Northern Bird (4363)

Northern Bird
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I left the North, I travelled South.... Hello! lou, 30, living in North London with the luscious Rallen, but originally from the North West. A girl with a thorn in my side, my main loves are good food, fine wine, BDSM and cats. Semi-retired from Moz-solo, I check in occasionally to check the journals of good friends. Not drowning anymore...
Friday November 21, 03

Today's Britain

02:40 AM

You know what I expected my life to be like?

I expected to have my degree and be a professional by the age of 25. By the age of 35 I fully expected to have a nice Victorian house. It would be full of an eclectic mix of modern and antique furniture/art, and I would have a room dedicated to my clothes and shoes.

My lifestyle. I would wake up in my black cast iron king-size bed (with immaculate sheets of course), and the sun would be spilling through my muslin drapes. I would put on my silk dressing gown and fluffy mules and walk to the kitchen where I would put the coffee maker on. I'd then go into my en-suite and have a shower with one of the huge-headed showers with steam filling my shiny tiled/chrome bathroom.

After drying myself off with big fluffy towels I'd apply my moisturisers and scent, get dressed and go to the local bakery and newsagents where I'd get my croissants and morning paper. I'd get home and sit at my pine table (complete with white lilies in a glass vase) and read my Guardian with warm croissants and fresh coffee.

I've made my point so I won't go on. Now you will be laughing hysterically, as indeed you should, such cliches should be mocked lol. But dear reader 15-20 years ago this lifestyle was easily achieveable for a professional of my type. In those days the doctors, lawyers, surveyors were the top earners and had the lifestyles everyone dreamed of. Not City-boy type opulence but pretty damn luxurious.

Now here am I. Hopefully next Wednesday I'll get my results and will have qualified. At 28 I'm living in Central London, based at the Mayfair office. I live in a rented ex-council flat in a rough part of London. In the last 6 months my car and flat have been burgled. My salary has to reach £40,000 per year before I can afford to buy a studio flat. I have large credit card debt and am paying off student loans.

However, this is Britain. I had an alternative. I could have achieved my own flat, no bills, and a regular income without having to work a single day. How? I hear you dear foreign readers ask (for surely the Brits will already know). I could have left education as soon as possible and had a baby. I'd be like the girl next door to me. She doesn't share her 2-bed flat and pay £800 for the pleasure. She has it to herself and her infant, paid for by Housing Benefit. She has foreign holidays every year, drinks and smokes, and always has the latest label. She gets up when she wants and does what she wants.

Who's the mug?

Don't get me wrong, this entry wasn't about single mothers, far from it. It was about how I wanted a lifestyle, worked damn hard for 6 years to get it, and have ended up poorer than someone on benefit. It's got me basically nowhere. Yes I have dignity and self respect, but god what a price. This country sucks. Young professionals need more help and more credit. And what do they do? Abolish student grants and increase university fees. Penalise us that bit more. Use that extra money to pay for the next baby, coz these people know that more babies = more money.

I just want a decent life!

*climbs off soapbox*

L

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  • Im currently realising my life Dreams!

    I was born with nothing
    and i still have most of it left!

    Wardy xx
    sonofward -- Friday November 21 2003, @04:01AM (#80137)
    (User #4901 Info)
    " Life is very long when you're lonely... "
  • The Solution (Score:1, Interesting)

    The solution NB/GD is to stop reading the Guardian.

    Of course, what I really mean is that you need to stop supporting a paper that supports the Party that supports the people who are responsible for your current "state".

    New Labour/Old Labour/Socialism is all about nannyism...the State providing for people who can and should be providing for themselves but don't. This is funded for through increasing tax burdens (both overt and covert) on the likes of you and me always.

    Think on this...New Labour has taxed you and I to a level unseen in the last 25 years...scrapped student grants...introduced a level of private finance into hospitals unheard of under the Conservatives...presided over increasingly militant and damaging Trade Union behaviour...and seen a far right wing Home Secretary describe asylum seekers/refugees with language that would not have been out of place in Hitlers Reichstag.

    The answer to your ills is to allow the market to dictate things...vote Conservative at the next election and vote for a Party that believes in rewarding the individual for their efforts, not punishing them.
    Anonymous -- Friday November 21 2003, @05:34AM (#80145)
    • Re:The Solution by Anonymous (Score:0) Friday November 21 2003, @12:21PM
    • Re:The Solution by Northern Bird (Score:1) Friday November 21 2003, @02:07PM
      • Re:The Solution by SundownPlayboy (Score:1) Saturday November 22 2003, @04:50AM
        • Re:The Solution by Northern Bird (Score:1) Saturday November 22 2003, @07:06AM
          • Re:The Solution by SundownPlayboy (Score:1) Saturday November 22 2003, @09:37AM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.


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