By the time you read this I will be another year older.

I am now 42, realising that there are fully grown adults in this world who were born this side of 2000 and thinking ’How is that possible?’

Anybody who has ever worked from home will know the mad rush to answer the door when a delivery driver calls. 

In the rush not to miss that important package recently, I ended up banging my head on a ledge on my stairs and a few days later my eye looked like some something out of a horror movie – this led to a visit to A & E at St Peters, which although busy seemed to be very well organised with a navigation nurse assessing and directing patients to various places. 

I was seen in around two hours which wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been and I was told that everything was in order and nothing to worry about. That put my mind at rest as it did my partner Emma who sat with me through it all and drove me to St Peters and back, something I am very grateful for.

The parking at St Peters was hard to come by until we found the council-run car park just by the main entrance which seemed to have spaces. When we explored this we found the only way to pay for parking was via an app which thankfully we could do but there were a lot of confused people who weren’t able to use the app, pondering what to do. A notice stated that due to vandalism the only way to pay was via an app.

In this case it seems to be an extreme case as the machines were broken, but all too often when trying to pay by cash we are told ’sorry, card only!’’ 

I was reading that Asda are removing staff from many of their petrol stations, including the one in Sheerwater. They claim that up to 90 per cent of transactions are pay at the pump and staff who were working there will be moved into the store. 

It’s the other ten per cent I worry about – that’s still a high number of customers who can only pay via cash for whatever reason. 

It feels this move away from cash is leaving a section of society behind; people with disabilities, people who may find cash easier to use to budget, elderly people who have always dealt in pounds and pence. There are many who get left behind in this and they shouldn’t be forgotten. 

Let’s have an option to pay how we want to pay. If that’s coins and notes then that should be as welcome as waving a card at a machine, which doesn’t even feel like you’re spending money. I still find it odd that I can spend up to £100 without contact.

On a lockdown walk years ago there was a cafe where my friend wanted to buy me a drink, only he couldn’t as it was card only. A short walk around the corner there was an ice cream van where it was   cash only –  at least Mr Whippy didn’t give my notes and coins a frosty reception!  

* Listen to the Sunny Sessions, the inclusive radio show from The Sunnybank Trust on Surrey Hills Community Radio – Monday and Thursday at 11am and on the first Monday of each month at 9pm.

Sunny Sessions is also on Radio Woking every Wednesday at 9am.

My Radio Woking shows are Wednesday breakfast 7am to 9am and Sunday mornings 9am to noon.

If you want to take part in my radio shows you can reach me on email at [email protected]