I went into the Salisbury Information Centre just ahead of an elderly lady. While I only wanted to browse and see what kind of information they had available, she had a specific inquiry that she put to the man at the desk.
Concerning the road closures that had been announced for Armed Forces Day on 29th June, when there will be a major parade through the city: What roads are going to be closed, and for how long?
“You’ll have to look on the Council website, we haven’t actually got a complete list here.”
“I’m 95, I don’t have a website,” she replied.
But to no avail. The Council was not distributing a printed list of road closures. The Information Centre could print the website for her but there were about 20 pages of it. They could tell her that the road between where she lived and the city centre would be closed for three days…
“Well, how am I going to eat, then?”
When you live alone, have no car, have to travel to the shops by bus, can’t carry enough provisions for three days — how can you cope with not being able to get to the shops for that long? When you have no computer, no Internet access — how can you obtain even the most vital basic information these days?
It’s a scary glimpse of how modern living marginalises and excludes the elderly. And by the time I’m 95, if I should live that long, it will presumably be even worse, even more difficult.
Godspelled 