Page 77 - IT'S A RUM LIFE BOOK FOUR Volume 1 "Northcote 1984 to 1998"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“IT HAPPENED AT EASTER”

This all came about after the National Lottery had been launched and around
£140,000,000 was disappearing out of the National economy every week.

It had made a huge difference to our income and within 18 months of the National Lottery
commencing, we were £38.000 in debt.
(Incidentally, it transpired that at he same time many other animal sanctuary type places
had lost similar huge amounts of money. As I write this in 2007, there are still large
numbers of the public who pay regular amounts of money into the lottery every week in the
hope of a better life.)

We had had an accountant at the time, he seemed to take delight in telling us that we were
insolvent and he needed paying!

I took great delight in kicking in the front of his desk. Haven’t seen him from that day and
don’t particularly wish to!

Things were not just tough, there was no obvious way out. No way to pay the mortgage, or
pay the £38.000 to creditors.

Visitor income had tumbled so much, we really could not rely on visitors for the future.

STAFF HAD TO GO

We would have to manage without the few local folk who had been manning the shop and
tea room from the very beginning in 1989.

That left just Ruth and myself.

Ruth was working full time thank goodness and otherwise we would just have to manage.

We both mucked the horses out together every morning until Ruth had to depart to care for
her own patients. I carried on afterwards just doing what was physically possible.
The tablets helped.

I had suffered a heart problem not long after arriving here at Northcote in 1984 and the
Doc had prescribed some little yellow wizards that kept my heart beating regularly.

That is some of the background to the next series of events that actually were to change
the rest of our lives.