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In my Seventies as I roam Europe connected via my mobile Internet key and as I pass through the small villages of Spain, Portugal, France and Italy I notice lots of old men sitting around in the village squares chatting and passing away the time in the compan of others. Evidently the women are at home!

In the UK most people end up in an Old Peoples Home and my experience of these was horrific. I tried my best to prevent my mother being taken in but once one lets social services into your house to "help" then they have the authority over you.

I was assisting my 96 year old mother down the stairs one day when she slipped and and I grasped her hand to prevent her faling that resulted in some bruising of the hand. The next time that she visited hospital for a check up she did not return and they kept her in for observation, shortly after that she fell out of the bed and fractured her skull. When I visited I noticed lots of geriatrics lying in bed all day which of course soon leads to deterioration of the body. Anyway she finally was discharged into a Home under the orders the Social Services.

I visited two of these places and both were the same rows of old people sitting in armcharms, watching TV. Of course one does not last long after that!

So all you lot out there be careful or you will end up in a Home and believe me I would rather be in prison any day!

Something to think about, a predicament from which I escaped. Just off to do a work-out now a 10 kilometers bike ride followed by skipping, weight training and a big slap up meal made with organic food and washed down with red wine!

All the Best,!happy!
Mike Freeman.

Horrific places, full of old dears staring into space, half of them not knowing what planet they're on, and with that nasty, ever-present smell that stays with you after you leave.

My old Nan ended up in one back in the early 1990s (and as you say Mike, she didn't last long once she went inside), and it's something that my mother still feels guilty about to this day.

- Eric

It's no way to spend the last days of your life. I kept my mother out of one for as long as I could, she had Motor Neurone Disease and no one at her home knew how to cope with it for months. Most social workers in the uk want to do a good job but find themselves tied down by bureaucracy thanks to those who try to cheat the system and no doubt some ministers trying to 'improve' things.

Most care homes and agencies are private so the bottom line is profit not people. Carers are a mixed bag in my experience. Ranging from the above and beyond brilliant to the haven't got a clue or badly trained ones.

There's alot to be said for euthanasia sometimes.

Yes Eric,
They don't know what planet they are on because they are given lots of very powerful drugs every day, known as "liquid cosh" and this is on the orders of the doctors who don't want them moving out of their armchairs so they sit and piss themselves.
One day my mother told me that she had been raped by one of the staff. I don't know whether this allegation was true or not. In the end she refused to eat and starved herself to death.
I saw people in there younger than myself and they could not escape because they were so out of it.
Mike Freeman.

I can also bet on your travels Mike that the young uns had a bit more respect for their elders too.

There is such a gap between the young and the old here in the western world that Im not surprised that some youngsters feel that old people are easy prey forgetting that they are someones parents.

Mind you, Mike sounds fit enough to whoop some ass so I dont need to worry about him LOL

I remember going to visit my wife's grandmother in an old peoples home about 15 years ago.

Old people (mainly women) sitting round the walls of the ward, all staring in to space.

I remember one poor old lady (trapped in her old body) sat there saying "I want to die, I want to die".

And the problem is going to get worse as we get more of an older population.

Best thing is to throw yourself off a cliff when you are about 70 (I am 60 so not long to go)

I could never understand why there is such a difference between how say someone with cancer in their thirties is treated compared with someone in their seventies who is suffering from dementia and needs 24hr care to support them is dealt with in our system.

As far as I am concerned dementia is an illness and its treatment alongside the other illnesses of old age should be funded via taxation of all of us and delivered free of charge in the same way as NHS treatment is.

Cheers
D

what is the point you are making ? Are you saying that old people in European villages get better treatment than the UK ? If so, maybe we should all go and live in a European village when we get old.

Given how the population is ageing rapidly and the skilled workforce dwindling its pretty hard to avoid them unless your planning a trip to mexico and buying their euthanasia death concoction


The other lesson which most of us in the West dont get is once you stop being meaningfully active both mentally & physically your days are numbered

I have an 85 year old koran neighbour who i've known for 20 years
Exercises daily,takes no prescription medication and is still involved in numerous community activities besides the stereotypical bingo game

Think you'd have to look far and wide to find a similar story with white caucasians who seem to take half a drug store every week and rarely if ever exercise

You reap what you sow

Are you saying that old people in European villages get better treatment than the UK ?


I think if he was trying to say that he would have just said it.

I interpreted it as an observational difference between here and abroad.