Old photos. Old ways. Bailouts. Cold weather warnings. Good investments.

Here’s a photo of 1913 Oldham someone posted on social media. Among the various comments about how this must have been a special occasion as the women were all smartly dressed, showing off their well-wrapped babies, someone asked if these were Asian women as so many of them had their heads covered. 

 

This photo predated the arrival of Asian workers in the mills of Oldham. A shawl covering head and shoulders was normal attire for working women. Indeed, even into the 1950s it was perfectly normal, indeed expected, that women wore a headscarf when going out shopping. My grandmother would never have been seen out of the house without her hat. This has been forgotten by some people. 

 

Someone remarked on how tall the policemen were back in the days when you had to be 6 feet tall to be a bobby. Another comment someone made was about the relative freedom that working class women had in the early part of the 20th century. They also said it was more usual for women to go out to work in the North of England than in the South. I don’t know how true this is.

Thames Water, currently in difficulty, is owned by China and other foreign countries. Much of our electricity supply is run by EDF, which stand for Électricité de France. How did we get to this situation? Is this what they meant by ‘taking back control’?  Here’s a post from a political commentator called Marina Purkiss, someone I’ve not heard of, probably because I don’t watch morning television programmes:

“Homeowners who took out big mortgages on low interest rates now facing crisis:

No bailout. Hold your nerve.

Water companies who borrowed billions to give to shareholders now facing crisis:

Govt talks. Bailout incoming.”

If this is true, it’s another example of different rules for different groups of people in our society. 

Hey! Ho! So it goes. 

Here’s a cartoon I find myself agreeing with. It is so easy to choose to be offended.

 

Today is damp but quite mild. I hear that the BBC weather forecasters have been having some problems, predicting autumnal temperatures for some parts of the country. 

And here’s a link to a story about a Harry Potter book bought for 30 pence and now valued at somewhere around £5000. That was quite an investment.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!