Bartering

Holly, a 25-year-old sign writer and muralist, recently spent a couple of days staying in a shepherd’s hut an hour from her home. She didn’t pay for it – well, not in the way you or I would. The owner had a gypsy caravan with doors that needed painting. Holly could do the job. An agreement was struck, no money changed hands, and both sides walked away feeling they’d got a fair deal. Holly is one of a growing number of small tradesmen who have quietly decided to opt out of the traditional cash economy – or at least keep one foot outside it. She has been ‘paid’ in chiropractor sessions, pizza and someone cutting her grass. When she painted the Christmas windows of her local café, the owner told her to pop in for a free lunch ‘for the next ten goes’.