Dear LPG, 

I wonder how many LPG readers can relate to this little story, or a variation on the basic theme of it.  There is a sort of moral…

I suppose I am what can be thought of as a ‘more able’ pensioner although, when I get dressed up a bit and meet friends, I am learning about the art of hiding the hobbling effect of a dodgy knee.  I wonder if, like me, you had a fleeting thought of summer on that Sunday evening in mid-December when the snow came down.   Where were you when it happened?

I am lucky enough to still be able to drive so I decided to go to a carol service at church and, even though it was cold I picked up a couple of older people on the way.  We got into the church, sang a bit, had a mince pie or two and turned for home only to find white streets and cars… white everything.

The discreet hobbling stopped being discreet at that point as the balancing act that was required to get back to the car and get rid of all the snow on the windows became the priority so that I could see to get home, but eventually I succeeded.

Returning home with the second of the older people I had brought with me was a challenge because of the distance from the car to her front door.  Even with my limp I was doing better than I hoped but trying to ensure that my friend did not fall either left us both looking decidedly ungraceful (even for old ladies).   

I prayed as I left her standing and balancing precariously while I got her far enough away from the passenger’s door to close it, get our bags out of the car and lock it, and the ten or so yards from the car, up her garden path and to her front door has to be the most dangerous either of us have taken in a long time.

We made it although, that night I was so able to see what the future might well hold for my legs in a few years’ time.   There is no real point in being sad but we older people have to be realistic.  When I think that I was once one of my school’s better long distance runners and, only a few years earlier regularly took any flight of stairs two at a time, it suddenly occurred to me that walking a whole mile in anyone’s shoes is something I am not likely to be able to do again in any sort of weather.

OS, Croydon

LPG adds some information on today’s celebration…

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