Never mind the benefits payments didn’t cover the 40 cigarettes a day I needed to keep sane; I finally had a roof over my head. The AA meetings weren’t so bad, and I felt strangely good about going straight. They placed me with one of those landlords who specialise in the hard-to-house – high rent, small room, collect their money straight from the council. This all-bills paid arrangement suited me fine. The odd roach intrusion and occasional mouse didn’t bother me much. Nor did the man who thought we were aboard a ship or the girl who tested out prospective partners for the shower sex record every night.
These things became a source of comfort, the reassurance of a routine, a sense of place.