Its the old "keeping up appearences thing". Loads of people are struggling for a whole load of reasons but its not visible to others.
One of our customers yesterday phoned up and spoke to my wife, she asked if we could put her off till the new year only her husband is self employed and money was tight. No problem, we all know that feeling, been there. A lot of people would be too proud to come out and say it like that.
There are some deep cracks forming in the economy which loads of people, including the politicians, are in denial about.