Snow and Redundancies

My friend Carol got made redundant last week. She is the first of my close friends/relatives to be struck by the recession. Very nicely they have given her a months notice to find another job, but she has worked for the council for about 15 years, and her job is very specialised, so I don't think it will be easy for her.

I mention her not only because she got made redundant, but also because her financial situation is very similar to mine. Carol's partner Andy has a very well paid job, but they have a large mortgage as do we, and work to a strict monthly budget. They don't generally go on holiday, as there isn't really any spare money for it. The only differences between us is: They have one child, we have two, Carol works part time, and they are very sensible with their money.

I am more than a little concerned for Carol, and watching how they will cope with the lack of that extra income, will be something I will be doing, with more that a normal amount of interest. I do believe they have some savings, though not much, (we have none) and their situation is not quite as dire as mine and Alex, so I am sure they will be fine.

BUT....

The fact that one of my friends has lost their job as a direct consequence of the recession brings the whole thing a little nearer to home. It makes it a little more real, not just a headline on News At Ten. The recession has definitely entered my life now and not in a way I would have wanted it to.

Closer to home, it has of course been snowing. Walking the kids to school on Monday, I damaged my heel, it is excruciatingly painful to walk on, but if I put an arch support in my shoe, it makes it bearable. I went to the doctors today, and I have 'Plantar Fasciitus'. Google it, I can't explain it myself. I have to do stretching exercises, apply topical anti inflammatory, and wear this thing in my shoe, and it might go in a couple of days, or a couple of years, who knows!

The snow has made everyone under the age of 30 feel very excited. The kids have been building snowmen, and tobogganing in Woodford Park. It's great that they have found a free method of entertainment. I still can't see what all the fuss is about four inches of snow. When I was a child in Derbyshire, we had snow so deep you could touch it from an upstairs window. My Grandad had to cut a tunnel through the snow around the side of the house. Now that's snow.

One more thing I should mention in relation to finances. At the weekend, my children asked their daddy if he would take them swimming. Unfortunately due to spending slightly too much at Christmas he was grossly skint, and I didn't have any money as my bank in their infinite wisdom chose randomly to cancel my bank card without informing me. The kids wanted to go swimming so much, that they both pooled their pocket money so they could go swimming and pay for daddy too. Our children are 7 and 4, and get £1 and 50p a week respectively, for helping around the house. I was very impressed not only at their ingenious nature, but also at their selflessness, as Oscar is free to get in, he paid for Willow, and Willow with more pocket money paid for Daddy, and also had money left over to buy herself and her brother a packet of sweets each afterwards.

See, it's not how much money you have, but what you do with it that counts.