But when the local branch closed a few months ago, she went into a decline. Her daily visit to the post office was a lifeline – not only for her pension and postage, but for a chat and a vital connection with the world.

The old lady simply couldn't take it in, and still went across the road every morning, waiting patiently for the door to open. It took a lot of convincing by her family and neighbours that the post office really was gone for good, and as I say, she hasn't been the same since.

It is the end of an era, for her, as it is for the customers of the 2,500 stores expected to close nationwide as part of the Government's latest cost-cutting measures. The Yorkshire region has already lost more than 25 per cent of its post offices in less than a decade. By the end of this year, we could see at least another 100 shut.

We are told that money has to be saved because the postal service is in a financial mess. But that is the fault of those in charge, not the customers at the sharp end. To most of the bean-counters, sitting there with their charts and spread-sheets, these post offices are nothing more than targets on a map.

This is a big part of the problem. People who work long office hours, people with assistants and secretaries and partners to sort out their letters and parcels, people whose lives are organised by credit cards and direct debits, rarely have cause to actually cross the threshold of a post office. I know, because I was one of them.

When I had a full-time job, I bought stamps for cards at the card shop, and like most of my colleagues, paid in cash to the post-room manager to send birthday and Christmas parcels. It wasn't until I had my first child and became self-employed that I started to use the post office regularly and learned to appreciate who relies on it.

I am an able-bodied person with a car, so I could go anywhere, but I prefer to use the post office in my nearest village rather than drive into town. It is convenient, as it is next to a small supermarket where I can park for free and do my shopping afterwards. And, being a suspicious soul, I always imagine that there might be an official lurking outside the village branch, clicking off the numbers who come in. I could be the click that makes the life-or-death difference.

I realise that the postal industry is not set up for the benefit of people like me. I must come somewhere down at the bottom of the "people to consider" list. But there are millions of individuals, like my friend's grandmother, who really don't have a choice. They aren't young and healthy, and don't drive. If they want to use a post office, it has to be the nearest one, and the nearer the better, especially in rain and howling winds.

It is sickening that the elderly, the infirm and the vulnerable are the unwitting victims of this closure policy. None of them, I'm sure, voted for the option of becoming prisoners in their own homes, reliant on a "post office van" – if they are lucky – for essential services.

Reformers argue that customers can travel to the next village or town. Do you think that any of these big-thinkers has ever had to rely on a bus? Cuts to rural, and in many places, urban bus services, make this very difficult indeed. Best also to take a flask and sandwiches, because it can be a long day.

Protesters argue that a post office is at the heart of a village or a community, and as such, it should be protected and supported. What does this tell us about the long-term sustainability of the villages and communities which have suffered? When the post office goes, other
shops follow.

It is ironic that all this is happening under a Government which appears to be obsessed with the idea of building new "communities" in the shape of eco-towns.

It makes you wonder if any of them have any understanding whatsoever of what the word actually means. I know of one Barnsley post office earmarked for closure. Next to it stands, without irony, a shop-unit which is home to "Engaging Communities", a major programme to encourage community cohesion.

Pity those new communities, if those who run the country are ripping the heart out of the existing ones.