The recession reached our family this week.
My eldest son works in the car industry and took a job with Lexus in Dubai five months ago because people were buying fewer cars here while business was booming in the oil-rich Persian Gulf.
All went well until February, when their twin girls were born. But by then the downturn had reached the United Arab Emirates. Car showrooms where customers used to queue to buy became quiet as the desert and Lexus started laying off staff.
So he phoned on Thursday to wish me happy birthday and tell how he had been made redundant that morning, not what you want as a young father with three small children and a wife to support.
To his credit there was no complaint or gloom. He bore the news with fortitude and dignity.
As he said, you have to regard redundancy as an opportunity to find a better job and improve your life.
He is right, of course, but it will not be easy. There is the sense of rejection to overcome and the need to maintain self-confidence through perhaps months of application forms and interviews while cash reserves diminish.
Our thoughts and hopes are with him, his wife and the grandchildren.
Philip Welch
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