I received an email from the chairman of 2020 Voice Cancer charity, regarding the treatment of one of his older supporters while on a visit to the seaside.

An elderly man, using his mobility scooter, for the reason that he has a terminal cancer which has badly affected his ability to walk, was most grateful to arrive at a waterfront bar. He switched off his scooter, disembarked, with walking stick, and entered: he was desperate to use the toilet which was situated just inside the door and to the left. Having got half way to said toilets he was yelled at by a fellow frantically waving a piece of paper at him and also a female squawking like a banshee “Track & Trace, Track & Trace, Track & Trace”. The man said something like “you can’t just walk in and use the toilets just like that, you have to fill in the Track & Trace first”.

Our man was in dire need of the toilets, for cancer has no regard for such frivolities as filling in forms, thus after a short verbal reposte he left this place and aimed his mobility scooter toward the small Bus Station where he had seen some public toilets. Alas his body could not wait that long and he found himself in a terrible situation that he could do nothing about.

It is blatantly obvious that some people are so wrapped up in this pandemic that they have lost the thread of humanity altogether. To treat an old man, in obvious personal difficulties, the way he was treated was despicable, for he was made the embarrassing object of everyone’s focus thanks to their repetitive bawling about ‘Track & Trace’. Any act of kindness is overridden by a silly bit of paper, which could easily have been completed AFTER the gentleman had used the facilities. What a sad, sad world we are now living in.