Interview with Matt - Aberdeen

'I hope to have a motorbike again and see my daughter regularly'

Name: Matt Kalikas Browning
Age: 34
Pitch: Marks and Spencers, Aberdeen

I'm from Kilmarnock originally and my middle name comes from my Greek grandparents. I've been selling The Big Issue for around seven months.

Thanks to that, I've just got my first permanent place again after a wee while, a bedsit that I share with my friend. He's also  a Big Issue vendor. 

Out here, in front of Marks and Spencer,   I get a lot of really good customers, a lot of regulars. I suppose it's because of the shop.  They tend to be older people and I have friends among them now. I really had to push to get this pitch, it's a top spot. I'm here seven days a week, and I'm determined to stay here now! I enjoy being outside all the time and that people are friendly to me.

I used to be a removal man. I've also done a lot of maintenance work, but if I could do any job in the world - I'd like to go back to doing removals. I enjoyed going up and down the country to work, even all over Europe. So, I'd still really like to go back to being able to do that in future.

A thing that bothers me is not being able to spend so much time with my daughter.  She's a cracking wee lassie, seven years old and goes to school in Aberdeen. I was with her every day of her life until I split up with her mum - my ex-girlfriend. 

I get to see her as often as I want, it's just the money side of things that stop me seeing her and taking her places we'd like to go. Kids always want things, they're always after the latest craze and I don't always have the money to do it. My ideal day, a Sunday, with her would be to take her down to the beach, then the swimming baths and take her to McDonalds or the park afterwards.

I support Kilmarnock football team.  They're not the best team in the world but they are my home team. I've no time for folk who don't support their local team. I think there are more supporters who leave on buses to go to Glasgow to follow a team from there, like Celtic or Rangers, than there is go to Pittodrie on a Saturday to support Aberdeen FC. They seem to have forgotten the glory days of the Dons in the 1980s.

The two things I miss that I used to do are motorbikes and fishing. I had to sell my Bandit 600 when I became homeless. It was a lovely bike. In fact, that would be a dream for me, to get back on a motorbike. And I used to love going fishing on Royal Deeside.  I did any kind of fishing, but especially the freshwater stuff.

Really, my hopes for my future would be to have a job, to have a motorbike again and to see my daughter more regularly.

 

 

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