Steven

I’ve lived in quite a few places, to get a better life, but eventually I came back to Hackney. Maybe the history brought me back.

The worst place I ever lived was a flat I had for six years in Bromley-by-Bow. There were lots of break-ins and car thefts. Once I woke up around 2.30am wondering what was up, because my dog was barking like mad and the police were in my house. Some small kids were trying to get in through my kitchen window.

My favourite experience as a child was the time my father moved to the country, to a place called Woodbridge. He bought a new farm and we lived there for five or six years with my younger brothers. We had a lovely big house, land, horses, ponies, goats. Unfortunately, after a while, everything fizzled out, and we came back to Hackney.

Money can’t buy you love, but it can buy you happiness. It is different. Love is the ultimate thing, isn’t it? There is only one word for love, and only one meaning.

I started going to church about a year ago. I bumped into it when I volunteered to help in a nativity play. It was fun, to be honest, and the church was very beautiful. I decided to go every now and then to be a better person. I don’t even know if I believe in God. I don’t read the Bible, though I have tried to. My family thinks I’m an idiot but I love it - I really enjoy it.

If I were to describe myself in 10 words or less, I would say I am smart, enthusiastic, excitable, hyperactive, polite and lazy sometimes...

My greatest pleasure is eating rice pudding. Or waking up to see another day. I have pleasure in my life.

I am proud of my daughter. She is 23 years old, she has got her own car, she is a school teacher, she has money, and I am proud of her. I am proud because her mother and I never had a relationship, but she has still turned out so well.

Love at first sight is not a myth. It’s easy to fall in and out of love. If love at first sight were a myth, it would not happen the way it does.

The happiest moment of my life was when my daughter got the chance to live. When my daugher was 15 years old, she was in a coma for four days. To sit by her and see her wake up was the happiest moment in my life.

I have not found who I am, but I’m still looking.