Sandra Chapman: I want someone to blame for this shambles we are in

I came from a generation which emerged from the end of the Second World War having to make do and mend.

Every house, including ours, had a vegetable garden, buttermilk for baking came from my Aunt Mabel, and we had our own hens for eggs. Woollen garments were hand knitted and shoes were handed down to the next child.

It was, to us, a normal way of life; most other families lived in much the same way.

Money was not for squandering and you learned not to ask for any special treatment unless you were sick. We suffered lots of pretend ailments, but that didn’t do us a lot of good.

By the time I was ready to go out into the world to earn a living I had dreams of how my life would instantly change. In fact, after a few months of earning money I realised I didn’t want to give any of it away foolishly and so frugality continued.

I don’t think I worried there would be another war anytime soon.

The era of the showbands was beginning and with it came bright lights, dances and glamour and boyfriends, who appeared to have magic amounts of cash to throw around. We preferred boys with cars and this opened up the world of entertainment north and south. The showbands often had nothing better than rickety old camper type vans to travel in and many of them were poorly paid, but they opened up a world to us and we splashed our cash on dresses, hair appointments, tins of hair lacquer and the latest fashion in shoes, which ruined the feet of my generation.

It seemed no time at all that I was saving for my wedding, then the children came along,

I was a full time working mum and whilst salaries appeared generous they never seemed to stretch as far as I would have liked.

My past habits of thrift stood me in good stead though, and are still with me today which is fortuitous since the coronavirus crisis threatens a recession the likes of which the current generation will never have seen.

The Treasury estimates the virus to cost £500bn – a conservative figure I imagine – and tax rises are inevitable.

So, too, is a pay freeze and in this my generation is quite likely not to get the triple-lock on our state pensions, a measure which aimed at keeping them up with inflation.

A two year freeze on public sector pay is mooted and, of course, no one has any idea what will happen when the Government ceases to furlough workers’ wages, which it currently does at 80 per cent of current wages/salaries.

Unemployment figures are expected to rise as companies go out of business, which I expect many will, particularly those in food and entertainment who will not be permitted to get up and going again until early autumn.

It’s a desperate scenario and the fact it is a world-wide crisis is no comfort to us here in Northern Ireland.

We can forget flying off anywhere soon on holiday.

There isn’t even the comfort of thinking you could pick a nice hotel on our magnificent North Coast, or over in the west for a holiday, because they most likely won’t be open and you may have the difficulty of explaining to a policeman why you are so far away from home.

Himself and I will be on our boat going nowhere as, to-date, marinas within the UK are closed.

We don’t really want to be cruising up and down our own coast – again. Even the dog will get bored looking at the same landscape.

The realisation that most of us could save a lot of money this year by being deprived of a holiday is hardly compensation. Having money with nothing to spend it on is a new one on all of us.

Will it teach us thrift? I doubt it.

I just want someone to blame for the shambles we are in.