Lizzie used to be Janie’s cleaner, but Janie couldn’t afford to pay her any more.

Lizzie lives in a rented ‘park home’ – a fairly posh cross between a caravan and a prefab – with her eight-year-old daughter Megan, whose dad disappeared from the scene before she was two. Cleaning jobs used to be easy to find, and Lizzie would bring in £200 a week for 20 hours, enough to get by. Now clients are few and scattered over a five-mile radius. Lizzie travels by bike, sweeps, polishes, washes and irons, and has advertising cards in the windows of newsagents in the better-heeled parts of Reading.

October 10th 2010.

Letter from Lizzie to her mum Phyllis, who lives in a care home in Swindon.

(Lizzie writes to her mum, rather than phone, because Phyllis is, to all intents and purposes, deaf.)

“Dear Mum, Hope this finds you well. Meg and I will be down to see you on the bus on Saturday, I think it’s the 16th. We’ll get some hot food from the Chinese on the way in, I know you get a lot of cold stuff now and you don’t like it. I wish you didn’t have to be there but the park home’s barely big enough for me and Meg. It really wasn’t worth you buying your council house, was it, because it’s gone now to pay the fees at the home. I can’t believe how much they charge for a shared room and the food’s worse now, isn’t it. Things are OK here but not much work about, as I told you I still get tax credits but now there’s talk that they’ll be cut back, I heard it on the news and Mrs Williams who I clean for on Fridays was talking about it, she said the country is bankrupt. She teaches economics at the university and she doesn’t go on holidays like she did. Meg is growing and needs new shoes. It’s quite scary thinking the country may be bankrupt, but don’t worry, I’m sure it won’t affect you at all in Lavender House. Love from Lizzie.”

October 12th 2010, Lavender House. Phyllis has read Lizzie’s letter and is having a conversation of sorts with fellow resident Winnie, somewhat one-sided because Phyllis cannot hear many of Winnie’s replies.

P: My Lizzie’s coming on Saturday, with Meggie, that’s something to look forward to isn’t it?

W: Lovely!

P: I don’t understand what she said about the country being bankrupt though. I thought people were bankrupt when they couldn’t pay their bills, but how can a country be bankrupt? I still get the little bit of spending money they let me keep from my pension. What do you think Winnie?

W: Um Phyllis I think….

P: Come to think of it, we don’t get many good meals now, do we? Cold porridge, soup, sandwiches. And there’s never any staff around when you need them. We don’t go out on trips like we used to. We can hardly ever go into the courtyard because the doors are locked to stop Cryil and Bertie – you know, the old blokes with Alzheimers – from wandering off.

W: It’s like being in prison really.

P: What did you say Winnie?

October 16th 2010, Lavender House. The manager’s office.

Manager: I’m so glad I saw you arriving today, Mrs Johnson.

Lizzie: Do call me Lizzie.

Manager: Mrs Johnson, Lizzie, I have some bad news, and I’d like to tell you in person. About Lavender House. The council is going to close us, they say we are too small and expensive. Of course this means that all the residents will have to move.

Lizzie: But mum and the others are too old to move.

Manager: No choice, I’m afraid.

Lizzie: Where will mum be sent?

Manager: There’s a new wing being added at the council’s home, Honda View, on the edge of Swindon. It’s modern, unlike this Victorian building, and it’s less expensive to keep warm.

Lizzie: Will mum have her own room?

Manager: I am sorry but probably not, we have to provide more shared rooms now, to keep the….

Lizzie: keep the costs down… Poor mum. Honda View, what bus route is it on. We have to come from Reading.

Manager: It’s not actually on a bus route… but you can always get a taxi.

October 22nd 2010. Mrs Williams’ house in Reading. Lizzie is recounting her distress.

“Can you believe it? Mum has been in Lavender House for four years, ever since she had that stroke after dad died and she couldn’t look after herself any more, and it’s not a palace but clean and tidy, you know, and on the bus route, but the council says it costs too much – although the furniture is old and they’ve cut back on the food – and mum is being moved to some big home called Honda View and it’s not on a bus route, or near a train station, so I won’t be able to visit much, not with Meggie anyway because she gets tired if she walks as far as a mile, and how can I afford a taxi? Mum sold the house to go into Lavender House, and what does she get in return? She’s being tossed around like some parcel. One of the staff told me that Honda View has lots of people with dementia, how will mum be able to talk to them? They are locked in, so she’ll be locked in too. I feel SO upset about it.”

Mrs Williams made Lizzie a cup of tea and reflected on the sadnesses of a washed-up economy. She felt unable to tell Lizzie now that her own university job was ending, and she would have time to do her own cleaning. She sighed and resigned herself to the sight of a diminishing bank balance.

Same day, Lavender House

Phyllis is talking to Winnie. “I know there’s a lot wrong with this place but I think moving to Honda View or whatever it’s called will kill me off for good.”

“Maybe that’s the idea,” said Winnie, but fortunately Phyllis did not hear her.

To be continued…..