Steven Paterson, Playfair Steps, The Mound, Edinburgh

Photo: Exposure Photo Agency

Interacting with people is what I enjoy the most about selling the Big Issue.  

I was unstable on my feet when I started selling the magazine, I was really struggling in life with my mental health and my depression. Lately, that’s gone away. I’m thinking a lot clearer and I’m more motivated. Doing the books makes me get out and about and speak to people. 

I’m taking a little rest just now but when I go back to selling it seven days a week I’ll be motivated to get up at six o’clock every morning, shower, go out, sell. It’s not so much the money why I do the Big Issue, it’s the interacting with people. The money’s a bonus. I chat about anything on my pitch. If they are Lithuanian I say labas rytas (good morning), if they are Polish I’ll say dzien dobry, or Ukrainian dobryi den. A lot of people come back and give me money just for saying that. I’ve picked those bits of languages up just from being on my pitch. 

Recently I’ve been changing pitches to sell 50 a week. I was at Waverley Bridge two years ago and sold 272 in a week, which I think broke the Scottish record. That’s when I had my card machine. It does help a lot: it’s 50:50 with cash nowadays. 

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I’m from Edinburgh originally but it’s quite hard to shift the magazine here. Glasgow’s a lot friendlier and easier but I can’t be bothered going there every day to sell and I’d had to pay for the bus. I used to like going to the pubs in Edinburgh to drink juice but not so much these days.

I did go through a bit of a bad stage with alcohol when I started the Issue, that was probably why I was selling the magazine at the beginning in 1999 to fund the alcohol but I’ve no habits just now because I like selling the Big Issue and it’s keeping me out of trouble. 

I’m a very patient man. If I don’t sell one for half an hour I am good at persevering. You need patience to sell it. I certainly have that. I used to play a game of poker every now and again. I used to go to casinos and play Texas Hold ’Em for cash games. I’ve got a good poker face. I don’t give anything away. 

I’m living in a temporary place at the moment. I’m homeless living in a bed and breakfast but it doesn’t do breakfast. You don’t pay anything really here because I’m on a housing list. It’s not great but my room is pretty much clean. I get all the Freeview channels but I’m not really watching much telly now, it’s more watching YouTube on my phone or browsing the net.

I’ve been here since 29 December last year. To be honest, I’m not ready for my own place. I’d crack up, I couldn’t cope. Some people want a house at the snap of a finger but I don’t. I’m just taking things one day at a time. 

I’d like to say thank you to a taxi driver who buys the magazine off me every week and gives me a fiver. When he sees me passing over the Waverley Bridge he always shouts me over and he always buys a book.

 It helps if you’re struggling to sell a copy and get your eyes on the taxi rank, that’s a book gone. He won’t buy off anyone else, he says: “I’ll get one off Stevie.” Some people like to support their own vendor personally. He’s a good guy. 

Interview: Liam Geraghty

Playfair Steps, The Mound, Edinburgh, UK