In the week before Christmas HillsCarPal got a call from a resident of a local retirement village wanting to get urgently to Castle Towers. We’ll call her Edith.
Edith explained the trip that a bus journey would mean for her, involving up to six (6) hours away from home. She wondered how it would affect her frail health and asked us if we could respond.
In visiting Edith to register her as a Client, we learnt that this 93 year old woman was very much connected with her neighbours and staff at the village. She maintains an active interest in world affairs and has vibrant family connections. You couldn’t help being left with the impression that Edith and her husband of 70 years, have contributed greatly to our nation … and that she’s not finished yet!
Edith is also active in the online world and a Facebook user and, when we met, was in the process of updating her smartphone to the iPhone 5. It was purchased by phone order and had arrived by courier a couple of days before we met. Edith took it from its box and showed it us and to a throng of passers by as we sat and talked in a public area of the village. It was a bright sky blue in colour.
OK, “What was her urgent need to get to The Towers?”, I hear you asking.
Well Edith was told that she had to go to a VirginMobile shop to have the new iPhone activated. The nearest such outlet was in Castle Hill.
We explained that HillsCarPal couldn’t promise the Ride she was after but, that after she registered with us, she could ask our volunteer drivers on Facebook if anyone could offer such a Ride. We said it might take a week or more to get the process underway but that did not satisfy Edith.
She then produced a G4 WiFi Modem which she uses with her iPad … and asked if we knew how to activate the iPhone online, as there “is no one around here who knows anything about technology.”
Mr Google helped and it was done. We left Edith with a working iPhone 5, the full functions of which she intends to demystify over time. She’s considering whether to register with HillsCarPal early in 2014.
The HillsCarPal Team
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