I have been asked a few times to be interviewed regarding the way my Husband and I are currently living. However, when people find out we are living at the bottom of my Mum’s garden, the story suddenly becomes less interesting. It’s almost as if we’re not ‘doing it properly’. I’ve even received negativity from other people living in caravans. We are seen to be ‘cheating’ by not being able to afford our own land, or not wanting to live on the road. These people are missing the point. The fact of the matter is that this situation isn’t about where we live. It’s about why we are living the way we are. Those people who wanted to interview me shouldn’t be focusing on where we are living, they should be focusing on why we have been forced into this situation. That’s the real story. Living on my Mum’s land is just the setting for the story. I adore my Mum, but ask any married couple if they’d want to move back in with their parents or in-laws. I am almost 100% sure they would all say no. I never wanted to move back to this area. It’s beautiful, but it’s not where I longed to spend my future.
We enjoy caravan life and are learning a ton about possessions, as well as about each other. Spending the first year of marriage in a space smaller than some Land Drovers is a real test as to whether you made the right decision in your partner! But regardless of the enjoyment, there is still a bigger picture that needs attention. We are being made to feel worthless by the current government, and we are not the only ones. We’re being elbowed out of the society we contribute to. We are living in a caravan and are still struggling to make ends meet. What more do we need to give up in order to live comfortably? It would be nice to get our heads above financial water before deciding what we’re going to do next. But the government are making it quite clear we’re not entitled to a comfortable future.
I consider myself a politically aware, normal citizen. I don’t follow politics religiously, but I do listen to the news daily. Some of the jargon confuses me and most of the stories frustrate me! That doesn’t mean I don’t have an awareness or an opinion. I’m passively political, meaning I stay quiet in crowds. I’m scared of getting my facts wrong. I’m frightened of coming across as stupid. However too many of us are being passive.
My understanding of British societies reaction to the current financial climate is;
- It has been reported that 50% of parents in the UK will go starving in order for there children to have one full meal a day.
- The living wage is remaining the same, however rental and food prices are continuing to rise.
- We’re living in a country where students are coming out of university with over £50,000 worth of dept. Some of which are immediately then having to live on the streets because they can’t afford rental prices.
- Mothers can’t afford to go back to work after their maternity leave is over. The cost of childcare is too high for the average mother to go back to work. (That concept doesn’t make sense to me.) The cost of childcare has increased by 48% since 2007. However wages have increased by only 12%.
- NHS phone lines are going dead due to understaffing. Our local surgery can’t find replacements for 3 doctors that have gone off long term sick. An elderly gentleman in front of me in the queue was unable to get an appointment regarding his heart condition. Our tiny surgery has a 6 week waiting list. In 2010 the NHS got a 4% rise every year to fund the ever rising population. Now they get a rise of 1% or less, and the population continues to rise.
- An average house costs £250,000. If you are lucky enough to scrape together a deposit for a home, you are looking at an average of 35 years until you have paid off the mortgage. This may mean working until you are 70.
- Still on the subject of housing; We’re living in a time when the phrase ‘The Bank of Mum and Dad’ has become common.
- Elderly people are dying because they can’t afford to warm their homes.
These aren’t stories of people on the poverty line. These aren’t stories of people that can’t afford to survive. These aren’t stories that will sell newspapers. These are stories of normal people doing what they can, and it’s normal people, everyday people like ourselves that are struggling. And if we are struggling I can’t image how hard it is for those living closer to the poverty line.
This country is on a pedestal, but it’s time for it to step down. The UK needs to stop holding itself up as a shining light of the way things should be. We need to admit that things need fixing and start fixing them.
Image from Google images search: News.
Home not a Holiday 