Invisible Soup
Ten years ago, following a relationship break-up, I found myself literally adrift, living in a tiny twenty foot boat with only 12 feet by 6 feet of living space (roughly 8 square metres) into which was crammed my bed, kitchen, cooker, toilet and shower. It was February and the steel boat had no wood burner. On freezing nights the cabin temperature would be the same as outdoors and I would wake to a ceiling covered in frost or ice. As the sun rose the ice would begin to melt, the water raining desultorally on my face. My only (and sporadic) income up until that point had been from a theatre company operated by my ex-partner and myself. Having broken up, I felt I had no alternative but to part from the company and found myself suddenly with no income whatsoever and in the worst period of winter. I have always struggled to claim state benefits. The imposed humiliation, bullying and control has always been unbearable to me and I soon clashed angrily with the Jobcentre staff and droppe...