A Herbert Spencer of a Day

 Well, today was a day almost entirely lost to the infuriating, time-consuming, soul-sapping business of dealing with a banking fraud. It was an ingenious and thoroughly plausible one, and fortunately, in the end, the damage was undone, but Lord it was a long, exhausting haul. Inevitably, after much online to and fro and hanging on the telephone, I ended up making my way to the actual physical bank (and counting myself lucky to have one a short walk away). Before I was bamboozled into taking up online banking, I used to visit quite often, and it was a quiet and peaceful place – but now all is changed and the place was heaving. This was partly because a nearby branch of its sister bank recently closed down, and partly because, it seems, the cashiers are no longer authorised to do more than handle incoming and outgoing cash. As a result most customers end up sitting in one of several liminal spaces – okay, waiting rooms – waiting to talk to a human and sort things out. I'd estimate that at least eight out of ten of those waiting were bewildered oldsters (myself included), and most of those were, in theory, doing their banking online. As banking has become ever more complex and ever more virtual, it has also become ever more difficult and, as was painfully brought home to me today, vulnerable. I can't help but wonder what would happen if someone less (okay, even less) tech savvy than me, and less mobile, fell victim to this or some similar scam. This is increasingly becoming a world that older people, and the most vulnerable, cannot understand, let alone navigate – more and more people are being effectively barred from full participation in everyday life, and I fear it will only get worse. As for me, I finally got to see a helpful human being, who eventually got things sorted out. And that was my day. I hope I don't have such another any time soon.