We have a new catch phrase in our house now. “I’m alright!” we call from one room to another. Maybe I’ve dropped something or there’s the sound of a bump or a sudden silence. Wherever we are we stop, listen and prepare to hurry to the aid of the other. Then comes the welcome sound of “I’m alright!” and we both laugh and return to what we are doing. We both laugh as it brings to mind an advert on the television, one of the clever ones with an important message. “Don’t you hate it when food gets wasted?” asks the voice over. A very drunk man dressed as a corncob rushes towards a playground and leaps onto a child’s swing. A few moments later he is crumpled on the ground, giggling and calling to his friends, “I’m alright!”
We are rarely – actually never – drunk and it is a bit more reassuring for us when we hear that answer. It also often alerts us to a previously unrecognized hazard around the house and we have to sit and work out a way to make life safer, especially for Jacqui. She is doing very well with her crutches and containing her impatience admirably. I know she is feeling impatient sometimes as she apologises for walking slowly or getting in my way. Actually she doesn’t get in the way and walking slowly and carefully is exactly what I need her to do.
Generally we are managing quite well. I can act as Jacqui’s legs, doing a lot of the collecting things, checking on the polytunnel and water and so on. She does a lot of the sitting down jobs especially food preparation. She can also now manage some standing jobs if she can lean on a fixed surface for support. And she has been engaged in putting the house papers in order, a task at which she excels. It also means she is clearing her desk and painting table ready for winter. As there is little to do around the wood and garden she can finally start drawing and painting again after too long a break.
Although it is now very late in the season we are still harvesting some of our vegetables. Despite some brutal weather the French beans struggled on to produce a second little crop before finally succumbing to the elements. In the polytunnel a few brave plum tomatoes have grown to a decent size and we have picked them, wrapped them up and left them to ripen indoors. As they seemed to be doing nothing in the box we put one in with a bowl of bananas, just to see if it worked. It did! The first vine tomato!
The real heroes are the Marmandes of course. Seemingly oblivious to the calendar and the cold weather they continue to grow and we have a number of large tomatoes wrapped and ripening inside. We had the second one in a salad this week and it was just as good as the first. Now we are juggling the need to let the others grow a bit and concern the cold will get to them and damage all the rest. As Jacqui is a better judge of that I did a quick scrape and sweep of the path round the back as the moss and leaves had made it very slippery.
Slipping is one of the main hazards around the house, especially as the floors are either tiled or laminate floors. We had a number of rugs out as Cynthia, our middle dog, flatly refused to walk on the floors. Chloe, our oldie, is getting a bit wobbly now and I noticed she was sliding around when trying to eat her food. Then Jacqui fell badly getting out of bed as the rug slid away from under her and she landed on both knees. This was very, very painful and set her back some time as both knees bruised and became badly swollen. Not a case of “I’m alright”. Fortunately nothing was broken but we knew we had to make some changes. Despite the general uselessness of the stand-in PC she finally tracked down some non-slip rugs that didn’t look like shop carpets. They are bright and cheerful and our footing is much more stable. Chloe now has a bigger mat and can eat in comfort.
After being watched by the buzzard last month I noticed there was one in the field early mornings. It seemed unconcerned when the dogs went out, picking through the grass and generally looking most comfortable. I hope it is also hunting for rodents as I discovered some evil little rat had been chewing at the steam vent on our hot bin. I tried wrapping it with foil but this just blew away. Then I had an idea – make the vent unpalatable. Rat poison was obviously out of the question so I got a tube of wasabi and spread this around. How do you like that then Mr Rat? Not much I think. After a quick nibble there’s been no more damage.
It seems strange to have to think about different things. Extra heating as we are more stationary, planning the shopping very carefully to avoid repeat trips, putting on lights so we can see clearly, making the house and paths extra slip proof – these are all things old people need to do. But, well, we are getting old, physically if not mentally, and our energetic youth (and middle age) catch up in time. We have slid down mountains, ridden scooters and bikes, traveled overland to Greece on deck passage, spent weeks camping, often in thunderstorms or up mountains. Long car journeys across Europe have taken their toll and both of us have had to take jobs with overnight shifts, sometimes as long as 28 hours.
We have, in short, lived quite demanding lives.
There is a song the OneRepublic, “I Lived”, that seems to sum it up.
“For every broken bone I swear I lived”. Old age is not for wimps but if we had got this far without some aches and pains well, we would have lived very boring lives. So we call to one another, “I’m alright!” – and we are.
Thank you for reading, keep safe and warm and I hope to see you again in a couple of week.
Jennie.
FYI- If you want to see giant drunk vegetables they are on YouTube as “Love food, hate waste?” Commercial for UK TV.