Life by Old London

It was one morning when a young girl of about age eight woke up.

Her name is Emma.

Didn't have a father, never knew him, but mother died young. It was why she ended up at her sister's place by a poor village by the sea.

Her aunt was harsh on her and her uncle was a henpecked husband.

However, unknown to the pair, their 'niece'...isn't normal.

One time, she was.

But the real Emma never woke up after being so thirsty. Water was hard to come by in the seaside much like food. Humans cannot live past three days without water.

Her family made a living as fishermen. Her uncle fishes, while she was made by her aunt to gather shellfish.

"How on earth, did reincarnate backwards?" Emma thought grumpily.

Emma was born with worser eyesight than she who was born in 1980s. However, magic fixed it.

She was once a witch named Heather Potter, born to a wealthy pureblood father and muggleborn mother, and a powerful witch at that.

If she was here, what about Sirius, she wondered. Where's Padfoot?

Impossible to look for him now, she can't even use magic now. It seems upon being...here, her magic was spent making this body healthy.

Emma was a natural beauty, and Heather being reborn here with magic and fixed her current body made her more beautiful.

But her beauty was hidden in how dirty the girl was.

Poor folk can't afford baths.

The most baths Emma gets, was when during...foraging.

The shellfish around the area are mostly mussels. Mussels are cheap compared to gourmet oysters and scallops. In this era, a bucket of Mussels are just worth a sixpence in total.

For a very poor family, they've never touched a coin higher than sixpence.

Emma wondered how can she put up with this, for so long before poor girl died and was replaced by Heather who now took on her body and identity.

"Come to think of it, Britain is the only country where children at my age working is legal. Child Labor is legal. Slavery too." she frowned darkly.

She decided to leave.

Welp, she knows that if she didn't come back from selling today's bucket of mussels, they won't bother looking for her and simply think she got kidnapped and sold off.

For the poor, children are burdens thus when able to walk and talk, are quickly put to work.

So Emma left 'home' taking her chances.

At town, not much employment options for a child unless you're a Chimney Sweep or a Factory Worker.

She worked as a pickpocket for a week to buy herself a decent outfit after asking around for prices.

If an average worker's daily wage is one shilling, children earn...by the penny for the same work effort given by adult and child. Its definitely NOT fair.

Unless you're smart, that is!

She thrived as a pickpocket, and lived in a cheap apartment worth 3 shillings a week. It was about the size of a Dursley Living Room...which wasn't much.

But while cheap, it wasn't safe, either. She earned up to a hundred shillings before taking a ride to London.

Back then, London was a world of opportunity...both good...and bad.

Thus she worked odd jobs by day, and a pickpocket by night, and strikes in different places in London so the police are...scattered and unable to know when she strikes.

She attacks at shady places, after wealthy men leave bars or...brothels. Rich enough to afford prostitutes, definitely rich enough to feed her. Drunks are easier victims for a small child like her. She dresses in black and dresses like a boy at night, when by day, she dresses like a girl should. With two identities, she lived...comfortably enough.

In London, she lives in a well-ventilated apartment worth 3 shillings a week for just one person, herself. Her furniture at most, were...cheap mattresses she could buy. It's just her anyway. Mattresses can be for sitting and sleeping! Oh, and a single table and chair for her job as a Laundry Maid's Assistant that gets her 1 shilling a day's work. Thankfully, the apartment came with its own kitchen. But Emma has to buy all her needs herself.

The Landlord can thus believe she could live sufficiently on her own, if an eight year old can earn 7 shillings a week like an adult could, because girl was crafty with her jobs.

'If a kid can pay off rent and live well, that speaks a lot about your budgeting skills which some of my tenants, don't have! They oughta be ashamed!' he would say.

BECAUSE she lived alone, he kept an eye on her to avoid trouble on his part as he let a kid live alone instead of in an orphanage, because she didn't want to. He knows she works as a Laundry Maid.

And for one kid, four shillings a week can go a long way, that she slowly fills up her apartment with cheap goods she can easily afford after paying her weekly rent.

Cost of Living in Emma's Budget Notebook that cost her a penny:

Coal- 2 shillings a week and Heather doesn't use much coal as her meals come from her employers. She only bothers in winter thus manages to save up a lot of money for winter expenses for THIS.

Oil for lamps and cooking - sixpence a week. Again, she is hardly home. That supposedly weekly supply gets used up ONLY in breakfast for frying or boiling eggs! So yes, this sixpence worth of oil, lasts her a month.

Due to that, for one season which is five months in total, she saves 2 shillings and sixpence per week which she notes in her notepad and pencil. Total all that, she saves up 2 pounds and ten shillings for winter comforts.

As for her actual expenses in the warmest part of spring till end of autumn, this is what she mostly spends on on her salary.

Three loaves of Bread - a penny and thruppence. Lasts her a week.

A Jar of jam - two-penny. Lasts her a month.

A dozen eggs - half-penny. Lasts her four days for breakfast. She fries them in oil.

Condiments such as salt, pepper and cheap spices - thruppence. Lasts her a month.

Cheap Vegetables which is mostly root crops almost NOBODY wants - sixpence a week. Jeez people, the reason root crops are hated was because they were hard on the teeth, but if you cook them enough, they're actually quite soft! And most of those, are healthy! And she buys sour fruits as a fruit a day, keeps health issues away. Eats them at night to sleep soundly.

Tea, Milk and Sugar - sixpence a week.

Soap for laundry and dishwashing - thruppence.

With strict budgeting skills, her spare money goes to clothes. And she does NOT want to wear bloomers for underwear! She has to create her own underwear as a result even if she had to put bloomers over it as a girl walking around without one, is a BIG NO-NO.

These were what was recorded in her notebook.

HOWEVER!

Because she was a pickpocket at night and enjoys stealing off of rich men thus has access to pounds, she could buy oily fish like herring and mackerel, and rice off of oriental shops, and chicken in cold months.

At ten years old, she was tall and healthy for her age she was mistaken for twelve thanks to her healthy way of life. Her skin glowed with health.

But it was also when she was ten, that her seven employers had to lay off some workers because of money issues. Sadly, for being a kid, she was among those laid off.

She really had to look for a legal day job now...

It was when she saw a newspaper ad for a Mrs. Kelly, a retired governess.

15 pounds a year. Free room and food.

'Humm, not a bad deal. It's just me anyway.' Emma mused with a thoughtful gaze. She earns seven shillings a week in her old job. Totaling her 336 shillings, or 16 pounds and 8 shillings a year. This new gig is worth 300 shillings a year. 36 shillings less.

To afford to pay her this much when a governess doesn't earn much based on what she can teach, she must be accomplished by this world's standards. The highest a governess can get, is 50 a year if she's THAT good.

Weekly seven shillings a month totals 1 pound and 8 shillings. She loses 12 shillings a month to rent, and in food, loses 1 shilling and 11 pennies and a half-penny. Winter Expenses costs her additional 8 shillings a month in her monthly LEGAL salary.

Thus Emma's seasonal expenses is called 'Warm Season Expense' and 'Cold Season Expense'.

Warm Season Expense per month for a single person in her case, totals 13 shillings, 11-and-half pennies.

Cold Season Expense per month totals her 21 shillings, 11-and-half pennies. Change left over in both seasons, goes to material things she needs which were recorded in 'Miscellaneous Expenses'.

What doesn't exist in her notebook, was her fish, meat and leafy vegetable expenses and those are way beyond a child's meager salary. Because she was a nightly pickpocket!

She earns more than what the maid job offers, but hey, no monthly rent and free food isn't a bad deal. So she mailed Mrs. Kelly, and got accepted.

'So, you're leaving for new employment, huh?' the landlord asked Emma who returned to him her apartment key.

'Yeah, my seven employers uh...fell into hard times and laid off some workers, me included because I'm a kid.' said Emma grumpily. 'My annual 16 pounds and 8 shillings flew away.' Emma sighed. 'I'm glad I have savings to hold me by until I found a new employment. I'm a maid-of-all-works now so I'm living with that lady.'

'Good luck in your new gig kid. Anything I need to clear out?'

'Just two bed mattresses, pillows and blankets, my cookware, and that one desk and chair...and my leftover food, coal, oil and soap. You can have them. Not like I can carry them anyway and hiring movers will bleed me dry.' she cannot afford that now, now that she started...puberty. Her money must go to those dratted daily needs.

'You lived two years with just those for furniture?!'

'I'm hardly home anyway, Didn't need much furniture, just a place to sleep.'

So that got Mr. Weller scratching his head.

When she was gone, he checked her apartment which was clean. So clean that he can immediately have new tenants over upon clearing out the goods for himself. Most families can't even keep their flats clean.

He took her left-behind things for himself since his old cookware's seen better days, and the bedding looked barely-used and not even dirty! What was left behind, was dead useful. Her jars of tea, coffee, milk and sugar are barely-touched! She has a single loaf of bread left, half a jar of jam and three eggs. She has a week's worth of coal, oil and soap.

He found her old notebook that detailed her spending...aptly titled, 'Orphan's Weekly Expense Tracker: Monthly Budget of 28 shillings -by Emma'.

He had no idea Emma can write. Only the rich can afford knowing how. Hell, he only knew enough himself, so he could understand the notebooks. What she spends on a day which is mostly, for breakfast and dinner as lunch is at her employer's place and how she cooks them.

There were other logs too.

Thus Mr. Weller got to save money too in his later years, and passed on the notebooks down to his relatives until money values changed.