Yeah, he was a total piece of work, married and his wife was pretty ill too

That hasn't changed much. In my area, women are sleeping with men to get minimum wage and work twice as hard as men who don't sleep with the same men (I guess) to not work hard and make 2-3 times as much. Let's just say I've learned I can do without a whole lot of stuff I didn't think I could before. For years.