The Divorced Mum

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 698.

ANGIE CROSS, 27, has four children, aged from 5 to 10. She lives in Frinton-on-Sea in Essex. She gets £585 a month state benefit and also works as a part-time barmaid for £21 a week. 'Money's been tight since I split up from my husband four years ago. The kids always come first, but special occasions for them are rare. They're lucky if we go to McDonald's once a month. All their school uniforms are second-hand. When I was a kid I used to get lots oftreats. I'd go riding and I used to have piano lessons. I feeldreadful not being able to give my kids the things I had. Every month I work out exactly what has to be paid and what can wait. I have to be very careful with money, and that doesn't come easily because by nature I'm very extravagant. My biggest extravagance now is a packet of ten cigarettes.

My monthly food bill comes to about £350, and towards the end of the month we have beans on toast three nights out of seven. I usually make the kids a packed lunch for school, but occasionally I don't have enough food to make one, so I tell the kids to have a school dinner and say they've forgotten their dinner money. It's not really telling lies because I'll always pay as soon as I can.

I get very depressed and I frequently sit down and cry. Some- times I'll go wild and buy something just to cheer myself up, but I always regret it. I once spent £30 on some clothes but I felt really guilty. What I want more than anything else is a holiday and new shoes for the kids. Who knows? I might win the lottery!'

Ex. 3d) Figure out the words by their definitions:

· spending or costing a lot of money, especially more than is reasonable

· to end a marriage or romantic relationship

· very unpleasant

· ashamed and sorry because you have done something wrong

· owned or used by someone else before you

· something special that you do or buy for yourself or someone else

· to become less sad, or to make someone feel less sad

· to feel sorry or sad that something has happened

· to solve a problem by doing a calculation

· money given by the government to people who are poor, without a job, ill etc.

· If you work for only some of the day or the week