years.
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Temple Meads is a good pitch because it’s inside, so all year round I’m covered from the elements and I’m not getting caught out in the wind or rain or snow. Since being back on my pitch I still have all my good relationships. I’m bumping into people I haven’t seen in five or six years, customers that used to come through are still coming through now, and they’re like, “Oh my god, how are you?”
They stop and talk to me all day long. I’d like to thank them all for their custom and their support. The returning customers are greatly appreciated.
I’m originally from Leicester, but I’ve been in and around Bristol for years. I always seem to be drawn back to Bristol. It’s a really nice place. There’s always something different going on, like there’s a lady down by the harbourside that’s just done a big, massive World Cup graffiti thing around the outside of the amphitheatre that she was asked to do by the council.
There’s also stuff like the BillyChip. That was started by a young guy [ambulance driver Billy Abernethy-Hope] who died at the age of 20. His idea was that people could buy a chip, which they could give to a homeless person. Then that person exchanges the chip for something of the same value in shops taking part in the scheme. I can get a proper portion of fish and chips for a BillyChip, it’s brilliant. Unfortunately, Billy passed away before his idea became real, but his dad and sister finished it off in his honour.
There’s something different going on every night in Bristol, it’s never the same. This morning I woke up and I looked to my left and there was a guy doing the harbourside run wearing a sunflower costume, he was raising money for charity. I looked at him and I was like, “Go on petal, you can do it!”
There’s always something different, and it just makes you smile.
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Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station, Station Approach, Redcliffe, Bristol, UK