Exporter #1

I am May Blackwood, and I am an exporter living in Manchester. I have never had a wife, nor do I intend to because I do not need one when I am on the sea for weeks at a time. The jewel in the crown of the British Empire, India, is where I am preparing to go, and the profits shall be high. Since I am very adventurous, I am very excited for my trip.

The recent invention of the steamboat has improved my business immensely. When Robert Fulton ordered a steam engine from Watt, he built a steamboat called the Clermont, and the successful trip of this steamboat created many opportunities. With the invention of the steamboat, a network of canals were created; Now I can more efficiently export goods through the water!

When the London-Manchester Railway opened in 1830, I was so happy! I could now travel to London or other places in Britain using the railroads. Locomotives are much better than a horse-drawn carriage, I assure you that!

However, living in Manchester is not always wonderful. There are a great amount of filthy farmers coming into the city looking for work, and they clearly don't work hard enough. I cannot stand them! They are just expendable workers to me. Some of them have become so poor they have the audacity to ask me for money! It is simply appalling that anyone would ask for money; they should just work harder.

Agricultural inventions such as the seed drill is what is bringing the farmers into the city. Although I don't like the ones that beg, they are laborers who work in the factories. As long as they're working and leaving me alone I do not mind too much.

The city is also becoming dirty. The air makes me cough, and there is fog all around that makes the sky hazing and hard to see through. The streets are littered with remnants of waste. And do not even get me started on the Irwell River. It looks repugnant and repulsive. It is filled with waste from all sorts of things coming from the sewers. It is practically just a river of excrement! How horrific!