I had the misfortune – actually, it was more a fortune – to spend about 20 minutes sheltering in a doorway with an elderly lady. It was horizontal rain and gusty icy winds out there. So we got talking. As you do. Well, as you do around these parts.
I learned that the lady had three jobs to go to six days a week. As far as could gather she was only paid minimum wage. From 7:30 in the morning she would spend 3 hours in, er, let’s call it ‘company A’ cleaning offices. At 10:30 she would leave and had to walk a few streets to arrive at ‘company B’ for 10:45. She’d clean for a further 2 hours until 12:45. She could then either make it to home to do the housework, or would go shopping. She didn’t have long and was on a tight time budget, because she was back cleaning again from 5:30 at company C over in a completely different part of Liverpool. Typically she’d finish there at 8:30 and was done for the day. She’d go home and cook for her and “her fella”, watch a bit of telly and then get to bed knackered in time to get up early to start the whole process all over again.
Her fella was a night security guard, typically working 11pm to 8am, four days on, four days off. So, they would snatch little stolen moments together before parting to head off and graft to make ends meet. Sundays were precious because they were quite often both off and had ‘their time’.
To add to the confusion, this poor lady was paid fortnightly by one company, calendar monthly by another, and 4 weekly by the third. This meant that income was coming in at various times, and had to be cobbled together in order to pay the bills.
Now, I suspect that this lady is not alone in having to hold down three different jobs and rush between them, just to make ends meet. Even jobs at the major supermarkets all seem to be part time, typically 10 or 16 hours a week. 23 hours for the lucky ones. I’m guessing because of the tax incentives that surround providing part time employment rather than full, these are the only hours that are available to those without extensive skills or qualifications.
This area really is dry for full time employment. The more affluent areas (“down South”) use the 10, 16, or 23 hour jobs as ‘supplementary’ (“pin money”) second income whilst there is already one strong and huge wage coming into the household. However, these are the main jobs up here. And, they literally are minimum wage. Not living wage, minimum wage.
It seemed to me that this lady I was sheltering with, really was in the business of having to juggle to make ends meet. And, as I said, she is typical.
This means that every time the bills go up, especially the fuel and energy bills, as in basic gas and electricity, she (and her fella) struggle a little bit more in order that the fat cats rake in their huge bonuses and the shareholders enjoy their dividend payments. Oh, and of course, the renewable companies take their huge handouts to build their pointless and inefficient wind farms, and the costs are passed on to those who really cannot afford to pay their rapidly increasing bills because their wages are staying still.
People like the lady I was sheltering with who struggles to make ends meet cannot afford to subsidise this stupidity.
As usual with people who are just treading water – like my companion sharing the shelter – all they ever have is dreams. Yep, she’d love to win the lottery. Not billions, but enough to have an easier life. Enough so she didn’t have to get her clothes from a charity shop and most of her shopping from Poundland.
She’ll never win the lottery of course. And she’ll never know a life full of luxurious holidays, large homes, expensive restaurants, or all of those things that another part of society takes for granted.
In reality of course, the poor are getting poorer whilst the rich are getting richer. The disparity between those who ‘have’ and those who ‘have not’ is getting beyond a joke. The lifestyles they can afford is as different as it is for those who live in the ‘third world’ with not much more than the clothes they are wearing.
There is always a point when you squeeze a stone and there is no more blood left to come out of it. I believe this point has been reached by those already struggling to make ends meet, and we are getting near the hour when a revolution is needed and fully justified in order that the ‘have nots’ can simply have food in their belly.
England's England 