It is the afternoon of a hot day in May and Brian Turner has not had breakfast or lunch. Maybe I can eat something tonight.
This man from 49 For years she lives with her dog Rocky in a cozy apartment on the ground floor of a building located in the town of Ipswich, in the eastern United Kingdom.
Rocky, 6, is central to Turner’s life.
He was bought as a puppy by him and his partner Paula Macintosh.
Turner, a skilled bartender, put his career on hold in 2009 to care for Macintosh, who had serious mental health problems.
In 2019, one night in February Paula died in her sleep due to a previously undiagnosed heart condition.
I had 54 years.
A few months later, Turner’s mother, Maureen, died.
And later the global covid pandemic would be unleashed-19.
“It’s been difficult,” says Turner.
Macintosh photos occupy a pride of place on a side table and a small wicker basket containing his ashes sits on the windowsill.
For years, Turner has managed to survive on very little money.
Check the prices in several stores regularly, scan the food sections discounted prices from supermarkets and buy in bulk when possible.
Very limited budget
Since the death of his partner, he has managed to buy enough food for himself and Rocky for only a few $50 dollars per month.
But rising food prices and bills are making living on that amount no longer possible.
“Since we came out of confinement, costs have tripled “, bill. “The cost of living has skyrocketed”.
“I have to ask neighbors, friends and family for help.
“I have used food banks several times” .
Turner’s finances
Gets some $800 per month in a universal credit, the payment from the British government to help with the costs of living.
Your expenses monthly are:
“When I go to Citizens Advice for food, they tell me that they are limiting the number of food packages I receive to make sure that the distribution is fair for everyone, so that it is not like a weekly purchase for anyone.
“A Sometimes I have to search and search.”
And because it is far from the only one struggling financially, competition in the discount food sections has become fierce.
“There are more people to whom the same thing happens to me”, he says.
Difficulty working
Was diagnosed with epilepsy and takes migraine medication . Turner’s attempts to get a job have been unsuccessful.
There was a time when he filled up to 09 daily requests for all types of functions, from catering to office work, but none were successful.
“I talked to some employers and they turned around and told me that due to civil liability insurance they couldn’t hire me because of my work problems. health“, account.
“A part of me wants to go back to work because of the cost of living and all that, but there is another part of me that tells me that it is better to keep me safe than to have to be sorry”.
Almost all the money you have left over when you pay your bills is allocates to food.
But what he spent on food a year ago has doubled and now he spends about $73 versus the $50 the month before.
As a result of this, he only has enough cash to buy food for a week and a half each month.
“There are days when I only have one meal a day; I’m not supposed to because of the medication I’m taking, which I have to take with or around food. Sometimes it has an impact on the medication”.
However, Rocky’s feeding routine has not been affected by the increase in costs.
“There are days when I prefer my dog to eat and not me”.
Asked if he would ever give up Rocky to save costs, he answered that “he is the only thing” that keeps him going.
A great friend
“It is the type of dog that if you want and need a hug, it will come and give you a hug.
“I have to go without food to pay for his and I have enough for him right now to get him through a good couple of months. After that, I don’t know what I’ll do.
“If it hadn’t been for him, I would definitely have lost my mind.
“Many people I’ve talked to are fighting too.
“I would like parliamentarians to try to live with universal credit for three months; they would end up realizing that it is not enough to survive.”
The government said it understands the pressures that people currently face with the cost of living.
Like As a growing number of people in the UK and around the world, Turner’s concerns about his finances have become “constant”.
“People trust us more and more on a regular basis“, says Sally Harrison, manager of professional services at Ipswich Citizens Advice.
“Before they came to us looking for from a food bank when they were having a particularly tough month difficult.
“Now it is becoming the norm. They come to us every month because they can’t pay their bills.
“People are worried and panic because it has seen the huge increases in energy prices,” he explains.
What does the future look like?
Asked how he would pay travel costs to spend a day out of Ipswich just for fun, Turner said: “That it’s not going to happen”.
The last vacations he had were in 2015, when It was a long weekend to get together with some relatives.
You can’t afford to hop on a bus into central Ipswich for just one errand, he says.
You need to have several reasons to go to the city to justify the expense.
Before her death, Paula had told Turner that she wanted her ashes scattered at sea.
His last request is still on Turner’s mind.
The truth is that he simply cannot afford the costs of renting a boat or traveling to the coast at the moment.
“I can’t do that yet”, he admits.
“When things calm down, We will think again and go out and scatter his ashes.”
124875769