Stuart Drucker, Roath Market (Saturdays) and Riverside Market (Sundays), Cardiff 

Image: Exposure Photo Agency

As well as selling the magazine, I also handle the subscriptions, posting magazines out to subscribers. I like being in the office because I get on with the staff but I have seen a decline in subscriptions. I’d like more people to subscribe and buy the magazine to keep the office going. We don’t have too many vendors because we can’t get them in with too many beggars around and we need all the subscriptions we can if we can’t sell. 

I had to have about two months off at the end of last year because I’ve had a lot of health problems. I’ve had bad kidneys and arthritis in my hands and knees. My hands are so bad that when I do the subscriptions now sometimes I can’t even sign the back of them. I’m struggling but I’m just hoping for warmer weather now. That’s why I feel sorry for the homeless too. I’ve just got to be careful. I had a bit of a blood clot scare a few years back and it scared the hell out of me. I thought I was going to die. I thought I wasn’t going to see my kids ever again. My health comes first now. 

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I love selling the magazine at the farmers markets because I’ve got a really good friend down there. Paul who runs Paul’s organic veg. He’s a Polish guy and he looks after me all the time. I get on with everyone down there, all the stall holders. I get everything for nothing. But Paul helps me out all the time. He’s helped me out with rent and things like that when I’m struggling. I help unload his van for him in the mornings. I’ve learned a lot from him. 

They’re amazing, my customers. I talk more than anything on my pitch because they stop and talk to me for ages. They get to know me and I get to know them. There’s an older woman who buys the magazine called Gaynor and she’s like a mother to me. Another woman called Sylvia stops for ages and she buys me loads. It’s just like one giant family. 

I’ve just moved in with my partner and we had a great Christmas and cooked Christmas dinner together. She has a few issues with reading so I’m helping her with that. I’m helping her with economising too, buy things you need instead of what you want. She helps me with my anxiety so we’re helping each other. 

My daughter has had a little girl as well. She’s 10, 11 months old now. I keep in touch with them all the time. I like spending time with the baby because you become a child again, don’t you? I’m trying to get a house now. A friend of mine does property so I’ve asked them to keep an eye out for me. I want a garden so I can stretch my legs and get my grandkids over as well. 

This year I’d like a new government. I’ve never voted before but this year I am. I haven’t bothered because I think they are all as bad as one another. I just feel like they’ve all crapped on us, mostly the older people, and I think someone new should get in. 

I also want to start saving up to go to Africa. It’s going to take me a few years but I want to go to Kruger National Park because I love animals. I want to go and see my mother too. She lives in Pembrokeshire. I’ve not seen her for a very long time – about 20 years – as we didn’t have a good relationship because I was a bit of a shit. We’ve kept in touch with Christmas cards and she’s been phoning me recently. So I’m going to see if I can go down for a weekend and see her. That’s on my agenda for this year.

Interview: Liam Geraghty

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Roath Market, Keppoch Street, Cardiff, UK