Like so many other depositors in Landsbanki Guernsey, I'm a very ordinary citizen.  I have worked hard all my life, declared my earnings from several different jobs and paid my income tax.  I have lived simply.  There was no welfare state in Jersey when I was young and  growing up during the years of German Occupation taught me everything I needed to know about managing with very little and never wasting what you have.

As a young woman whose marriage failed, I needed every penny of my earnings to keep myself and my young son.   There was nothing left over to contribute to a private pension, had there even been such a thing in those days, but in later life I have saved for my old age, having been brought up to believe in self reliance.

Now I'm 73 and I need the interest from those savings to supplement my State pension.  Landsbanki was offering a better rate than anything on offer in Jersey.  For me, banking in the sister island was no different from banking at home.  (It saddens me to hear "offshore" used as a sneer - it makes me feel somehow downgraded. ) How I wish I had given away the money I deposited,  or had just used it for something useful instead of seeing it disappear into a black hole.  I am just thankful that at least I know how to manage when times are difficult.  I have had plenty of practice.