Jayson | Point Chevalier

“Jayson, and Pt Chev, but I grew up in Massey, out West Auckland, and then I stayed up in the Waitākere with my step-mum, and the thing is, you need a car if you stay up Waitākere, because it’s miles away from everything, so I’ve been in Pt Chev for probably about 10 years, off and on.

I like it. It’s close to the supermarket. I need to come up here quite often and see lots of my friends that stay in the area. So, it’s pretty cool. My friend Brian, that’s just gone into Countdown, every time he sees me, he says to me; oh do you want anything from Countdown? He’s a really good person. I’ve seen him come up here all the time, and he always, not once has he not said to me, oh do you want anything from Countdown?  So, he’s a really cool, good person. 

Do I think it’s important that people are kind and generous?  Yeah it depends on, like I’ve got some friends that always ask me, oh do you have a cigarette, or do you have any alcohol, and I’ve got a couple of friends that pay me back, when they’ve got money or cigarettes or whatever, and I’ve got some friends that turn around and don’t pay me back. So, I turn around and say, oh nah, sorry you didn’t give me a smoke back, so you’ll have to ask someone else. It just makes you feel good, if you’re kind to people, they’ll be kind to you, but like I said, I’ve got some people that I know that always want, want, want all the time, and so now I just say, oh nah, sorry I’m not going to give you my last cigarette to keep you happy. I want to have my last cigarette myself, to make myself happy. So that’s the thing I learned. It took me a long time to say, no I’m not going to give you a cigarette, but one of my friends said to me that she used to be so caring, and kind to people, and she just got sick of giving, giving, giving all the time, because she never got back, and so I said, oh yeah well I think I better do it.

I grew up in Massey. I liked it out there. I grew up in Massey, and I ended up homeless. I was homeless for a few years, and I didn’t really like it, but too lazy, too young and stupid, worrying about alcohol and marijuana, which hey, I don’t do marijuana anymore. I just drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. 

I just came up for a walk. I usually sit just over there on the side, and put my sign out, do you have any spare coins, please and with the money, I turn around, go into Countdown and buy some food. So, I’m well known for putting my sign out, and sometimes people just say to me, oh we’ll go and buy some food for you, because they think; oh no, I’m not going to give him money because he’s going to go and buy alcohol or buy a cigarette. But I’ve had a good day today. I woke up, didn’t have any breakfast, so maybe I’ll have the sausages when my friend Brian comes out, and have those for breakfast. I’ve got food at home. I stay down Huia Road just on the other side there, but I’m looking at trying to get my own place because the lady I’m staying with, she’s lazy. Like, she can’t do the dishes, and she’s got two dogs. Just messy.

Keep away from drugs and alcohol, and cigarettes. Well, I don’t get into marijuana anymore, because I’ll be 47 next month, and I haven’t had that stuff since I was like 25, and I was homeless and I busted my wrist what would have been about 10 years ago. And I had a tattoo here that my sister’s boyfriend did, and I was going to get it covered up, but I busted my wrist here when I was homeless, and they couldn’t cover it up, so about two months ago, I got it covered up in New Lynn. Cost me $100. So, this November when I get my Christmas loan, I’m going to get some colour put on it. So, I’m looking forward to that.”