OLD AGE Sus,—It is most distasteful to me to quote
details of my own case and I beg you to believe me that
I only do so as a concrete example of how thousands of the elderly now exist in this country. Here, as briefly as possible, I list the unexaggerated facts as to how we live.
I am sixty-nine and my wife is sixty-four and, owing to a disability, unable to go out alone. Our total income is now £9 4s. 6d. national assistance.
Until a few weeks back it was £8 15s. 6d. Our rent is £5 5s. for a damp basement. The balance has to keep us in food, clothing, heating, etc. There is no central heating in this house and during the cold spell it cost us 3s. a day or 21s. a week for gas. Even then, we used the gas as sparingly as possible by burning only five out of the nine burners of our gas fire. We only really survived by using hot-water bottles and getting between the blankets. The extra 21s. a week for heating meant less food.
We do all our washing in our bed-sitting-room. We keep our expenses down by halving everything. We cut a cake of soap in half and sparingly use the same for washing and bathing. We divide such things as oranges and apples by halving them, and I do not think we have either of us consumed a whole apple or orange at one meal for a few. years. One great problem is shoe-mending. It is true that generally speaking the National Assistance Board will refund any expenditure of this nature, but during the time they are considering the case we have to 'tighten our belts' still more. Since boot repairers do not usually give receipt, we have to suffer the admittedly unavoidable humiliation of asking for one, thereby implying we live on national assistance. I am not merely imagining things when I say that tradesmen as well as others do treat one with less respect once they realise one is receiving assistance. I have had this bitterly brought home to me time and again.
Of the ordinary amusements and distractions taken for granted by most people we have none. It is years since we have been to a theatre or cinema. Clothing is a nightmare. We are people who like to be reasonably well dressed. My two suits are 1938 vintage. We are people who like to attend a church service on Sunday, but we simply cannot afford to . contribute to the offertory, so we very often have to stay at home. We have not
had a holiday for years, and thinking back ov years gone by is not always a substitute for th present need for a change of air, scenery an people.
These few facts are, I am sure, simply exampl of the state of life of thousands of elderly f01 all over this country and of all levels of socict As I am still a few months under seventy and hav had a pretty wide and varied experience of Iff I feel I must try somehow to get this state 0 affairs across to a wider public. Quite frankly do not know the right approach and most, if not al the people I once knew, who could help have loin since passed away. We are a lost generation.
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