There is a lot of scaremongering at the moment regarding the so-called credit crunch.
There are obviously increasing financial pressures to contend with, but I believe people must take responsibility for their actions and take more care with their money.
My wife came to me last month and confessed that she had incurred £30k of credit card debt.
How do you deal with this? I organised paying it all back and I have now worked out that this debt will be paid in five years.
I may be wrong, but I think there are a lot of people who are in our position just now and there are people who are scared of telling their partners about their problems.
Just get it out in the open and work together.
I feel so much happier as I can see the burden cleared from my wife’s shoulders.
One gripe I do have is with the credit cards. There are too many companies willing to lend money, when they know people are in trouble, instead of helping them clear the debt, they add on extra interest charges.
I have been dealing with them all to sort out this debt, but I felt like I was hitting my head off a brick wall.
They would not clear interest charges and the best one yet was that they didn’t want us to clear all the debt as we were valued customers. No wonder with the interest they were charging.
My new philosophy is, if you can’t afford it then don’t buy it. — Happily Married.
Was this Dundee’s towering inferno?
Fire at Cox’s Jute Mill in 1987.
Watching the Towering Inferno recently, I’m sure Dundee had its own towering inferno in the Eighties. Perhaps the Tele can confirm? — Curious, Dundee.
[Our picture shows a fire at Cox’s Jute Mill in 1987, which was visible from miles around. This could be the Towering Inferno referred to in the letter.]
Family tree
I am hoping readers may be able to help me in tracing my mother’s family tree.
Two of her grandmother’s sisters got married in Scotland — Fanny Glasby to Thomas Shaw Grewar in 1919 and Kathleen Glasby to John Anderson in 1925, both in Glasgow.
I have been told Fanny and Tom had a daughter Isabelle and they had spent some time in India because of Tom’s job as a mill manager.
On the Scotland’s people website I recently ordered a copy of Fanny’s death certificate in the Dundee area and found Isabelle’s married surname was Gibson.
Last week I looked on the site again and checked the deaths for Isabelle Gibson and found one in 2005. If only I had discovered this sooner I might have been able to correspond with Isabelle. I am hoping she had some children.
If anyone has any connection to Thomas Shaw Grewar, Fanny Grewar nee Glasby or Isabelle Shaw Gibson nee Grewar, I would like to hear from them.
Also if anyone knows of the family of Kathleen and John Anderson as mentioned above, I would also like to hear from them at frances@softalk79.freeserve.co.uk — Frances Costello, Leafield, Retford.
Left in lurch by nursery
It is harsh that the owners of Little Explorers in Kirkton claim to be closing due to parents not paying fees.
Surely they could have found a way to deal with this problem other than closing the nursery leaving the children without nursery places and the staff jobless.
My son attends the nursery three days a week and he will miss the other children and staff.
I had faith that Little Explorers would provide him with proper levels of care until he moved on to school. It seems I was wrong.
I am slowly losing faith in the childcare provided in Dundee, but what other option do parents have when they work full-time? — Sarah-Ann Hogg.
Road like race track
Regarding Councillor Rod Wallace’s concern about cars taking a short cut across the pavement at Barnhill shopping centre.
He should be more concerned about a system which is a race track consisting of Balgillo Road/Strathmore Street/Nursery Road.
The dangers are obvious as Dundee City Council have had to supply four lollipop ladies/men to counteract this speed in this area.
Installing speed ramps either side of the car park opening would be a start. — Road Watch.
Oil prices
Isn’t it unusual when the price of a barrel of oil was going up daily a few months ago, low and behold the price of fuel at the petrol pumps increased almost on a daily basis too.
The price of a barrel of oil has now dropped from its peak of 147 dollars a barrel to 88 dollars and yet the prices of fuel at the pumps have remained the same for the last month.
Given the current dire economic circumstances, the profiteering by all fuel suppliers is nothing short of disgraceful. — Grant McNally.
Private carers get less pay
Regarding the letter on social care workers, which is a fancy title for carers. I work as a carer for a private company and our wages are half of what council carers make.
They are also supplied with full uniforms and good petrol allowance. Private company carers have to pay for their uniform and petrol allowance is a pittance. — Private Carer.
Coffee morning
Brooksbank Centre and Services are holding a coffee morning on Thursday, September 25, at their premises in Pitairlie Road, Mid Craigie, to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Research. It starts at 10am to 11.30am. — C. Coventry, Community Works Assistant
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