February 17th 1973

“Got first pay 3.70 – 1.50 sub” / “Bort new stylus 70p” / “Took bak Who Do We Think We Are – got £2.50 back” / “Lent Roger Moving Waves” / “Statement from Halifax” / “City 1 Liverp 1”

Aaaaah……… my first proper pay packet, suggesting that I underestimated my anticipated income as £1.70. It actually appears to be £1.85 (£3.70 divided by 2 weeks) for 8 hours work, meaning I was on 23p (34¢) an hour.

I wonder if Mr Ward still has any jobs going? The 2008 downturn in the economy has decimated my savings and investment funds sooo much that 24¢ an hour looks like an attractive wage, and – actually – more than I’ve been earning recently.

Interesting that I did not wait to buy a new stylus before returning that faulty “Who Do We Think We Are” album again. As I recall I actually went through several replacement copies before abandoning it for a cash refund, but I could be wrong. (Do you reckon I maybe taped it first? Disgraceful, right?)

I obviously took some pride in getting my first savings statement from the Halifax Building Society. I’ll say again that had my Dad not gently persuaded me to save money when I was a kid, there is NO WAY I would be as financially savvy and secure as I feel all these years later.

Weird how habits you adopt as a spotty teenager stick with you for your entire life.

I must try and stop that other one sometime.

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