Lucky vendor jets to Tenerife to start new life in the sun

By Max Daly
A former Big Issue¹⁾ vendor is still pinching himself after swapping the windswept streets of Britain for the sun-soaked island of Tenerife. Geoff Hunter, 43, (pictured) slept rough for 12 years. But his fortunes changed when he was offered a job as a master baker on the island off the coast of north Africa. The ex-vendor, used to sleeping on concrete on Bournemouth’s seafront in sub-zero temperatures, is now living in a flat minutes from a sandy beach. “At first, I thought it was a windup,” said Hunter, whose flight to Tenerife in September was his first trip by air. “I got off the plane and the heat just hit me.” Harry Malone, a Jobs, Education and Training worker at The Big Issue’s Bournemouth office, found the post after discovering Hunter had trained as a baker before becoming homeless. “Usually when you’re down people kick you. When they give you a hand-up it’s a surprise,” Malone said.

noot 1 Big Issue: Engelse daklozenkrant