It has been reported that the roads are getting busy again and I will admit I
thought the same when I had to drive to East Ham on Wednesday morning but with
fewer people using public transport and care workers and those who work in
boroughs more caring
than Bexley all being given free parking I felt it was natural
and inevitable and maybe a good thing.
But there could be another reason too. People offering urgent care to the vulnerable.
You may remember the elderly lady who lives in
an L&Q house riddled with damp
and the worst imaginable unprofessional repairs. When I was last there I was
suffering from flu or something and she was plying me with pills while I
reported that I was seriously worried by her health. I texted her the other day
to see if she was OK and this morning she phoned back.
At the best of times her breathing is laboured
and her hands shake and one wonders how she has
survived so long but now she is confined to bed. She rang Bexley Council’s help
line and - so she says - as she is not in receipt of the government’s vulnerable
person letter she’s been told to go away for now at least.
I know she has no internet connection because she could no longer afford it and
has been cut off in the past by her phone company for falling behind with the
bill. I would have thought that she is very vulnerable but who am I to say?
Because she was refused help
by Bexley Council an old friend drove up from Bournemouth yesterday
with supplies. Maybe that is a reason for increasing traffic levels?
I am not sure what these supplies consisted of because there are still basics
missing and I have taken a small shopping list. It would appear she has fresh
meat but no vegetables or anything to drink.
I
have been to a supermarket just once in the past two and a bit weeks and only because of my
aunt’s insatiable appetite for toilet rolls and now I have to go again because
no one is helping an old lady confined to bed without it would seem any official
assistance. But she is still alive so it’s not all bad news.
Groombridge Close in case there are any Good Samaritans out there.