Wordsley, Stourbridge, England: 1 degree, very cold, sunny and with a beautiful, clear blue sky.
Today, I have to run errands for my mother in the street, in addition to teaching classes, blogging, and journaling.
My mother receives her pension, I think every Monday or Tuesday, every week, in one account and pays her bills every Wednesday in another bank account.
As my mother is not very good or versed with technology, probably the highest technical thing in her house before I arrived was her cable TV or the toaster. Since I have arrived, she has had Internet installed in her home for me to work, but I think that, as she does not have a cell phone, she really does not know what it represents.
Due to her knee surgery, she’s unable to go to the bank to withdraw money from one account to deposit in another to cover her bills. My job is precisely to do this; however, as financial institutions in England are increasingly cautious, I would even say they are getting neurotic about the possibility of money laundering or tax evasion. There’s a whole procedure involved, including signed authorisations, etc., so that I can do it on her behalf.
Luckily, all the preparation had been thought about and done beforehand, so in theory there should not be any problems, and at least this time there weren’t.
In the morning, I gave two early classes and reappointed two other classes to other days, using my mother as an excuse to my pupils. Not exactly 100% true or correct, but it had to be done to give me enough time to resolve my mother’s issues and return to work.
I caught a bus to Kingswinford, where, funnily enough, both branches of the banks are literally next door to each other in the main High Street. You leave one, turn around, and you’re entering the other. To say that they’re banks is not entirely true; they’re building societies.
Building societies are a very traditional financial institution in England, where their members own them, the people who bank, save, deposit and borrow with them. Building societies usually have higher interest rates for savings accounts compared with regular banks, and probably the two main functions of a building society are:
- Savings accounts: for people to save money.
- Mortgages: for people to borrow money to buy a house, flat or home of some kind.
Building societies are very much a traditionally ingrained part of British culture. I still have memories of my childhood of my grandmother, my mother, and others going to a building society every week to physically deposit or withdraw money from their accounts. The cashier would receive the deposit and fill out a small payment book for the account holder, essentially a ledger documenting all the transactions of the account.
When I went to the first building society, what caught my attention was that, even today, with technology, the Internet, etc., they still use a little account book to note all the movements of your money. What also caught my attention was that the bank clerk or teller who received me knew everything about me and my life before I had ever met her.
As you have to physically go there every week or whenever to either deposit or withdraw money, it creates a link between the institution and the account holder, ultimately the client. An example of this is the first time I went with my mother when I had just arrived in England; the person behind the counter knew who I was, that I lived in Brazil, and had two daughters, etc. There is an old English expression:
“My home is my castle.”
Regardless of the size or shape of your home, you have the exclusive right to do as you wish within it; it is sacred to you. Consequently, owning your own home is akin to having your own castle, a view that is considered sacred in England and many other cultures around the world.
This belief has contributed to the enduring popularity of building societies in England, as people want, desire and prefer to own their own place rather than pay rent.
The two tasks of going into one, withdrawing money, and then popping next door to deposit money in the other took less than 10 minutes. I thought about having a quick coffee in Kingswinford, but as it was a beautiful day, despite the cold, I decided to walk back and have a coffee at the cafe on the green in Wordsley, nearer to where my mother lives. I bought bread and a paper for my mother, and by 3:00 p.m., I was back at home in the warmth to give classes and work some more.
I made a salad and cooked fish for dinner, and everything was good. A nice, simple, and productive day, and nobody died!
In bed by 10.00 p.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
