- [Interviewer] Tony, we're here in London.
You're homeless, tell me about it.
- Well, in the beginning, my uncle got cancer.
I had my own flat and I was working at the time
and he wouldn't take a personal carer,
so I had to move in with him, eventually,
and give up my job, give up my own flat.
And, when he died, I thought I'd take over his flat
'cause I'd been paying on the bills and everything
and the council said, "No."
So, all they offered me was a hostel and I went, "No,"
and that's how I became homeless
and I've been on the streets, now, 25 years.
- [Interviewer] 25 years?
- It's a long time.
- [Interviewer] That's a long time.
How have you survived?
- I work when I can, when the weather's right (laughs),
but, here in England, you can never tell with the weather
and, well, I just travel around the country.
- [Interviewer] You have good spirits about you.
You're positive. - Oh, yeah.
- [Interviewer] But, you've been
and you've had to seen a lot,
being on the streets for 25 years.
- Yes, I've seen a lot more than most people (laughs),
and I mean--
- [Interviewer] You've told me
you've walked around Great, England.
- Yeah, the coastline of Great Britain, twice.
- [Interviewer] And how long did it take you?
- 2 1/2 years, each time.
- [Interviewer] Now, that must have been a fun journey.
- That was, that was great, some great characters,
like working on the fishing boats.
I've done deck share work, litter picking on the beaches.
(sirens wailing) I've done,
I've done gardening, painting and decorating,
plumbing, (laughs) jack of all trades.
- [Interviewer] Now, you say now you enjoy homelessness?
- Yeah, in the beginning it was hard,
but through meeting characters on the streets,
I've learned little tricks and, you know, how to survive
and, yeah, I enjoy it now.
- [Interviewer] But, you, as we were talking, you
you know, you did try, you just adapted.
Once you weren't able to get back to your life,
you kind of adapted to the streets.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Interviewer] And, but people shouldn't have
to live like that.
- No, they shouldn't be, really.
It's 'cause when, in England, when you're single
and you're homeless, it's very hard to get anything,
'cause you're on the bottom of the list
and then, like, single women or single women with children
or disabled people, well, they get top priority.
So, if you go on the list,
if somebody comes on that's disabled,
you drop another peg down.
It shouldn't be right.
- [Interviewer] Now, since you've had 25 years,
you know a little bit about homelessness.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Interviewer] Well, how can we solve this?
How can we get, you know, less people rough sleeping?
What needs to be done?
- They should open more hostels,
like night shelters and things like that,
where people can go 'cause that would be a,
(clearing throat) excuse me,
that would be the first step on the ladder.
And then, from there, possibly get them into a bed sit,
and then, from there, like into
a single flat on their own.
And then, hopefully, they can get work from there, you know?
- So, more services? - Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Now, from what I hear,
services are being cut
and we're seeing more and more people on the streets.
- Yeah, and it's getting worse at the moment
because of the Olympics.
They want everybody off the streets, which is crazy.
- [Interviewer] Have you run into that?
- Yes, yes, yes.
I've had police with dogs, armed police.
I've had police in boats, 'cause I sleep down by the river,
down by the River Lea,
and they've come up in their boats, about 12 of them,
all armed, big machine guns and everything
and they say, "Oh, you've got one week to move."
- [Interviewer] And, they didn't do this
prior to the Olympics? - No, no.
- [Interviewer] They just left you alone?
- Yeah, 'cause they, they even used to have
the police coming down, in their tea break,
and bring me cups of coffee. - Ha!
(both laughing)
If you had three wishes, what would they be?
- Three wishes? (birds chirping)
First one would be to have a nice job,
second one would be to have a home for security
and third, no, I don't need a third,
'cause I'm always happy.
- [Interviewer] Thank you very much for talking to me.
- You're very welcome.