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Another day

gustavski profile image
35 Replies

another dollar as our friends say in the land of the free.

I just got back from shopping at a supermarket called Morrisons. my grocery bill was over £47. This was the usual stuff milk, bread, cheese etc; but no meat. Oh and a pack of frozen fish.

the last time I was in England in the late 1960s the average weekly wage was around £30 per week. Seems like things have changed.

gus

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gustavski profile image
gustavski
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35 Replies

I started work in the 60s. .my wage was 4 pounds a week. ..9 shillings of that whent to national insurance. .3 pound to my mum....and the rest was for me☺ luckily I didn't smoke more then 10 a week in those days....

wasn't to ĺong before I found I was worth more then that.....and I could smoke 20 a week.....

yep the more I made the more I could smoke....and I could buy the expensive looking ones..

Andy.

in reply to

Remember Sobrani colours Andy? We could buy them in fives from a posh tobacconist Shop in Manchester. That shop smelled divine. Thought me and four friends were very grown up having one each in the pictures....then later we advanced to Passing Clouds - weren't they the flat ones that had a nice odour?

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to

Hi Sailer,

I was in the MN until I left to live and work in Germany. Where you also a seaman?

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to

Hi Sailer

I take it you are not the youngest kid on the block, the same as yours truly.

Everyone and their granny smoked in those days.

The cinemas were blue with smoke as were the upper decks on buses.

Pubs, restaurants, cafes.

No wonder we have breathing problems.

gus

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to gustavski

Now here's a thing. Are people having more or less breathing problems nowadays.

I don't know how old or young the people on this site are but I remember as a child the 40s and 50s.

This was before the Clean Air Act and the smog was yellow, you sometimes couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Practically everyone smoked, lots of people were in heavy industry and breathing dust especially the coal miners.

I repeat, is it any wonder the older generation have breathing problems. maybe we should sue the government.... ha ha

gus

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to gustavski

still can't get those ******************* emoticons.

They do help to know if one is being serious or flippant.

gus

in reply to gustavski

I was a child in the 50s living in London. ..and i have often said to people that ...you couldn't see your hand in front of your face....some days I think this was actually ture...I remember it well.

I know up north people used to call London. ..the smoke.

Andy.

in reply to gustavski

I do remember those days very well...and I thought it was very mean of government ban smoking in all these places😑..

I remembered reading somewhere that smoking was good for you...and children where encouraged to smoke going back centuries. ..

so why !!! 😕

Have you been away for some time?

I know...it's painful. Don't look back - ever! Supermarket own brand stuff is cheaper and nothing at all wrong with it.

According to the latest Which? report, Morrisons has overtaken ‘everyday low prices’ pioneer Asda as the cheapest big four supermarket. This is largely due to Morrisons cutting the price of 1,000 everyday products earlier this year. Own brands are good value from all the Supermarkets.

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to

I was in Germany, almost 3 years in Leverkusen and 36 years in Berlin

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to gustavski

Sorry I didn't say Hi, so Hi

gus

in reply to gustavski

Neither did I so Hello and good morning to you gus :-)

You would of course be out of touch! Is grocery shopping cheaper in Germany?

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to

Hi,

You ask about price comparisons.

I know it sounds stupid but I don't compare.

If I go into a grocery store I take what I need. That's it.

gus

in reply to gustavski

O.K.

I was curious because of what you said in your original post.

Have a lovely day.

knitter profile image
knitter

Hi gus, my first wage packet in the 60s was a fiver a week.....you must have known some rich people..mind you the Equal Pay Act hadn't come in then .

in reply to knitter

Mine was £2.10.0 in 1956 I was so proud to be making a contribution to household expenses - but my Mum paid my bus fares and did me a packed lunch every day, bought me a pair of nylons every week, paid for my trips to the pictures and made my dresses from fabric she bought from the market.

SAMMYJFL profile image
SAMMYJFL in reply to

My wage in 1960 was £3.16.11 after deductions. Gave mum £1.10s per week and managed somehow to get out almost every night of the week , buy clothes etc and get 5 cigs at the shop across from our office when I got paid. Talk about stretching my wages. Happy days !!!

onamission profile image
onamission in reply to

Your mum and I have something in common Jenifer I'm soft with my daughter never charged her board

in reply to onamission

Nor I with my Daughter onamission..............but then she went straight to work in London and lived at Barclay's Bank Hostel from College:-D

in reply to onamission

my mother never charged me board...I gave her all that I got paid to help with my youger brother and sister's. ..we were a very poor immigrant family.....xxx

I left school in 69 and my first job was £5 a week. I gave my mum £3 a week. I moved to London in 72 and my wage was £17 a week. I paid £4 a week for a bedsit! x

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to

Hi cough a lot

You will be lucky to get a bed sit now in London for £400 per week. If the reports I read about house prices in London are correct.

gus

in reply to gustavski

No that's not true. You only hear about the more expensive areas in London There are lots of poorer areas where prices are much less than that. x

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to

Really, How much would I pay for say a two bed flat in one of the poorer areas that you mention.

gus

Robert_Helton profile image
Robert_Helton

Aldi is very good.

Judging by the BMWs and Mercs in the car park :-)

in reply to Robert_Helton

What about us bus users? Just wish I could carry more! I like Aldi.

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to

When I go to various supermarkets I see buses usually 17 seaters from the community taking older people with all their shopping. Now this is not the regular bus service, it is a kind of taxi service whereby you are dropped off at your door.

Check it out in your area in community services.

gus

in reply to gustavski

Thankyou for your helpful suggestion.

I have my groceries delivered from either Sainsburys or Morrisons but I like Aldi's vegetables. My bus stop is only four minutes away and at the other end the bus stop is right outside Aldi. I am very lucky.

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to Robert_Helton

As I mentioned elsewhere I worked in Germany and my first job when I left Leverkusen working for Bayer Chemicals and arrived in West Berlin was Aldi. I drove a truck there.

They had, maybe still do have two depots Aldi North and Aldi South. Not the best employer I worked for but not the worst either.

I left later to drive buses.

gus

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to Robert_Helton

I really shouldn't mention this. ( oh go on gus ) but I drive a Mercedes not a top model mind but still a Mercedes.

Best cars in the world bar none.

gus

Ergendl profile image
Ergendl in reply to gustavski

Except the mini Mercs, like my Smart Car. All the fun of a sports car, without the struggle to get in and out.

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to Ergendl

Strange you should mention that. I did think about a smart car till I decided on the A class but they seem so small and sometimes I transport quite a few things.

btw you are not going to pull any young guys with a smart car, buy a Ferrari or a Lamborghini...... no offence just kidding.

gus

in reply to gustavski

We had always owned work horse Passats for business but once we retired a Mercedes appeared overnight and my Husband's love affair began:-) Me? I'm a walker. Don't like motor cars at all. Use the bus as and when necessary.

gustavski profile image
gustavski in reply to

Talking of work horses in the 90,s we had what was then the largest whatyacallem estate car on the market the Peugeot 505 just a little larger than the Volvo.#

Went after that to 4x4s and have now settled with Mercedes.

I can change again ....who knows.

gus

onamission profile image
onamission

I was born in the 60's the best years and worked for the NHS, the land of free yes still is to many lol.

The supper markets have shot up in price I remember when we first got married I spent £20.00 a week on food they were the days when the cupboards and fridge were always full.

Today I drive a VW Polo and spend £100 a week that's inflation

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