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| Bob helps mother Gwen cut her 100th birthday cake, April 1991 |
So the very old are tougher than we thought. That is what the papers say, citing men and women a hundred or more - the eldest 106 - who have recovered from coronavirus. I am not surprised as my mother Gwen was a typical example.She died twenty six years ago a few weeks before her 103rd birthday After my father Frank died suddenly, aged 52, in 1942, Mum became seriously ill and we feared the worst. But, thanks to my sister Dorothy who gave up her job, she and Dorothy's husband George cared for her for 50 years at their home at Lakeside Cardiff near where I now live at Sunrise. She lived a happy, full life. She had her first flight at ninety and nearing 101 she went to hospital for the first time after falling and breaking her hip. She was back home in a week. At 102 she could climb the outside stairs to their flat better than I.
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| Gwen as a young woman, early 20th century |
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| The Lord Mayor of Cardiff visits Gwen on her 100th birthday, 22 April 1991 |
The daily 'lessons' by ministers and health experts in long winded briefings have have become dangerously boring. Politicians are renowned for making promises and Matt Hancock, the Health secretary for England, is a past master. Over the past month he has made promise after promise, the latest, pledging there would be 100,000 tests a day by the end of April. Yesterday it was well under 20,000. There is growing impatience, too, at the reluctance to explain how restrictions may be gradually lifted. The government needs to solve these problems and be more honest and open. We are not children.
Hi Bob. I really enjoy reading your blog. It is clear from some of your comments that you and some you know do not like Mr Hancock. Your views differ markedly from those I interact with (including my elderly Facetiming parents) who find him quite impressive. It seems that there is a huge ramping up of testing capacity - a nephew starts work on Monday at a large drive-in testing facility in London that opens the following day, about which I can find no mention anywhere. I suspect there will be a similar sites around the country due to open. I fear the biggest problem is that there seems to be no public strategy expressing how the testing sites will be used or how the eligibility of potential patrons will be widened, meaning that there is a real danger of testing capacity being under-used. All the best CU (an Ertblog stalker from the Chiltern's).
ReplyDeleteHello Bob, how lovely to stumble across this blog. Fabulous writing and a great way to keep yourself occupied and focussed.
ReplyDeleteSo pleased to know that you are well and in good spirits. I'll come and visit when this is all done and dusted. Keep smiling.
Gretchen