Oil price dance

[fifona]

We live in Aberdeen, where the vast majority of people are employed because the oil industry exists here. Even the public sector jobs are only so numerous because of the many people from elsewhere who live & work here. We are not locals, but our children were born & brought up here

Comments

Live journal

[grandaddood]

I haven't checked FB for a long time. I don't even have it on any of my tablets, phones etc. I was just checking My old PC today (nearly got it back to working order now) when I noticed FB is still on my favourites list, so logged in without much expectations. Found two recent entries from you. Don't be offended if you get little response to them. I think most people have given up on it now.

[gillyg]

That's very interesting (and sad) to hear. I have a friend who volunteers at a food bank in Huddersfield and they have noticed this too - people who have previously had high salaries but whose correspondingly high outgoings meant that they were experiencing a huge fall in living standards. When my daughter was in the last year of primary school, I noticed that there was a sudden influx of children who had been at private schools - as it coincided with the height of the recession, people simply couldn't afford the fees.

A friend who works at a law firm in Leeds used to work for a firm that shed 80 admin jobs and 20 lawyers a few years ago. This is one of the top law firms in the country. Other staff were also asked to take six weeks unpaid leave, and there was a surprising number of highly paid lawyers who could literally not afford to do so, ie they were a couple of pay cheques away from disaster, yet drove the flash car and lived in a big house, had children at private schools, and the lifestyle that goes with all that.

[fifona]

That is called living on the edge! Very interesting.