Budget from the Daily Mail – OAP goes up to Husband & Wife £12.50 weekly. Maximum allowance for income tax £1,000. Ethel went to Norwich. OAP increase begins October 1st. I raked the back lawn. Started wearing my body belt, first time since I had shingles last year.

Notes
For more details of the budget see Chapter 112.
OAP refers to old age pension.
Ethel refers to my grandmother, Ethel May Cecilia Parkin.
Grandma and grandad had large lawns at the front and back of their house which were surrounded by pine trees. So, they often had to be raked to remove cones and needles.
In 1955, grandad had his gallbladder removed (see Chapter 65). Following that surgery, he wore a body belt, presumably to control some kind of hernia. But, he had shingles in August 1972 (see Chapter 100) and was not able to wear the body belt for seven months after that.
Leave a Reply