Rise 3.45 AM and sleep fitfully on the living room sofa.
So the first thing I do is to read an article on ‘Medium’ which is an opportunity for authors to write good quality work on various issues; this one was about listening to people. I cannot show you because it’s a subscription service but someone made the point that good managers will listen to people more than speak, and ask them what they think rather than tell them what to do. I read parts of it to Francoise.
How much do Glasto performers receive?
I was curious how much performers at Glastonbury get and evidently it is far less than they could obtain commercially outside but what makes up for it is the prestige of the show and the exposure that will come to them after having appeared. Part of the prestige is because Michael and Emily give away a lot of money to charitable institutions.
Enter David Wilcocks after a long pause
The sun has suddenly broken out (09.20) and we are threatened with another hot day as I come across David Wilcock whom I abandoned for some years for some reason but he now produces a video via www.intothelight.news. Link: “David Wilcock: Michael was right!’
David is saying that “the Archangel Michael Prophecies, published in 1999, have never been more accurate than they are now! Michael clearly indicates we are NOT going into WWIII. Nor will we see any type of nuclear doomsday”
David is right up there with those talking about galactic influences over the planet, warnings about black goo (look it up) but also that there is a thread of help for the planet. He wants 4 hours 41 minutes 16 seconds of my time. Someone who can talk that long about the same topic must know what they are talking about so I will find the time somehow to make it my mission to watch this from end to end.
Anyway after all that talk I’ve made it the topic of today’s diary to write about my experience of money.
Money and me
My father was a vicar so when I grew up there was very little money around. In the 1950s I recall that my father earned £11 a week (£237.50 today), a stipend it was called, and both my parents had to be very careful.
The Church of England provided my father with accommodation in the shape of a vicarage adjacent to Saint Andrews Church in Guildersfield Road, Streatham SW16 London.
This is where most of my formative years took place until we moved away to Norfolk when I was about 16. My essentials of living were provided, including a modest amount of pocket money, I think it was 2/6d in old money. I didn’t realize it at the time but that allowance in itself must have been quite a challenge for my parents.
Since I mainly enjoyed listening to music and reading books, such activities as going out on a Saturday night, spending money on anything including clothes simply wasn’t on my horizon.
Money itself as a topic had no meaning to it apart from a medium of exchange for necessary items.
I moved to Norwich (Bergh Apton with Yelverton parish) at the age of 16 and attended the Close School in Norwich for a couple of years. I obtained two A level topics having given up mathematics and focusing on physics and chemistry. I remember the seven mile journey riding my bike to school (there were no busses) in fair weather and foul.
At university, Durham University (1964-1967) the same disconnect with money happened. I lived at lonely life save the occasional friend and did not take part in the social life that you would expect of an undergraduate. I don’t recall stepping into a pub for the entire duration of my time there. Pubs were foreign places. Quite sad really but that’s the way it was.
After doing a number of small jobs I got a light bulb moment when on the 15th of March 1970 I got the idea of starting a social group to cater for those who were new to London and would like to make friends. Goodness knows where this came from. I was living in South Norwood, London, and this was the push to start thinking in economic terms.
I had no idea about money though somehow I found the resources to print leaflets and start the group going. I offered the service for two pounds for six months and three pound 50 for the year. That would scarcely buy a cup of coffee these days but even then the price was too cheap to sustain. I eventually ran out of funding in 1977 and the group folded.
I knew so little about money that I didn’t even know that it’ll be a good idea to ask people what they thought in other words to get professional advice. The social group lasted seven years. I then entered into a long. of self-employment where I put myself out as a counselor specializing in dowsing, and traveled to various countries mainly in Europe to give talks about something called Kirlian photography.
This discipline provided their means of analyzing energy radiations that came from photographing the hand using a machine that emitted high voltage fields and using photographic paper as an intermediary.
Each finger and the radiations from it meant something that could be translated into psychological vectors and I enjoyed exhibiting at the Mind Body Spirit shows in Olympia (thank you Graham Wilson for your initiative).
I also worked for a company called Church Action with the Unemployed and got paid a modest sum for my efforts. Even in my forties I had no idea that you could claim benefits for being unemployed or being paid a low wage and so for some time I slept on an office floor. I can scarcely believe writing this that I was so uninformed and disconnected.
I could be embarrassed about this but I won’t waste the energy, that’s the way it was. I spent time when I lived in London from 1990 onwards working as a gardener and actually did quite well and employed three people.
I was encouraged by a friend to buy a flat in Dulwich. The total cost was £60,000 I sold it ten years later for £169,000 and used this, coupled with income from gardening, to manage my daily living but still I acted as if I had no money and did not spend money on myself.
In 2012 I joined with Francoise who had inherited some money and we bought a house in Somerset and the rest as they say is history. I now have enough money to live comfortably and keep some in reserve so basically I forget about money and do things for people without charge because I can afford it.
You would think that having spare cash at my disposal would cause a change in habit but it has not. I still function as if I have no spare money.
Our idea of holidays in the last few years has been to go on Shearings coaches for five-day holidays to this resort or that, and laterally with ‘Just-Go’ for more ambitious holidays within the United Kingdom.
I have no desire at all to travel beyond the boundaries of this country. I have been invited to Norway many times by a lovely couple but something stops me from traveling and I don’t know what it is. During my time I have been to America nearly 40 times and to South Africa 20 times, plus Sri Lanka, Norway, Germany, France, Belgium, Cyprus, Canada, Ireland, Denmark, Lebanon, Greece, Italy, Spain so I feel like done my bit with regards to travel.
On the positive side, I’ve never been involved in having big debts, I’ve had no businesses that have fallen and taken me with it and I have learned long ago to live within my means so I suppose that’s a plus.
I would love to hear from other people what their experiences have been even if it’s just the highlights. That is what the comments box is for on my site.
My sister adds: When we went to boarding school, I think Dad was earning £650 p.a. -he and mum certainly knew how to live frugally. Dad had veg patches in Yorkshire (where I was born) , Streatham and B.A. which helped a lot, plus the pigeons he took and killed to supplement our rations in the war.
I used to help pluck them, and we had hens and ducks. He kept his account book up to date too, all his life. I never heard Mum complain about shortage of money, and yet Dad left each of us a generous sum.
I think we six (children) inherited their frugality with money as, like you, I don’t spend recklessly. My son says, ‘Come on Mum. The war’s over.’ but old habits die hard! Our other sister kept very detailed accounts, reserving Monday evenings for going over them. The Bible says a lot about money, wealth etc!
The Bible also has much to say about Listening. Re conversing with strangers – yes, if you judge correctly people are usually agreeable, but in one context you said that people might not want to open up for fear of ridicule. I would say ‘rejection’.