These are difficult times, no-one's fault, but a huge shake-up for humanity. I don't know what can be done really, but the fact is the government has certainly tried to help with mortgages and rents and i expect many people will be very glad of that assistance, and I expect more measures will follow. What heartened me yesterday was that the big box at Tesco where folks donate a box of cereal or tins of soup etc for the food banks was overflowing and on asking one of the staff he told me it wasn't just an accumulation but they had had to get the guys to uplift the donations twice as often recently. As for self-employed, like I am, I am retired but not yet of pensionable age so I don't expect any assistance...however, with folks being stuck at home I am very busy doing minor works for loads of people! As I don't usually charge for tiny jobs, my cellar is growing with the bottles i get given, so that's a bonus!
My daughter was offered a new job 2 weeks ago, having been made redundant before Christmas...naturally, as she can be self-employed doing freelance work, she has made a small amount that way, but the new job heralded a big step forward...then last week she got an email saying her new employers couldn't manage to take her on after all, which resulted in the bathroom fitter being put on hold and he has put his tiler and plasterer on hold so none of them have any work for about 2 weeks, with more cancellations coming in daily. The Men's Shed where i volunteer has been closed too...this is sad because we exist to help those who need the company and help of others, so we are in effect failing those we seek to support, but cannot support them in the Shed because many have health issues which require them to be extra careful about contact with others...
and, oddly, my golf course has closed too, which seems daft, but there are some good reasons for this, so instead of golf "spoiling a good walk", I am just going for a walk without my golf clubs, which, to be fair, is less hazardous for those nearby!
Just when I thought things were getting better, here I am STILL supporting my daughter!
On a serious note, being self-employed has a bonus if you are a one-man/woman band, in that you don't have the awful task of laying people off...but if you run a bigger show, it is one of the hardest things to do to tell employees that you have to let them go. Difficult times...