Thoughts of a carer

I've just come off the phone after a regular chat with my mum. She's 88, living in a tiny bungalow in what was once a development of sheltered accomodation in South Cambridgeshire. (I say 'what was once' because, some years after she moved in, the council gave up on the 'sheltered' idea, just giving the residents a phone number to phone if they needed anything, and once-a-week visits from a council officer.) My mum was quite mobile in January 2020, but, as our leaders gradually put the fear of God into people, she stayed indoors in her tiny home from March that year. 'Use it or lose it' is the phrase my osteopath uses with regards to muscle strength, and, by February 2021, my mum was hospitalised due to her legs not working. She then spent maybe ten days in Addenbrookes followed by a couple of weeks in a rehab unit, where they were apparently much in demand due to the numbers of old people who'd stopped walking during the lockdown. By March my mum wa...

We have more space on our drive than most. We have a small courtyard garden in front of our garage (which is used for storage and as a workshop). I don't mean that we have done what some of our neighbours have - turned the drive into a garden, and are using the street or pavement as storage for our car. No.  Eighteen months ago we got rid of the car. And we don't miss it one bit.  When Viv was ill, the car was useful. Indeed, we couldn't have done what we did - go on holidays, go out to shops and hospital appointments - with her in a wheelchair without the car.  But even before that - back in 2016 - we were questioning whether we really needed one. For a whole year - March 2016 to March 2017 - I kept a record of every expense we incurred relating to the car - insurance, tax, maintenance, fuel, cleaning and washing - everything. I also kept scrupulous records of our mileage and purpose of journeys. Financial costs of car usage At the end of that time I was able to look at...