£8....a *****DAY***** Richie...

£8 an HOUR doesn't exist down here in Torquay. Geez, if a job for that amount came up, they'd be quwueing up around Torbay to get it. Look on the Job Centre Plus website, fill in 'all jobs' in 'torquay' and see what comes up. Go into the employment agencies and hear them say "Er...well, there's nothing around at the moment..."

Ha, last time I went in one of those places, the bloke said to me.."I think they were advertising in Ann Summers the other day...."

Boy, was he sorry he said that!! :0) He then had to listen to a 20 diatribe about sex shops which started with...."Excuse me, but...do I LOOK like the kind of woman who'd step into a sex shop???"

I fingered my pearl necklace whilst looking him straight in the eye.....He was young, so he didn't see anything wrong with those kind of shops on the High Street...but by the time I left I had him almost signing up to get them removed from our High Streets for the damage they're doing to little children alone, who walk past those window displays, now thinking that's all a woman is about...

It was kinda funny in a way...but also weird, in the weirdest of ways.......

Many, many carers do far, far more than I do, Richie...to the detriment of their own health...and whilst I'd imagine none of them do it for the money alone, ALL of them should be allowed to have a decent wage or benefit coming in to support them in what they do, as you say.

I'm sorry I had to shock you into seeing how the other half live, but hell, I've been on both sides of the coin here, never rich mind, but often surrounded by those who were in years gone past...but on both sides I always had compassion for others, because I was raised by a highly compassionate man who struggled all his lifelong and died without even the money to bury himself...Yet my Dad had worked hard all his life, been an Optician, but was double crossed by a business partner who sold the shops from under Dad's nose, having just had a 'gentleman's agreement', as many folks did back then. My Dad was honest, so he assumed others were too. He learnt a hard lesson which saw him working into his 70s, and crying one night when he had to ask his son to help him pay his electricity bill.

Life spits you out and chews you up sometimes, you know...despite you possibly thinking you have a comfortable life ahead of you for the rest of your days...

NEVER feel safe, Richie, not anymore, not these days...and never spit on those less fortunate than you, because one day, they may be the very same people who'll step forward and be the first to offer you a helping hand of friendship...