Judy was clearly outraged when she regaled her audience of three in Coffee Club with the details of what had happened. As for that audience, we sat in horrified silence, flat whites and long blacks untouched for the moment at least. It would be true to say that the entire episode depressed us and made us understandably edgy. Anna maintained that it was decidedly unfair whichever way you looked at it and we were being picked on just because we were old. Jo nodded in enthusiastic agreement but added that she rather worried there might be something we were getting wrong because in New Zealand 2023 - it was late November last year when this happened - it just didn't seem right. By the time we got around to drinking the coffee it was barely warm. Then someone from an adjacent table who had heard the discussion was hovering over us telling a tale of her own but hers involved a list of items she might buy from the supermarket whereas Judy's list had been one of animals.
It all happened when Judy was sent a reminder to apply for her driving license to be renewed as she was about to become an octogenarian - in fact she had planned a celebration party. She needed a supporting medical certificate she told us which seemed simple enough but that was where the problem began because she was told she had to complete a test - a Cognitive Test which the nurse proceeded to give her. The test seemed quite straightforward to begin with and she confidently believed that if she still remembered the Times Tables impressed upon her at that primary school in Opotiki all those years ago, all would be well. She certainly knew which day of the week it was and the date and could even recite the months of the year backwards. The list of thirty animals is where she fell down, she was quite confident of that. And the address of someone she had never heard of who lived in a Wellington suburb had also tripped her up. Nevertheless she had not expected to actually fail! But fail she did and was now without a driving license which meant that future coffee meetings would have to be held much closer to where she lived in Meadowbank. She added in a small, depressed voice that when she thought about the unpleasant incident she concluded that it had very little to do with driving and a great deal to do with discriminating against the elderly.
Over the following weeks it was surprising how many similar relicensing horror stories were to be related in low voices by octogenarian applicants. Such tales were rife in the ranks of local Probus and U3A members and even the library Book Club was not totally exempt. The prevailing reaction was universally one of disbelief as those who had been found wanting enumerated the areas where their lives would now be altered - how would they get to Church on Sunday? - get to the supermarket? - visit the library? It was all very well to advise them to use the buses, take an uber, organise a lift but it wasn't always possible. George said glumly that he supposed staying at home from now on wasn't going to be the end of the world but it did rather seem that way; he admitted that he had been a car owner since the age of eighteen and in fact had never boarded a bus in his life. When he was growing up, he said, there had been no buses.
And it did rather seem that in New Zealand, the oldest members of local communities were being singled out in a way that was likely to have a devastating effect upon their overall psychological well-being. Raising the topic, somewhat tentatively on social media platforms Failure stories began to creep from every corner, invariably accompanied by feelings of humiliation and outrage, occasionally retold with humour. Peter recalled that he had perhaps provoked his Examiner - when she requested that he draw a clock he had done so after establishing whether she would prefer Arabic or Roman numerals.
Overall the feeling amongst those who had failed to meet the grade was confusion and distress coupled with a degree of shame. Several months spent at home watching afternoon TV did nothing to improve matters. As one they agreed that it would have been far preferable to have re-sat the old fashioned driving test where three point turns and reversing around corners were the points of horror. Judy, whose experience began this saga says at least it incorporated something concrete relating to the ability of the candidate to drive a vehicle.
I have to be honest because with a re-licensing of my own looming up I have become pre-occupied with repeating the months of the year backwards and listing four legged animals in the shortest time possible. I've even added interesting choices to my list such as the Kinkajou and the Sloth just to try to make the task less monotonous. My fervent hope though is that this side-lining and discrimination of the over eighties will before long be totally abandoned.
