I got back from Maine very early on Tuesday morning, the flight from Boston was a bumpy one and I wanted the taxi driver to shut up and drive as quickly as possible so I could be reunited with my family, he is a lovely man and usually his conversation would be a welcome distraction, but on Monday I just wanted him to floor it! So I got home and then followed the tearful reunions with my husband and children (I swear the baby missed me)! I'll write more about that later but first I have an eerie warning from the future.........
I was in a very remote part of Maine for a week, it's an amazingly beautiful place, like Connemara before the deforestation and if the sun shone everyday, the people (the islanders) were lovely, very friendly and the houses...oh my, they are so cute, all wooden, New England style! So I really only encountered the real America when I was off-island (twice), and as it was my first time in the states my friend wanted me to experience the wonder that is an American supermarket!
Now I love to shop.....I'll admit it, I even enjoy grocery shopping! So a trip to a supermarket was a real high point for me, and it didn't disappoint, the huge bottles of detergent, the array of cookies and muffins (there were free "sugar cookies"), the variety of cereals, the beautiful colours of the fresh vegetables and fruit and the huge 2 litre bottles of wine and spirits (more about the booze later). I found the highly prized Reece's peanut butter cups and marshmallow fluff (mmmmm fluff!), my friend had a trolley (sorry, Cart) of shopping (you have to be prepared when you live on an island) and we headed to the checkout.
This is where it went a bit mad for me, a young woman checked out the grocery (pretty standard young wan....except from Maine) but that's where the resemblance ends as instead of a young fella packing the bags there was an elderly man, at least mid seventies, and frail, wearing an apron and packing the bags! It was awful, I started to pack the bags with him, taking them out of his hands, I felt so uncomfortable. Of course my friend is used to this so she probably just thought I was having some sort of episode but it made me feel so rotten! I'm of the opinion that nobody should have to work cos the state won't support them, these people probably worked their whole lives for the good of their country (this man was old enough to have been to war, one of the real ones!) and it's their country's duty to take care of them. I know we complain about our state supporting people who won't or can't work, but god forbid something happens in our life and we lose our grasp on life and we fall between the cracks, the state will pick us up, OK so we won't be living La Vida Loca but we'll be OK!
America was an amazing place and it was so similar to Ireland in so many ways, but I'm afraid we are heading the same way, the government is proposing encouraging people to work on beyond 65 (I do know several older people who have chosen to do this - luckily not out of necessity, but because they love their jobs), we are all encouraged to have pension plans this is because the government know that there is gonna be a shortfall in the money for the state pension by the time we get to retirement age, there just won't be enough people in the workforce to support us (unless we start having more babies or these lovely Polish people keep coming and decide to stay). I don't want Ireland to go down the same road as the states, my friends tell me the elderly there just aren't supported by the welfare there so they have to work. I'd hate to see my mother or father or grandparent working in a minimum wage job where they received little respect. They worked hard, they reared their families, surely they deserve a rest, some respect and time to enjoy what should be their golden years?
On my bus journey to the airport on Monday a lovely lady from Waterville in Maine started up a conversation with me (more about the people I met on my travels later), she was enchanted when I spoke about Ireland and said herself and her lobster man (occupation not terrible mutation) husband would love to visit one day, so I said maybe when you retire, she clicked her tongue and said she didn't think they'd ever be able to retire. That was so sad, how could you keep going knowing you'd never have time to enjoy your life.......Birth, work and death!
5 comments:
I think our govt's plan is to keep us working til we're 85, and they then assume that when we finally stop, we'll just die. So no more pension worries.
My husband's mother, 69 next week, kept cleaning til a few years ago - and only stopped because her other son kept giving her money after he moved out.
I'm not sure we really provide for people so very well here. Better than in the States, yes.
But I don't have a pension, and I don't see myself being able to retire, either. Unless my husband's dreams of rock stardom eally come true...
This is a really insidious way of trying to avoid the pension timebomb issue. I have to admit I felt very uncomfortable when I heard about the government plan the other day. Grand if people want to work beyond 65 but what is life for then? To grind yourself to a halt and then death? :(
it's depressing...I know, and maybe Ireland is no better, it just seems a bit extreme, at least here you can survive if you miss the boat and don't make it rich. As for pension, do it asap, even a tiny bit put away is a start! the government pay stuff toward it too, so every penny counts! Anyway your kids will mind you when you get old, right?
have you seen those adds about more than half the irish women not having a pension? the one with the swimming pool?
in germany they deduct some pension payments out of every payslip, i think it's compulsory. women there also get extra pension contributions for some of the years they don't work because of bringing up children=future taxpayers which i think is a good idea!
That's an excellent idea, it should be deducted from everyones salary from the first job theyhave, a percentage of their income, it goes up in relation to what people earn.
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