I'm a big fan of the Big Issue.
Of course, there's the philanthropic element - no one buys it soley for the content. You buy it to help, and at £1.50 it's exactly the same amount as a Battles in Time pack. I tend to pick one of those up every week, except when I've bought a Big Issue. It's also far cheaper than Total Film, Empire, SFX, Death Ray, Doctor Who Magazine, even Doctor Who Adventures. But I do enjoy reading it a lot as well - it's tailored to an audience of people who enjoy helping people, which means it's packed with handy articles on alternate, cheap and ethical living and other worthy causes, interspersed with solid cultural content as well, plays and books and the like. Plus, the crossword is just hard enough to feel rewarding, while remaning unchallenging.
But the main reason I do it is for the people. I loathe the homeless. It's not just the fact that it depressess me to see them making the streets untidy. It's the complete lack of spirit, exactly the same one you see in stray dogs - expecting to be kicked, sitting down and waiting to die. I understand it's hard, and I know I'm pretty lazy at times, but I just want to scream at them "go and DO something with your life! Make something of yourself! Get out of the gutter!"
Which is why I love the Big Issue, because I have never bought an copy but that the vendors have been genuienly cheerful, friendly and optimistic people. You might point out they're being nice because you're paying them, but it's more than that. They have hope which the regular homeless don't, and it always cheers me to see people in bad situations who refuse to be bowed down by it.
Some of them also have great conversation. Today I bumped into one on a stool going down Long Acre - an old guy with terrific silver whiskers, who reminded me a little of Derek Jacobi, and decided I'd buy one for the tube home. He immediately complimented my TARDIS pendant - I think he mistook it for a religious symbol, comparing it first to a cross, then an anchor. Both were very interesting associations, when you think about the TARDIS.
Anyway, I thanked him and explained that actually, it was Doctor Who related. I asked him if he was able to change a £5, and as he did so he came out with the best anecdote I'd heard all week about a certain well dressed Lady M. P. who had attempted to buy two Big Issues off him at 8.30 in the morning, with a £50 note.
I already had some sympathy with this - the Folk Museum where I work is always a tad short on change, and you can actually tell if your customer is English or European by the way they pay. Because you tell French, German, Dutch tourists the total ticket price is £4.50, and they'll get out a coinpurse and give you it exactly. An English tourist will whip out a £20 and expect to get change. We've had people try to pay with £50 notes before, and you always want to give them a slap.
The story didn't end there, however. I can't remember all the details, but apparently she got quite snooty at the idea a seller of magazines without sufficient change. He suggested that a coffee at a nearby Cafe Nero would give her some change, but she didn't like that idea either. Anyway, she left in something of a huff - but returned later in the day, with change, to buy them. She made threats to report him(?!) for rudeness when he asked how many copies she wanted, and after buying two she let him keep the change from the fiver (at this point he rolled his eyes). She walks to the end of the road and then, he sees her looking between the magazine and over her shoulder, turns around and comes back to complain that the magazines were "drivel". When he offered to refund her, she claimed "I don't accept money off your sort!" He pointed out it was her money, at which point she left both the magazines and the cash!
Even though it's a totally ridiculous story, it's one of those so crazy it's believeable. We've all met people like this, people who can't grasp how other people work and are critical of the tiniest thing. The vendor said he'd talked to others who'd had problems with her too - which is how he learnt her name (I'm filing it away for future reference...). He said he was actually worried for her, because obviously you can't treat people like that - even if you are a lady- and there were plenty of vendors with short fuses who wouldn't take it. It is a class thing, surely, to get that disassociated from reality?
At this point he shook my hand and wished me a good day, complimented my TARDIS key again and suggested maybe Doctor Who would be a good religion. I most wholeheartedly agree.
Of course, there's the philanthropic element - no one buys it soley for the content. You buy it to help, and at £1.50 it's exactly the same amount as a Battles in Time pack. I tend to pick one of those up every week, except when I've bought a Big Issue. It's also far cheaper than Total Film, Empire, SFX, Death Ray, Doctor Who Magazine, even Doctor Who Adventures. But I do enjoy reading it a lot as well - it's tailored to an audience of people who enjoy helping people, which means it's packed with handy articles on alternate, cheap and ethical living and other worthy causes, interspersed with solid cultural content as well, plays and books and the like. Plus, the crossword is just hard enough to feel rewarding, while remaning unchallenging.
But the main reason I do it is for the people. I loathe the homeless. It's not just the fact that it depressess me to see them making the streets untidy. It's the complete lack of spirit, exactly the same one you see in stray dogs - expecting to be kicked, sitting down and waiting to die. I understand it's hard, and I know I'm pretty lazy at times, but I just want to scream at them "go and DO something with your life! Make something of yourself! Get out of the gutter!"
Which is why I love the Big Issue, because I have never bought an copy but that the vendors have been genuienly cheerful, friendly and optimistic people. You might point out they're being nice because you're paying them, but it's more than that. They have hope which the regular homeless don't, and it always cheers me to see people in bad situations who refuse to be bowed down by it.
Some of them also have great conversation. Today I bumped into one on a stool going down Long Acre - an old guy with terrific silver whiskers, who reminded me a little of Derek Jacobi, and decided I'd buy one for the tube home. He immediately complimented my TARDIS pendant - I think he mistook it for a religious symbol, comparing it first to a cross, then an anchor. Both were very interesting associations, when you think about the TARDIS.
Anyway, I thanked him and explained that actually, it was Doctor Who related. I asked him if he was able to change a £5, and as he did so he came out with the best anecdote I'd heard all week about a certain well dressed Lady M. P. who had attempted to buy two Big Issues off him at 8.30 in the morning, with a £50 note.
I already had some sympathy with this - the Folk Museum where I work is always a tad short on change, and you can actually tell if your customer is English or European by the way they pay. Because you tell French, German, Dutch tourists the total ticket price is £4.50, and they'll get out a coinpurse and give you it exactly. An English tourist will whip out a £20 and expect to get change. We've had people try to pay with £50 notes before, and you always want to give them a slap.
The story didn't end there, however. I can't remember all the details, but apparently she got quite snooty at the idea a seller of magazines without sufficient change. He suggested that a coffee at a nearby Cafe Nero would give her some change, but she didn't like that idea either. Anyway, she left in something of a huff - but returned later in the day, with change, to buy them. She made threats to report him(?!) for rudeness when he asked how many copies she wanted, and after buying two she let him keep the change from the fiver (at this point he rolled his eyes). She walks to the end of the road and then, he sees her looking between the magazine and over her shoulder, turns around and comes back to complain that the magazines were "drivel". When he offered to refund her, she claimed "I don't accept money off your sort!" He pointed out it was her money, at which point she left both the magazines and the cash!
Even though it's a totally ridiculous story, it's one of those so crazy it's believeable. We've all met people like this, people who can't grasp how other people work and are critical of the tiniest thing. The vendor said he'd talked to others who'd had problems with her too - which is how he learnt her name (I'm filing it away for future reference...). He said he was actually worried for her, because obviously you can't treat people like that - even if you are a lady- and there were plenty of vendors with short fuses who wouldn't take it. It is a class thing, surely, to get that disassociated from reality?
At this point he shook my hand and wished me a good day, complimented my TARDIS key again and suggested maybe Doctor Who would be a good religion. I most wholeheartedly agree.
06:04 |
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Comments (1)
"I loathe the homeless. It's not just the fact that it depressess me to see them making the streets untidy. It's the complete lack of spirit, exactly the same one you see in stray dogs - expecting to be kicked, sitting down and waiting to die. I understand it's hard, and I know I'm pretty lazy at times, but I just want to scream at them "go and DO something with your life! Make something of yourself! Get out of the gutter!"
Which is why I love the Big Issue, because I have never bought an copy but that the vendors have been genuienly cheerful, friendly and optimistic people. You might point out they're being nice because you're paying them, but it's more than that. They have hope which the regular homeless don't, and it always cheers me to see people in bad situations who refuse to be bowed down by it."
Emily, sometimes you say the most horrific things that it's very hard to reconcile it with how you seem the rest of the time...