The second in my Saturday hat trick of missions took me along to Ealing Borough, to help Mr F with an important job.

Mr F was in his 9th decade of life, and was still doing well to go out and keep driving despite a handful of health conditions trying to hold him back. During the pandemic and the various lockdowns, Mr F’s blue badge had expired and he was racking up a few tickets for parking without a valid permit.

GoodGym had been asked to help Mr F renew his permit, so he could carry on being independent without the worry of having to walk too far (or pay for another parking ticket!). I rose to the challenge. I’ve done many missions, completing tasks and jobs I’d never done before, and filling in the form for a blue badge was one of them. Mr F let me in with a smile on the bright sunny day, and I smiled back (as much as you can with your mask on) and he told me he wasn’t able to fill in the complex paperwork himself.

The pandemic was changing society, and to applications for the blue badge needed to be done online. For Mr F, and other perhaps technologically challenged people would really struggle with this. I had an iPhone (something I use everyday without second thought) and loaded up the application page as Mr F found me his paperwork.

Now, if using the website wasn’t hard enough, there was a LOT of sections to the application to be filled in. Mr F helped me to complete parts about his previous badge and his benefits, about his medications and his disability. It was complicated enough for me, let alone poor Mr F!

It took a long time, but we were nearly there. The final piece of the application puzzle was to upload a photo of his driving license. Mr F passed his pink card over and I noticed the date was out and the card was expired. Panic stations. Mr F looked upset and shocked, as normally the government would send a reminder and he had not received this... Cue a little bit of Googling and luckily the pandemic had one advantage. Mr F’s license had been extended because of the lockdowns and it was still very much valid despite the number on the card! Phew. It meant the past hour hadn’t been in vain!

The final application was sent with a click (can you call it a click on a touch screen?) and Mr F received an email of confirmation. Job done.

It was great to help him out, and he enjoyed having some company and telling me all about his life and family. A win win for everyone!