Thoughts of a carer

  June 2022 I went to Elstree a couple of weeks ago: right outside the station there was a poster: *** In my youth I banked with Barclays; in 1988 they closed a savings account of mine - which held a modest sum, perhaps £10 - without telling me, because I had not used it for a long time.  I wasn't happy with this, so moved my account to Midland Bank and was with them, and HSBC, for a further thirty years or so, before going back to Barclays. The reason for leaving HSBC at that time is more complex than that for leaving Barclays in the 80s. I shall explain. *** It was a coincidence, but in 1988 I also met my future wife. From the outset I realised she had some problems with financial management, but the ‘optimism bias’ in me kicked in and we married in 1990. Within months we started to have financial ‘hiccups’ - there would be less money to last out the month than I had expected, I would have to raid the savings account for some ‘one-off’ bill or expense. I found myself unable ...

  I was watching Talking Pictures TV on Sunday (8th May); around 4.45pm they showed a short film, made, I think, in 1960, about schools for the deaf. It was an interesting film, made in a bygone era, but one which might still have some relevance today.  *** My stepmother, Margaret, was a working State Registered Nurse when that film was made. She had done her training soon after leaving school in the late forties, and, after a year or two as a nursery nurse at an industrial laundry, she worked in hospitals in central London until the late seventies, when she moved to an occupational health role, before retiring at the end of 1991.  Margaret had grown up when things were very different to now; all respectable people attended church. She was an active Sunday School attendee, and continued - on the face of it - to uphold ‘Christian’ values, but did, when the mask slipped, have some attitudes that, at least today, would be considered cruel, or unacceptable. One such was towar...