I've not been working
for just over a year.
Prior to that I was working
on building sites.
I already had an underlying condition
but my health deteriorated.
I've got chronic back pain
nearly all the time,
blurred vision,
bad feet.
And I've got the lung condition.
My most nicest thing is to spend your
time with people that you get on with.
And since I've been living here,
that's been quite easy for me.
I play quite a lot of darts.
We play poker.
I still enjoy walking, but
I can't do it as well as I used to.
I enjoy spending a lot
of time with my partner.
And when me and Teresa are together,
neither of us have got any money, but
we go out and we entertain ourselves.
And everything, just lately,
has been really good.
At the moment I'm just a
stay at home mum, with my two sons.
Ryan's ten.
Renell is one.
Before my son, Renell, was born
I was doing care work,
and then I was doing eyelashes.
I still do that occasionally.
When my son goes into nursery,
I'll look at
part-time or full-time work.
I enjoy probably going out to eat
or going to the cinema or bowling.
Or even just like staying in and
relaxing with the children,
or my friend Esther,
or my cousins, or my mum
will come round occasionally.
I'm medically retired
due to health issues,
since probably four years.
I get tired.
I can't walk too far for too long.
I've got issue with both feet as well
and I've got a lung problem.
But as long as I take things easy and
do things in my own pace, I'm okay.
I love being with my granddaughter.
I like being with friends.
I like going to my little groups
for arts and crafts and knitting.
I do little hats and cardigans
for babies or younger children.
And I like to do crystal art as well,
just started doing that.
I come to live here
because I was homeless.
I was sofa surfing.
Sometimes I slept on the beach.
The first time I saw this place,
I actually refused it because it was bare,
there was no carpet, it was a bit dirty.
But I spent days and days cleaning it.
Hyde managed to buy me a bed.
They got me the cooker and a fridge.
And slowly I got the
other things for myself.
It's the first time I've ever
had anyone help me out like that.
And first time ever in my life.
There's Jo who comes in daily during
the week, and if you've got any issues,
you say to her, can you attend to this.
And there's another lady, Melanie Smith.
Absolutely brilliant.
She's been in here on several ocassions
just to help me fill forms out
for Universal Credit.
Because I'm dyslexic,
because I can't read and write properly.
When I moved in, it was quite empty.
The walls and everything was just
white, and there was no flooring.
So, someone from Hyde was able to give
me carpet in one room and a wardrobe.
And then, in the front room
I did some panelling as well.
There's a park just outside.
The children can play out and not
have to worry about the main road.
And then I can also look outside
the balcony and...
see my older son, or if I can't see him
I'll call him and he can hear me.
So it's good.
But the play area fence has been
broken since before I lived here.
And there's not really
much to do in the park.
So, more playing equipment for
the children would be good.
I got a good feeling
when I saw this flat.
It did need a bit of work doing
to it, but I knew that anyway.
And I was prepared to get that done.
And I'm quite happy
with the flat itself.
If I'm sitting out there on the
balcony, you've got the park downstairs.
So you could just sit there
people watching.
And it's quiet at the back,
so it's good for sleep.
I love it here, but at this end
of the estate it's quite a good
walk to the nearest bus stop.
The big issues really
are with the maintenance.
There's hardly any cleaning going on.
Then the lift will break down
and that could be weeks with no lift.
And to phone up, they tell you
they'll give you a call back
which very seldom happens.
Their rent service to pay
on phone, is excellent.
But anything else...
no.
I wake up quite early,
get my body moving,
because I get stiff as a board
when I wake up.
Cooking is a main part of my day.
I walk down into Midhurst, go to the
local Sainsbury's and I get myself
a bit of shopping twice a week.
I've now planted mint out in the garden.
I've got basil in the kitchen, and
I've built myself a bird table.
I love doing things like that.
If any of my family come over here,
we have a cup of tea and a sandwich,
or if the children are here, we'll
buy cakes for 'em and all that.
I do a lot of babysitting for one of my
daughters because she's a single parent.
When my girlfriend, Teresa's here,
we normally try and go out somewhere
every day, even if it's for 10
minutes or half an hour walking.
We try and go every day somewhere.
My son, Ryan,
I'll wake him up around 7.30.
And he'll get ready on his own.
So I can just sort Renell out.
And then around 12, 1,
I'll probably get ready to do shopping
or whatever I need to do.
I'll probably start
making dinner around 5.
Have dinner around 7 and then
just get Renell ready for bed
and do a bit of tidying up.
I'll probably do someone's eyelashes
like a couple times a week.
I just enjoy being able to focus on
doing something simple
but still, it's quite difficult.
So like a puzzle.
Seeing the end result is always nice.
Two days a week
I've got my granddaughter.
She's 15 months.
So that's quite a busy time,
entertaining her and getting food.
But I love it.
My day starts early then.
I'll get up about 6.30.
And then Tuesdays, a bit more relaxing.
Go to my club in the afternoon.
Saturday, I've got another
group in Newington Green.
And then on the way back,
might go for a coffee
with a friend of mine.
Some Sundays, family.
Go to theirs for dinner, or they come
to me, or we might have a meal out.
And I like my bit of
television of a night.
Catching up with stuff.
Probably too much because I end up
going to bed about 12, half 12.
I'm not really a lover of going
food shopping too much now.
That can be hard work.
The relationship with all the
neighbours here are very good.
A real sense of community.
There is one person that is
upsetting all the other residents.
It doesn't upset me because I can
shut my door.
But because we're a community,
I will try and resolve the issue.
I spend a lot of time
with my grandchildren.
I've got four daughters.
I did have a son, but he passed away.
I am one of 11.
Obviously in every family you get
siblings that you do or don't talk to.
Sometimes I feel quite sad.
Sometimes I feel quite
frustrated and emotional.
It would be lovely to rekindle some of
the relationship with those people that
I don't get on with so much anymore.
I probably spend the most
time with my friend Esther,
who lives in the next building.
Or probably my mum as well, because
she'll come here after work sometimes.
My partner was here yesterday as well.
It's been different, Renell as a
baby, compared to Ryan as a baby.
I'm just looking forward to him
to go to nursery so that
he can be a bit more structured.
And then with my free time
I'd focus more on my eyelashes.
But, Ryan's very helpful with Renell.
And if I wanted to go out, my mum
she might babysit or whatever.
My granddaughter, I waited for a
long time and the moment I set eyes
on her, I was in love with her.
And we've got such a good
rapport with each other.
I speak to a good three of my
friends most days on the phone.
I see my bestie probably
three times a week.
My friend downstairs, I'll
go down there or she comes up
here a couple of times a week.
I have little gatherings every so often.
Because it's so much cheaper than going
anywhere and everyone brings something
with them as well.
And I quite like that.
I couldn't live with anyone else now.
I love just not having to foot
around other people, or watch
a certain programme because
I know they want to watch it.
Yeah, I like being on my own.
I had a back injury when I was 27.
And now I'm older it's come
back and bit me on the arse.
As for the lung condition,
that's been with me since 2018.
With the feet, I can
hardly walk some days.
When every step
makes me want to cry,
there's nothing you can do.
You just sit down and let it pass.
That's when I get depressed.
That's when I get the anxiety that
I can't do these things anymore.
And that's very hard.
I always try and think positively.
Sometimes when I'm depressed,
I don't realise I'm depressed
until it's too late.
So then I shut myself in a
room, make sure I shut the
curtains, and it gets dark.
But since I've been here,
some of that has lifted.
That's how good it's been
being here because it's made me
realise there's much more to do.
I'd say my health is
quite good in general.
I don't feel like I have much
takeaway, but I will occasionally.
Hopefully, when Renell's in nursery,
I can have some time to go to the gym.
Having, like, food in the cupboards
and the bills are paid, when
that's all done then I feel a
bit more relaxed and everything.
When the house is just messy and
things are all over the place and I know
I've got to do a lot of things,
it just kinda
makes me feel
scrambled, so...
when I know it's all sorted and like
everything's paid,
I'm kind of relaxed, 'cause
I know the basics are done.
I'm virtually...
mostly in a good mood.
I am on antidepressants,
so that does help.
But yeah, I do try and look on
the bright side of things, not
getting stressed out too much.
I was a chain smoker to be quite honest.
Then I got diagnosed with COPD
which is a lung condition.
And I knew I had to stop smoking
because I'd lost a couple of
family members with the same thing.
But I do vape and that's
constantly in me hands.
Apart from the COPD,
I've got a foot condition.
I've also suffered with tinnitus.
I am actually classed as disabled.
But it's just, you know,
you've got to get on with it.
There's nothing...
that can be done.
My time at school was terrible.
I was no good at exams whatsoever.
And it was only through my girls that
they said that you're probably dyslexic.
And when I was a little boy,
my dad was quite violent towards me.
I fought back.
And it wasn't until I got
into my 30s that I realised
my behavioural problems
could be ADHD as well.
Doing building work and forestry work,
I miss it immensely.
I miss the camaraderie.
I miss the actual physical attributes of it
because that's what kept me fit
all the way through my life,
doing a physical job.
But then it's also what was my downfall
because I I tried too hard, and I'd done
too much, and eventually it broke me.
I don't work, but when I did
I was doing care work.
And I enjoyed working with the people
I was looking after, because they was
similar to my age...
and they were nice.
During school,
I found just getting to school on time difficult.
I just wanted to live on my own,
so that's what I was excited for.
I was 16 when I got my own place.
It was a mother-and-baby unit.
So it wasn't exactly what I wanted.
But it was okay.
It was better than being at home.
Now I'm just excited for Renell
to get into nursery, so that I'll have
a bit of free time to do whatever,
and look at going into work.
I worked from soon as I could at 16.
I wasn't academic,
couldn't wait to leave school.
So I passed Woolworths,
I went in and I got the job.
When I was 18, I applied
for a job at William Hill.
And I loved it.
I loved that job.
And so many different characters.
And I was there for seven years.
And then I stopped that to have my son.
And then as he got a bit
older I done part-time work.
Worked in a baker's, I done bar work.
And then when he started school
I started doing childminding,
which I enjoyed as well.
Cleaning jobs, things like that.
I don't miss working now, because
my life is full enough for what
I'm able to do and what I can do.
I'm looking forward to doing
things that retired people do.
I'm looking forward to doing things
that I haven't done yet.
And I don't want to be too ill to do them.
And that's a really important thing.
There's more places
I want to go and see.
I've never seen Hadrian's Wall.
That's been a dream of mine for years.
I just haven't got around to it...
because I've got to be able to afford it.
But if that all works out, I'm
gonna be a very happy person.
There's nothing else I need.
As long as I'm happy and
as healthy as I can be.
You can't ask for anything else.
In the future, I'd like to
have a business that is making
a decent amount of money.
And have my own car.
I think I'd probably need support with
just...
like, childcare.
For the future, I'm not too bothered.
I don't want anything
more than I've got.
As long as I can pay my bills,
got a roof over me head,
visit Ireland occasionally.
I'm probably saving up
a little bit now
to get an electric scooter.
So I can whizz around like all of
them on two wheels, or three wheels.