I settled down quite well at Midland Assurance, remained cheerful and
was able to stop taking any form of tranquilliser. I had to buy a few new
clothes. People criticised the mini-skirt, which at this time was the
fashion, but my reason for wearing one was the fact that they were the
cheapest clothes on sale in the chain-stores. There were no charity shops
in the High Streets of 1968, and jumble sales were unreliable, so following
the current fashion was the only option for me.
When I had first visited the Rotunda, I had gasped at all the young
women hurrying by in mini-skirts. The rotunda was a famous Birmingham land-
mark, a very high round building. It was mostly occupied by Employment
Agencies which was my reason for visiting it. However I never succeeded in
getting any work through the employment agencies, which mostly dealt with
high-speed typists.
Another patient called Pat who was much younger than me became personal
secretary to one of the directors at Lucas. I had often played table-
tennis with Pat in the day-room of the ward at Rubery Hill Hospital. She
told me that she had been termed a schizophrenic, but did not believe this
was true, because she had been able to stop taking any form of drug after
three months. I did not believe she had schizophrenia because one year
later she had settled down in her work. She was in her twenties, so earned
higher wages than Dorothy or me. Her typing speed was slow, but she was
given time off for lessons by Lucas Ltd. In those days the younger women
were able to earn higher wages in offices, as it was assumed that the older
women would be married. Not only were women like Dorothy and me employed at
a low wage, but we were never offered a rise and any promotion prospects
were blocked. This was the system at Midland Assurance. Anyone over 25 was
employed at £10 per week. Women who started work at 18 also earned
£10 per
week, and were able to earn increments each year to a maximum of about
£15
per week. This may not sound much of a difference but it would have made a
great deal of difference to my life.
However I had one lifeline. I was able to volunteer for overtime. Not
more than three hours per week. But this was paid at 10s per hour. I was
happy to do three hours overtime whenever I could and earn an extra
£1.10s.
Funnily enough the work we performed on overtime was even less skilled
than our normal work. It consisted in taking a file of back papers from the
shelf, and tidying the papers which it contained. Where the file was torn
we threw it away, got a new file from stores and relabelled it with the
appropriate month and year. My frequent companion during this evening work
was an 18 year old girl, who wore a wig. She had perfectly good hair, but
wearing wigs was fashionable that year. I was astonished.
I did not ever want to waste money in following unnecessary fashions, but
still liked to buy books
and newspapers. Newspapers were very cheap and nearly everyone bought one
every day. Books were expensive, and considered a waste of money by most
people. I bought a set of books for studying engineering insurance, because
I was employed by the engineering section of Midland Assurance. I had been
told that even though I was nearly forty years of age, I would be
considered for higher pay if I passed the insurance exams. The qualified
men noticed that I was intelligent and started to employ me on a range of
work, such as dictating answers to letters into a dictaphone, which was
normally reserved for higher grades of employee.
The Midland Assurance had a good record of employing disabled people. I
think they knew about my time in Rubery Hill Hospital, but unlike Cadbury's
this was never made a subject for gossip. My confidentially was preserved
and the senior staff were very decent.
A deaf woman was employed as a typist, and I was told that she was
considered very satisfactory, as she could not stop to talk during tea-
breaks, but simply continued with her work.
There was another floor of offices above ours, and I saw a woman in a
wheel-chair being conveyed by lift to this floor every morning. Once at
her desk, this woman was able to do just as good a job as the rest of us; a
fact ignored by many employers. Though I considered Midland pay policy to
be unfair, I thought that the other aspects of their employment policy were
fairer than was the case with most employers. Employees were not told off
by superiors for petty reasons, and staff were given a chance to do varied
work, if they showed aptitude.
Some women did not want varied work. A married woman who worked part-
time was quite content to check the wording of policies every day. I also
had to do this work, but quickly became very bored by it.
Whenever possible I was employed on inserting the correct wording into
new policies, or adding endorsements to old policies, and working out the
exact rate for premiums. As most of our customers were small businesses,
and as I was employed on the engineering section, the work was reasonably
interesting. I contemplated going to evening classes to study engineering
insurance, but because it did not interest me as much as chemistry, and as
I had completed over ten years of study at evening classes and needed a
rest, I decided not to pursue the matter for a year. In the meantime I was
still examining the small advertisements to see if there was any
possibility of getting employment as a chemist once more.
In the evenings, just occasionally I saw a film in the cinema which
was part of the YWCA building. Very often I visted Dorothy Jones in her
YWCA room for tea and a chat; she also came to my room. Dorothy said she
was thinking about applying to emigrate to Australia because her sister
lived there. She had few friends in England. As far as I know her only
friends were the other residents in the YWCA building, as like me, she had
little money for social evenings out.
Often I walked through the University campus for relaxation. In 1968
Marxism had become popular among students. To my surprise I saw a notice
about evening talks on Marxism pasted up on the outside wall near the
laboratory in which I had worked. This appeared to be a cheap evening out,
so I decided to attend some of the lectures, especially as a Catholic
Priest, Father Laurence Bright, from the University Chaplaincy was taking
part. The lectures were free and open to the general public.
When I attended a talk by Father Laurence Bright, I discovered that a
group of Catholic intellectuals had produced a book called "The Slant
Manifesto" which attempted to integrate the writings of Marx and the
Gospel. THese people were also very interested in "Liberation Theology"
which was being developed in South America, in a thirst for social justice
among peasants and shanty-town dwellers on the outskirts of towns.
The intellectual side was "a far cry" from English Trade Union
activities which had never mentioned Marxism or theology except in vague
non-practical ways.
Father Bright's talks did not lead me to join any students' activities,
as apart from feeling too old for this, my present job was entirely
unconnected with these circles, and even joining a Trade Union which had
been easy in my earlier life was no longer feasible. However after
purchasing the Slant Manifesto, I bought a Penguin book contining the
Communist Manifesto, and other extracts from Marx's writings. THen I
borrowed Trotsky's "My Life" from the library, and bought another Penguin
book containing extracts from Lenin. At the same time I borrowed Thomas
Merton's "Seven Storey Mountain" and "Elected Silence" from the library.
These were the autobiographical writngs of a young American shortly before
and shortly after entering a Trappist Monastery called "Gethsemnane " in
America. He became a very radical thinker and an advocate of non-violent
resistance against war and injustice.
Quietly reading these books passed my evenings. I had no television,
and on the radio listened only to the news.