Loneliness

27 July

I’m running a bit late today cos we went out to the Hussy for an hour and then off to Bed’th Tesco for shopping. Much against my better judgement we used the scan as you go thingy. As far as I am concerned it’s not our job to do the scanning and so on. Having said that, we did like the idea of seeing how much we were spending as we went round. I’m not a lover of Tesco anyway, they seem a tad pricier than Asda and I like Asda stuff more too.

There was sumat on telly the other day about how loneliness affects the elderly people in Britain. That is already widely known about, but younger people too are lonely. I’ve heard of youngster feeling lonely at all ages, not just the elderly. And there lies the problem. Are you lonely now? I’m certainly not, but there have been times when I have been, most often when in the army believe it or not. NCOs were not allowed (or least we were not supposed,) to socialise with privates. It was all down to discipline. That was fine in practice but at times when you are the only NCO in a crowd of privates, you can feel very alone and isolated. But back to the elderly …

In 1996 when I began studying with the OU, I became friendly with a lady who lived in Atherstone, just up the A5. This lady was in her 80s and was a very feisty person. She lived alone and once we invited her to dinner, and she then invited us too. However, she would never phone anyone for anything. She used to go off on holiday with a couple of other ladies. One year they went off without her and she was most miffed about it. When she told me about it I asked her if she had phoned them about the arrangements for it, and she said she never phoned anyone for anything. A little later we met another lady who was exactly the same.

Again, there are a lot of elderly folk who are very independent and don’t want help or company. Younger people will only do so much before being rebuffed so often takes its toll and there lies the danger. Younger persons will not be willing to put themselves out to help or to befriend others if those people are not going to make any sort of effort themselves. Perhaps that is one of the keys to it all.

There are a lot of elderly people around here us right now. The guy next door is a very dower looking gent and is not all that friendly or outgoing. He rarely speaks, even when he’s spoken to. Next to door to him is a single lady who has spoken just once when I introduced ourselves to her when we first met her. Both of these neighbours spend most of the day alone and locked up in their flats. What can be done if they don’t reach out? I suggest nothing at all.

Today’s photo then … 

A statue of dolphins in Barmouth.

Today’s funny, a child’s version of creation …

In the beginning, which was close to the start, there wasn't anything except God, darkness and some gas. The Bible says, "The Lord, thy God, is one," but I think He has to be much older than that.