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This was all totally alien to Jane.  She had always simply gone to the garage for new tyres for her car.   Now perching on a kitchen stool she was learning how to look for cheaper tyres on an internet auction site, the process was daunting. Jane’s life had been secure; she hadn’t expected such sudden and devastating change.

Change had come last month when the financial crash that had shaken world economies, ripped right into her world.  Her husband had arrived home from work early, slumped on the yielding cream sofa that suddenly seemed to dwarf him.  Jack had fiddled nervously with a tassel on the cushion he nursed determinedly on his lap.  “It’s all gone Jane, the bank has collapsed.  I don’t know what to do.” He had looked at Jane remorsefully. “Who will want a middle-aged fund manager from a failed foreign bank? It’s a disaster, a complete disaster.”

Today as she balanced on her stool, Jane studied a pile of unpaid accounts. The statements for the credit cards, which had taken the strain over the last month were pilling up and made uncomfortable reading.   She needed to settle some of these; but where was the money going to come from?  She also needed to urgently replace two tyres on her little car.  After her first adventure she realised, with some surprise, that people sell all sorts of things ‘on-line’.  It made her look around her home, she began to wonder if there were things here that she didn’t need.  Actually the more she thought about it, most things seemed superfluous right now!

Ambling up the softly-carpeted stairs and opening the drawers in her bedroom Jane realised just how much jewellery and how many knick-knacks she had.   Sitting at her dressing table she examined her worried expression in the mirror.  Cupping her small pale face in her hands she noted that her rather wiry hair needed some attention, her eyes seemed smaller and she looked paler than usual. Pulling ever-so-slightly back on her face, she sighed at the slightly younger looking version of herself looking back.  She felt so alone.  Jack was ill with anxiety so she couldn’t talk to him and important decisions needed taking.  His normally ruddy complexion was visibly paling, and his trademark sweep of once blond hair seemed to have lost its life.  He was shrinking before her eyes, losing weight and stature with each passing day.