What would you do if you were left with nothing?

by | Aug 8, 2017 | Latest Post | 0 comments

Reading Time: 5 minutes
Sunday 7 August 1664

Above – a sunday morning lie-in for Samuel Pepys- worth a read so I have reproduced it in full below.

(Lord’s day). Lay long caressing my wife and talking, she telling me sad stories of the ill, improvident, disquiett, and sluttish manner that my father and mother and Pall live in the country, which troubles me mightily, and I must seek to remedy it. So up and ready, and my wife also, and then down and I showed my wife, to her great admiration and joy, Mr. Gauden’s present of plate, the two flaggons, which indeed are so noble that I hardly can think that they are yet mine. So blessing God for it, we down to dinner mighty pleasant, and so up after dinner for a while, and I then to White Hall, walked thither, having at home met with a letter of Captain Cooke’s, with which he had sent a boy for me to see, whom he did intend to recommend to me. I therefore went and there met and spoke with him. He gives me great hopes of the boy, which pleases me, and at Chappell I there met Mr. Blagrave, who gives a report of the boy, and he showed me him, and I spoke to him, and the boy seems a good willing boy to come to me, and I hope will do well. I am to speak to Mr. Townsend to hasten his clothes for him, and then he is to come. So I walked homeward and met with Mr. Spong, and he with me as far as the Old Exchange talking of many ingenuous things, musique, and at last of glasses, and I find him still the same ingenuous man that ever he was, and do among other fine things tell me that by his microscope of his owne making he do discover that the wings of a moth is made just as the feathers of the wing of a bird, and that most plainly and certainly. While we were talking came by several poor creatures carried by, by constables, for being at a conventicle. They go like lambs, without any resistance. I would to God they would either conform, or be more wise, and not be catched! Thence parted with him, mightily pleased with his company, and away homeward, calling at Dan Rawlinson, and supped there with my uncle Wight, and then home and eat again for form sake with her, and then to prayers and to bed.

I love reading how hospitable all these people are. They seemed to drop into each others’ homes for meals which they seem to regard as part of basic hospitality.

Today was the day after we said goodbye to our friend and I’m quite glad we decided to have zero on our agenda  with no demands. I’m still watching the London athletics and note that 30 athletes and supporters have come down with a stomach bug so after a year of preparation  they are no longer able to take part in their life’s ambition. What totally rotten luck.

I subscribe to a website giving monthly statistical reviews
If anyone is complacent about the UK financial position then have a look at the site above. I know the USA is a big country but I think the national deficit is $19 trillion, still a significant of the GDP. See a real-time Debt Clock.

In the UK,  government debt increases by £4000 every second. This is hardly a stable situation. From the UK monthly guide: We are still recovering from the crash which started 10 years ago tomorrow.

£200.882 billion: The level of unsecured debt in the UK, the highest since 2008
£7,413The amount the average household owes in unsecured debt
£68.5 billion: The amount people owe on their credit cards
£1.344 trillion: The level of secured debt in the UK, the highest it has ever been
£1.754 trillionPublic sector net debt (excluding banks)
£1.545 trillion: Total private debt in the UK, which has never been higher
9.45 millionThe number of people in the UK who have no savings
3.76%: The average interest on a £10k loan
2.57%: The average mortgage interest

Many people that you pass in the high Street are on the verge of poverty. I remember reading in USA that the average wage earner had two months worth of savings before going into poverty and bankruptcy. It does make me think, if I were to lose every single material thing I had,  what would be left? What would I do? The people in Syria  have had a chance to figure this out for themselves courtesy of bombs supplied by the West. What would you do if you returned to your house to find it was just a pile of rubble. I don’t think we have any idea of what suffering is.

communication 2017 style

I’m not saying that any stretch of imagination that I’m a good person but I do give thanks every day for my health, my home, my security, and those few people who are on the wavelength to be able to support me. I can think of plenty of things to grumble about but just imagine the young person I read about – in Libya I think it was – who every day went through her mobile phone to delete the people who have died, shocked, bombed, so-called collateral damage as the American euphemism goes. thank goodness the human spirit is so strong but how long can we last as a caring society  but I do think at the moment that the default mode is lack of caring.

I dread to think  what happens when youngsters who know nothing else but virtual media become parents themselves. Will they read to their children? Will they even talk to or with them? I was in a restaurant recently where there were six family members sitting round a table and each one of them had a device that they were staring at. If I were king ha ha I would ban mobiles for anyone under the age of 11. I think the whole earth is due for a reboot and if it’s via an atomic war  or the planet Nibiru I say bring it on. I firmly believe in the continuity of life and at the last count I had 40 textbooks and popular books on the topic and it all makes logical sense to me. How can you destroy a soul which is essentially composed of light?

Search all 1,549 articles

Subscribe

Sign up to my FREE newsletter!

I don’t spam! Read my privacy policy for more info.

Archives

YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY THESE ARTICLES

We would love to hear from you.

If you have not registered, then click on ‘logged in’ and scroll down to ‘register’.
It only takes a minute 🙂

0 Comments

Submit a Comment