Radley TSV 19/5/20

ShoppingTelly

Help Support ShoppingTelly:

Vienna said:
Throughout this pandemic there have been lots of people laid off without pay or having to claim Universal credit and there have been lots of students aged 16 and above who haven`t attended college or Uni and who say they`re bored, struggling for money or feel like prisoners in their own homes. Yet farmers had to fly in hundreds of Romanians to pick crops because they can`t get Brits to do it.
When I was a young teen we chomped at the bit for potato picking season so we could earn extra money and yes it was dirty back breaking work but back then it was nearly all done by hand whereas nowadays they have lots of machinery to help the pickers.
Click to expand...

I used to work on a veg stall in the local market whilst in school. Had to be there bright eyed in the morning, and left around 6 at night. Loved every minute of it. Did not earn much, think it was around £1.50 for the day! Went home exhausted every Saturday evening, wondering what to spend my riches on. Happy days.
 
Vienna said:
Throughout this pandemic there have been lots of people laid off without pay or having to claim Universal credit and there have been lots of students aged 16 and above who haven`t attended college or Uni and who say they`re bored, struggling for money or feel like prisoners in their own homes. Yet farmers had to fly in hundreds of Romanians to pick crops because they can`t get Brits to do it.
When I was a young teen we chomped at the bit for potato picking season so we could earn extra money and yes it was dirty back breaking work but back then it was nearly all done by hand whereas nowadays they have lots of machinery to help the pickers.
Click to expand...
Our younger daughter spent her second uni summer holiday picking beans. She was one of four Brits who started & the only one who stuck it out. The others were all eastern Europeans & worked extremely hard. She said it was an awful mix of exhausting & boring, needless to say she hasn't eaten a runner bean since!
 
Anna said:
I used to work on a veg stall in the local market whilst in school. Had to be there bright eyed in the morning, and left around 6 at night. Loved every minute of it. Did not earn much, think it was around £1.50 for the day! Went home exhausted every Saturday evening, wondering what to spend my riches on. Happy days.
Click to expand...
Yes I did similar. I worked crop picking on a local farm during school holidays or after school during the lighter months when certain crops were in season and I also worked Saturdays and Sundays in a newsagents and had to be there at 5am to make up the bags for the paper boys.
I saw a tv interview with a farmer who was afraid he`d lose his crops because he couldn`t get enough people to help to pick them. He`d spent time training 20 people from his locality who had either been furloughed or made redundant but only 7 of them bothered returning the next day.
 
loveallthingsitalian said:
I wonder if there is any chance that both individuals and the government will remember that we may have coped better if we hadn’t decimated our manufacturing in our quest for cheap and even cheaper goods.
If we want people to have a proper living wage for these UK made goods we as end users will have to pay more, workers will have to knuckle down and actually produce well made items, and government will have to stop paying out benefits to wasters and those who have never put a penny into the system together with making everyone and I mean everyone, mega, small and everything in between pay their proper taxes.
Click to expand...

Sadly our manufacturing industry has declined and disappeared over the last 30 odd years. We were front and foremost for most quality and luxury goods, most of household appliances were made here, but as China has become a super power they have become the world's manufacturer too. Cheap goods, cheap wages. British 'brands' like Dyson upsticks here and took his operation overseas. We had apprenticeships for engineering, plumbing, electrical, mechanics, printing - everything, but subsequent generations were told that education education education was the way to go, well, that got us a long way didn't it ? more than half dont finish university, and refuse to accept a job under a certain wage level, yet want to be 'famous' for little or no work and get megga money into the bargain. So, all we're left with is the service industry and we have to employ from Europe because they work for low wages.

I remember in the early 70's holding 3 jobs down ! yet today our village newsagent had to stop the delivery service because the kids were letting him down as they wouldn't get out of bed !
 
Its governments that decide these things. Training a country to be producers takes money lots of investment financially something that the more far right leaning won't do. We are a service industry which is not always well paid or highly skilled
 
I think apprenticeships should be introduced for school leavers, also make universities free again were the young adults that have amazing, brilliant minds can go on to further education and not based on simply wether you can afford education or not, start paying men and woman who want to learn to become nurses and not rely on the cheap labour of importing nurses for cheap wages, obviously it won’t happen over night but we can make this country self sufficient again, not rely on cheap imported goods, we could actually make our own British made goods.
 
I remember a few years back they tried to do an apprenticeship scheme paying companies to take on and train. What happened was companies signed up and took on 16-year-olds but never let them finish the courses just getting more 16-year-olds. It had something to do with the minimum wage once they hit 18 their wages went up a lot of the companies did not want to pay. Cheap labour. Not saying that all companies did that.

Some years back the UK suddenly lost interest in manufacturing the bright new future was all going to be computer technology and that was what the government started pushing towards. They threw the towel in and decided not to compete with China, India etc for manufacturing. Even the so-called high-end clothes designer brands are made in China etc.
 
My parents always quoted "Buy cheap, buy twice", not because they had enough money to always buy expensive items but because they believed in using their money wisely. Sadly we're now a throw away society so buying cheap is the option for many & people aren't prepared to consider a better made alternative. Our high schools are also not doing practical subjects at exam level but insisting on students taking German & Geography! I absolutely love The Repair Shop on the beeb & find it really sad that children won't have the opportunities the gorgeous Will was given to discover what talents they possess.
 
There is something badly wrong with an education system which encourages people to do worthless degrees and that a high percentage of graduates are McDonalds workers. It’s just a way of putting off the day when they will actually have to do a days work.
 
In my parents day they had very little spare money so whenever they did want to buy anything then it had to be made to last and of good quality. Nowadays people change their fashion/furniture/decor/cars/phones etc several times over and a lot of people don`t care if something is made to last or not because they intend to change it anyway.
Teens only want to wear something once or twice and then buy something else and whereas my generation grew up with few new clothes and a lot of those were home made, nowadays they have bulging wardrobes and frequently very expensive tastes in trainers, sports wear and accessories.
 
I reckon if you have worked and earned the money then spend it or save it as you wish but I don’t really understand how parents who are financially supporting 30+ year olds can sit back and watch them spend £150+ on a pair of trainers or a night out whilst they are working their asses off to pay a mortgage and put food on the table. Don’t they see that they arent doing them any favours by not making them stand on their own two feet.
 
Just before last Christmas we visited MR V`s son and his partner. His partner has a 15 year old daughter and during conversation I asked her what she wanted for Christmas ? She told me she wanted trainers so I (naively) said oh well you`re easily suited aren`t you if all you want is trainers ? Then her Mum said for her daughter to show me a photo of the trainers on the website and they were some designer brand and cost £350 !!!!
No idea whether she got them or not.
 
That purse has been on the website for about a week now, I was surprised they put it up so early, it’ll be almost two weeks come TSV day.
 
Twilight said:
My parents always quoted "Buy cheap, buy twice", not because they had enough money to always buy expensive items but because they believed in using their money wisely. Sadly we're now a throw away society so buying cheap is the option for many & people aren't prepared to consider a better made alternative. Our high schools are also not doing practical subjects at exam level but insisting on students taking German & Geography! I absolutely love The Repair Shop on the beeb & find it really sad that children won't have the opportunities the gorgeous Will was given to discover what talents they possess.
Click to expand...


Hands off Will ! I saw him first 😍😍😍😍❤❤❤❤

Our parents weren't used to having money to throw around. Dad worked, Mum stayed home to bring up the family, school uniforms and new clothes were bought with Provident Cheques that could be spent in certain shops - no credit cards back then, although Hire Purchase was available for things like furniture. My parents still had furniture that wasn't antique, but stuff they had for over 40 years. If it wasn't broke it didn't get replaced. Everything had a function. No restaurants or fast food outlets, so 'eating out' was a packet of crisps and a Vimto in a pub garden or Childrens Room, while someone was playing a piano in the grown ups bar.

I'm still in touch with a dozen classmates from the early 60's and we often discuss how 'we were all the same in terms of background, and no-one had more than anyone else' so jealousy wasn't an issue. And what a great childhood we all had.
 
Brissles, that sounds like my family but my Mum did work. The Provident cheque used to buy school uniform the blazer that was bought for me in 1st year of secondary school was too big but it was meant to last until 6th year yes sleeves turned up and let down as I grew into it. Yes, it did last until 6th year. A treat was being taken to a chip shop to sit-in and eat with a real bottle of coca-cola to drink.
 
I would say that most of us growing up in 50/60‘s and even early 70’s came from similar backgrounds where parents scrimped and saved to give us birthday or Christmas treats possibly without us realising what they did without to achieve this. My gran worked in a factory long past pension age and walked to save the bus fare to be used for treats.

We are probably much better off and buy more unnecessary things in a year than our parents spent in a lifetime but I think we at least have twinges of guilt at how much we spend. I fortunately as each generation progressives they are not prepared to do without anything they want no matter what circumstances they find themselves in.

sorry if all this sounds a bit like the Hovis ad when you could go to a dance, get fish and chips on the way home and still have change from 6d. Ha ha.
 
brissles said:
Read an article in one of today's paper that made sense........... "have handbags become obsolete? we haven't needed them for our daily walk, and have stuffed a card, keys and purse in our pockets, so is a handbag necessary anymore"
Click to expand...
I take a handbag on my daily walk!!!!!! A small crossbody bag for keys, tissues and an emergency face mask in case I turn a corner and stumble upon Armageddon.
 

Similar threads

SUPERCOOLWILLOW
Radley TSV 29/04/24
Replies
1
Views
543
SUPERCOOLWILLOW
SUPERCOOLWILLOW
Sazza
Radley TSV 18/12/23
Replies
11
Views
1,991
Grizelda
Grizelda
Sazza
Ultrasun TSV 19/3/24
Replies
12
Views
1,803
JulieB
J
Sazza
Tarte TSV 19/2/24
Replies
13
Views
1,947
alisonwt
A
Sazza
Radley TSV 19/10/22
Replies
8
Views
1,993
Toril
Toril

Latest posts

Back
Top