I was just about to make a post over at Guido’s blog regarding MP’s expense claims and how I have nothing when I thought I would make a blog post myself documenting just how badly I live. I apologise for the quality of the photographs; my camera, like its owner, is old, decrepit, and not long for this world.
This is my bedroom.
Jacqui Smith claims £611 for another bed and mattress. Well, I don’t have a bed at all. I sleep on a mattress that I luckily found in the street outside. Prior to that, I had to make do with a cheap inflatable one that I bought from Argos. The chair is one of two I found outside too. When I found then they were covered in grime from being left on someone’s patio for years. They’ve cleaned up a treat. The curtains/blinds are by the Financial Times (my favourite newspaper). It was a hell of a struggle cleaning the walls, but I did manage to get most of the graffiti off; however, if you can still see the marks and indentations in the plaster work.
This is the kitchen
When the council made their half arsed attempt to renovate this flat they did update the kitchen, but made a bit of a hash about it. However, what is important here is not the state of the kitchen, but what is not in it. The only means of cooking food is the steamer I bought. I do not have any thing else. I don’t have a fridge, or anything else.
This is my main room
It is where I spend the most time. Again the thing to be noted is the complete absence of anything.
When I was imprisoned at the hands of ‘doctor’ Ferdinand Jonsson at Mile End hospital, I was occasionally allowed to return home for an hour. Everyone that accompanied me was shocked at the conditions that I have to live under. My flat was officially noted in my file as being ‘uninhabitable’. Jonsson (even though he had never seen the flat) tried to use the fact that I was living in extremely poor conditions as evidence that I was psychotic. I suppose the reasoning went along the lines that only loonies would choose to live like that or that I was too feeble minded to live any better. It was also noted in my file that I should be helped. However, once I managed to win my freedom at a tribunal, I was refused any help.
I don’t want to be ‘given’ anything. The thing is that I should never been here and certainly not under these conditions. If the government had not stolen my livelihood I would have been living in my own property and with possessions that I have been paid for out of my own earnings.
I was not without skills. I do not have any drug or alcohol problems. I have not suffered sudden mental retardation (yes, Jonsson tried to use that one too!) I have done nothing wrong. Yet the government seeks to blame me for what happened when all along it was just that I was an innocent bystander victim of their drive-by policies.
As always: All I ever wanted to do is earn a living in peace.