Never fear. People do care. Not in a David Jones Christmas-commercial type way, most often. But they do care. Most of us care
Thing is, we live on a huge chunk of ground, here in Oz. Everything's so spaced out. People have to move for work. Ties become severed. Not enough hours in a day. Problems around every corner. Bills never stop arriving. Prices going up. Illness. Dental problems. Kids divorcing and all the dramas. Grandkids to worry about. Businesses going under. People out of work with the mortgage still with 15 years to run. High cost of school blazers. New tyres needed for the car. Tax man. Corruption. Bad neighbours. Pets needing medical care. New plumbing needed. Roof needs repair ... etc. etc.
' I must drop a line to so and so'. ' Must give so and so a ring'. ' Tried to ring old aunt Floss but she's not answering'. Months slip by
It's a two way street as well. Maybe the deceased lady had just floated off into her own little world. Bottle of milk lasting all week. Not feeling hungry. Not collecting the post. Not even leaving via the front door for years - just leaving it locked and slipping out the back to go to the shops. It happens. Time loses meaning. Living alone might have meant she was oblivious to Christmas. She may have stopped sending Christmas cards a decade ago. Her extended family might have thought she'd gone into a nursing home. Maybe the extended family members had lost touch with each other over the years
The old woman may not have kept in touch with anyone in her family. They might not have felt like family to her. Maybe she barely knew them in the first place. Maybe they were born and raised interstate
If I had to go, I wouldn't mind going via a fall and bump on the head. It's not a bad way to go. She was in her own home and must have liked it that way or she'd have arranged to sell her house and move to a care home
It sounds bad, the fact she wasn't discovered for so long. But it's not surprising. How many get to know their neighbours these days? Often it's better not to. And we have such a transient society these days
No-one's fault. She slipped through the net. Hard to understand how the utilities and council didn't make enquiries. Maybe they did -- maybe they came and knocked on her door then left. Every six months or so, a similar case is reported in the news. Surprising it doesn't happen more often, really
