The transport saga (next instalment)

Hi Poll,

You can already read how it went. It didn’t.

I never even got there! Was stranded at the bus stop, exactly as feared. Had to ring the hospital and tell them there was no possible way I was going to make it on time.

They were decent about it, and said if it was urgent they would still see me, but if it was a routine follow-up, they suggested they send a new date.

It WAS just a routine appointment, so what could I say? Was getting too stressed and distressed to wait any longer for the bus anyway, and no doubt would have faced a similar problem on the way home.

So have come home, am getting drunk, and thinking of going back to bed. It probably would have been quite a good idea to stay there to start with, instead of getting in the total state I’m in.

Tina

x

I don’t think that is quite right, Tina.

If you had learned to drive, you would then need either to (i) hire a car to take you to and from the hospital, which is never as cheap as the headline figure makes it look, and anyway you would probably need to be insured to drive another car before they would accept you, or (ii) own and run a car. A few back of envelope sums on option (ii) regarding petrol/maintenance/insurance/road fund tax/depreciation/loan interest or opportunity cost of capital (depending on how you bought it) etc etc…You can see where this is going: add up the annual cost of that lot, and then divide the answer by the £30 or whatever that a minicab round trip will cost you, and see how many taxi rides you can get for the money! I think it is time to turn the statement about driving around and start thinking how much money you save by just using cabs when you need them rather than having a car to run! Seriously, though, please remember that this stuff is not your fault. It is the filtered word MS. As you say, who knew this was going to happen to us?

Sorry you had a wasted day.

Alison

Thanks Alison,

I suppose it’s not just because of the hospital that I feel never learning to drive was a huge own goal. It’s becoming such a limitation with everything.

When I first moved here, more than 20 years ago, public transport was a lot better, and in addition, I wasn’t ill, so I really didn’t find it a huge problem that I didn’t drive. Most destinations were “manageable”, even if it did need a bit more forethought than just jumping in the car.

But now I’m increasingly finding I can’t go to anything. It’s a problem getting to the GP, because the bus to that has gone, and now problems with the hospital. I couldn’t do a nightclass locally (despite doing them in the past), because there aren’t the buses any more. And as for working… I don’t think driving would have stopped me being made redundant, but as far as looking for anything else goes, without a car - forget it. No direct bus into town any more, and only one train an hour. Which is very fast, at just 12 minutes, but the 08:40 wouldn’t quite get me there in time for a nine o’clock start - unless my office was literally at the station. So I’d have to set off a whole hour earlier, at 07:40, which I can’t see ever happening, as it takes me two hours to get myself in a fit state to leave home. Alarm at 5:30 ever morning? I reckon I’d last a month, if that.

Work, leisure, shopping, medical appointments. It’s all getting impossible unless you drive - and that’s probably the case for people who aren’t sick too, but it does make it just a little bit harder to stand around in heat/snow/pouring rain for any length of time.

Tina

x

Hi T, I guess you are gonna shout at me big time for the following question…to which I probably already know the answer…but here it comes…

have you thought about moving?

Please dont yell too loudly hun!

pollxx

Poll, You’re right, you already know. :wink: It’s not that I love where I live so very much, but I don’t think anywhere else is better, and I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to cope with the stress of the upheaval. If it came to a choice, I’d honestly rather not bother with neuro appointments ever again, than have to go to such extreme lengths. What would I do? Move next door to the hospital? And then if they relocate neuro services somewhere else I can’t get to? Keep following them around? Wherever you move, it’s not guaranteed it will be better - or, if it is, that it will stay that way. This place had good public transport links when I first moved here, such that I did not envisage it becoming a problem. Over the years, it has got steadily worse and worse (much like my health) but I suspect that’s true pretty much everywhere. Does anyone actually have better public services now than they had 20 years ago? A bus route can be axed at any time, so I could move somewhere I think has excellent links, but then find myself back to square one, with no end in sight to the cost-cutting. We used to have five buses an hour, direct into town. It went to three an hour, two an hour, and the evening and weekend services gradually disappeared. Now we have none. You can’t go to town without a minimum of two buses, or 15 minutes walk to another bus stop. You can’t go anywhere on a Sunday or Bank Holiday at all. Yes, the shops are all open, or the church, should you wish to visit that. But you won’t be going there by bus! Tina x