After two desperate years, now comes relief

Resourced:  http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/


Lloyd Leard, Dalgety Road

Lloyd Leard will miss his quaint apartment and the million-dollar harbour view that greeted him every morning for the past 14 years. But he will not miss the steps that lead there.

Several falls down the steep concrete staircase over the years have left him with a "trifecta" of injuries: a broken ankle, knee and hip. All three joints are now held together with pins and he relies on crutches to walk.

The former hairdresser had become increasingly housebound, and his boisterous border collie, Diesel, had to be cared for elsewhere.

“I could not take him for walks … he would take off down to the park and I just couldn't chase after him. If his lead caught under my crutch, I couldn't stand another fall, I really couldn't," Lloyd, 60, says.

He is among a group of Millers Point residents who are happy to leave the area. After two "desperate" years waiting to be relocated, he has packed up his eclectic collection of trinkets and curios collected from around the world, and moved to a ground floor flat in Daceyville.

But he says residents who want to stay in Millers Point should be given the chance.

“I’m very friendly with my next-door neighbour, and she really doesn't want to go, she's been here all her life," Lloyd says.

“It’s going to be very hard for particularly older people, to have to leave here. I feel for them if they have to be forced out."


Resourced:  http://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2014/millers-point/