How are we all doing ?

Hi Denby,I don’t know,there might be.I’m finding it hard to phone anyone at the moment as I break down and cry.I’ve never found phoning people easy but it’s much worse since mum died.Love Jane x

Jane, Funny you say that about crying. My reason to break down and cry is for another reason entirely. When you need to phone and when you cannot get through to a human you tend to get pushed from pillar to post down upteen menus that go out of their way to stop you talking to anyone. Banks and utility companies appear to be some of the worst culprits. If I can avoid it I do, just the thought of the barriers contribute to my anxiousness and frustration because you know what you're in for. Chris 

I know exactly what you mean Chris.It is all so frustrating and adds to anxiety as you say.I’ve lost track of the hours I spent on the phone with the DWP.They were helpful once I got through but It took so long.I had so many calls to make when mum died.Life seems more complicated and stressful than it was years ago.

Oh Chris I SO agree. My bank shut 'our' branch, the next nearest is only open until 2pm Mon-Fri, NOT Sat. The one we used to find most convenient, being close to daughter's house and with its own carpark! has had it's hours and services available slashed too. I refuse to use online banking and get very fed up with the menu that forces me to lie by pushing a button to pretend I have already tried the 'chat' etc etc just to get a person to pay a bill for me. 

What makes me cry too beside frustration is people who are nice to me since being bereaved.

I recall the time we had to register our son's death at the town's registrar. The lady kept us waiting for a good twenty minutes and when she did appear she turned around apologised for the wait because she's had a "stressful" morning. I thought at the time maybe a different approach would have been better, couldn't really feel much sympathy for her stress.

Hello Denby, we are fortunate so far to still have bank branches in our town, however you know that they want to eventually close them all. They want us to go cashless and as I read yesterday some banks across the country have stopped issuing cash altogether. It frightens me how quickly we are being ushered down this road. The customer at these big institutions are on the bottom rung of the ladder. Chris 

That’s awful Chris.You needed compassion at such a terrible time.All the banks have closed where I live.My own branch is over the border in Dorset but it’s still open.It does annoy me how a large section of society are being forced to adapt or be completely shut off from this new way of doing things.I don’t want to have to do internet banking.My elderly uncle struggles because he is supposed to be doing everything on line and he doesn’t own a computer.He does have a mobile phone but has never learnt how to text.He Is becoming more reclusive and depressed by how everything is changing.It Is sad to see the change in him.

We had six or seven cash machines within walking distance, but with bank closures we only have one left and that is usually empty, so we need to travel if we need cash. Modern technology has many benefits, but at the same time has set us back in many ways. Best wishes.

I totally agree.Technology is fine too when it works but when systems crash people don’t appear able to cope with a pen and paper system.I was talking to one of the check out girls at the supermarket and she was saying she had forgotten how to write.I personally think that is very sad.

It is very sad that young people are totally governered by technology. One Christmas I bought my eldest grandson "1984" by Orwell, I tried to encourage him to read it especially as the way this world is starting to echo Orwell's words . Trouble is young people don't touch books these days which I find quite demoralising. Apart from maybe studying it's all Instagram, YouTube and WhatsApp. Me I love a good book but I'm a dying breed.