STORY: Every morning on her days off, Mary Obomese puts on her winter coat and goes to a library in south-east London. There she spends two hours at the computer – and more importantly, that’s where she keeps warm. The 52-year-old, who works as a health assistant in Britain’s National Health Service, is among those turning to so-called “warm banks”. Places that people who can’t afford to turn up the heat at home can go. The situation for her, her husband and their children is extremely difficult, Obomese says: “There’s nothing else we can do, yeah, well, it’s really hard to see them saying, ‘But mommy, I’m cold , I’m cold.’ So we turn it on for 30 minutes, then we turn it off, then we turn it on for an hour, then we turn it off, yeah – that’s how we did it. But it wasn’t easy. Since the beginning of this year it has been really not easy.” Obomese, who lives in social housing and earns the equivalent of around 1700 euros, is the main breadwinner in her family. Her husband works as a freelance journalist and their children still go to school. Many people in Great Britain are currently struggling to cope with their everyday lives, just like them. The war in Ukraine has caused natural gas prices to skyrocket. Almost everything is getting more expensive. The inflation rate in the UK was 10.7 percent in November. Amy Jackson, Library Manager: “I mean it’s a shame that warm ups even exist in this day and age, but unfortunately they do and we just have to be there to support everyone that’s been affected, from the cost crisis.” Obomese’s family are among four per cent of Brits who say they are behind on their energy bills, according to a government survey carried out in December. The family have had to delay payments for the past month and fear they may have to do so again this month. The fact that Christmas is coming is more of a problem than a reason for joy for the 52-year-old: “Just this morning I talked to my husband about what’s coming up for Christmas this year. And my daughter also had Christmas Day It’s still my birthday. So yesterday she asked me, ‘Mom, what are we going to get for Christmas? Are we going to get packages or gifts?’ I said, ‘We’ll see. It’s not the end of the week, so we’ll see.’ “