GEORGIE Z of Birchleigh North writes:
If my body was a car, this is the time I would be thinking about trading it in for a newer model.
I’ve got bumps and dents and scratches in my finish. My traction is not as graceful as it once was. I slip and slide and skid and bump into things even in the best of weather.
But here’s the worst of it, almost every time I sneeze, cough or sputter, either my radiator leaks or my exhaust backfires.
One consolation has been that when I am forced to rest, there was always a book to read thanks to Birchleigh North Library. What do I do now when I find it impossible to get parking?
When I arrived at the library on September 1, I found the disabled parking I normally use barricaded with a chain by the clinic but that only one car was parked within the area (the same applied on September 2).
The six parking bays available to the public were occupied and are a bit too far for me to walk. I also could not find parking in front of the hall and had to park in the Pick n Pay parking lot and climb the steep ramp to the library with a bag full of books. I use a crutch.
Telkom is also adding to my woes.
As I got older and less mobile, I relied on Telkom’s “Evening W/ender” plan to keep in touch with friends and family. The loss of this facility has severely affected the quality of my life. Family and friends now only contact me in case of emergency and I have become very isolated.
I am very deaf and find it extremely difficult to hear when spoken to on a cell phone.
I had a Telkom line for the best part of my adult life (about 55 years). The number 972-7266 was allocated to me in 1980, shortly after I moved to my current home. During this time my Telkom account was never in arears.
In February 2016 they cut the line because of a dispute about internet charges of R199 a month added to the account.
As we did not have internet services from Telkom for about two weeks, I went to Telkom’s business premises in Festival Mall on April 10, 2015 and completed the necessary form to cancel the service. Telkom’s staff accepted the cancellation as they were unable to indicate when it would be back to normal.
