Graham: The
downside of being here is financially; it was probably one of the worst
decisions of my life. I’d spend years working for people in the pub trade, and
that meant I had a regular steady income, 4 weeks paid holiday, and I had
bonuses on top, and accommodation was provided so I always had plenty of
disposable income. I never really had to think throughout life about money: if
I wanted something I bought it, if I wanted a holiday I went on it. In a way I
was very irresponsible because I never put any money aside other than what we
used to purchase the business.
Initially the first two years we opened the shop up, we made
it a lot lighter and brighter and invited many customers that wouldn’t usually
set foot in the place beforehand, so initially, trade went up, but I also had a
second job, I was working as a bar manager, so I had a steady income from
there, but because the shop was doing so well, I thought I didn’t need a second
job any more and I can just live off this income, and at the time I could do
that.
We still wanted to pay everyone back, so we carried on
trading, effectively as bankrupt, so its not been ideal, the IVA’s said how
much money that I can have per week, and then the money goes to pay back
creditors that I’ve accumulated and the debts that we’ve accumulated, we’re a
lot worse off making the decision to come here, we’re a year and a half away
now, or 2 years from paying everyone back,
but then we’ll be alright again. So yeah, getting this shop was the day
that changed my life, but financially, it was for the worse.
Interview with Graham's Wife - Jane:
Jane Interview: Originally
he didn’t want it, he just mentioned it in passing, it was me, I pushed him and
pushed him to get it, because I knew he’d love it. I thought it might stop him
bringing loads of rubbish home, but it hasn’t. But no, it was me, I have to
admit. I thought it would make him happy… it does make him happy.
It takes up so much time, that’s the trouble because it’s a
24hr job. You don’t get time to do anything else, you can’t take a holiday, and
its just all encompassing. Especially when its quiet and there’s not much money
about, but hopefully we’ll get over that and we’ll be back to it. Probably if I
knew then what I knew now, we wouldn’t have taken it on but we’ll fight for it,
it’ll be fine.
It’s hard to believe but it’s made him more geeky, because
he was a bar manager before he took this, he’s always been a geek, he’d got
this out of his system, but now card games, everything is about, so it’s made
him really super obsessive I might say but that’s what he is deep down, not
much I can do about it.
That is all we transcribed, they were the most important parts and we felt we didn't necessarily need to transcribe the other bits, as they were either too short or not relevant!
Sam and James
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