Dear LPG, 

As I get older, I have time to look from a different perspective at the world as it passes. Because of the lockdown and an accident that affected my ability to walk very far, I don’t get out much anymore. Still, it is surprising what modern TV, newspapers, drama and magazines can tell a person about how things are going. I also think that I learn a lot from my friends and younger family members on the odd occasions they have time to visit. 

Perhaps I also find more time to learn what the internet has to say on more obscure subjects because now that I have learned how my circumstances allow me to spend more time there than the average person my age.   

I can remember when I never had enough hours in the day. There was always somewhere I needed to go or something that needed to be done, and I know that whenever I commented that even in retirement, I did not know what happened to the time, everyone around me concurred. I was part of a small group of firm friends who spent a lot of time together, and we would often tell each other that we all had the same time-related problems.  Even though none of us ever managed to achieve very much as quickly as we thought we should, we all, so often, agreed that we should work at slowing down a bit.   It was a conversation that often came up, but while we all decided on ‘talking the talk’, I don’t remember any of us getting around to ‘walking the walk’.

Since I have not had as much access to the world beyond my room, I find that the one recurring message that is brought to me through every aspect of what I observe from the people who visit and the media I have access to is about time and, now that I have so much of it, all outside influences seem to constantly remind me of how little of it there appears to be when you are more mobile.  

I am lucky because I do get quite a few visitors during the day, apart from the carers who drop in to see me, but the penultimate phrase that I used to use all the time before my accident is now said to me when nearly every visitor who comes to see me needs to finish their visit; ‘Well I must be going now. Next, I have to ….’

I have to say that my experience has left me relishing every bit of time I spend being visited and a bit sorry every time I hear the phrase I mentioned above. I would stress that what has happened to me has left me a bit philosophical though not bitter, but my new view of the world has left me wanting to remind everyone to slow down just a bit before you are forced to.  

MN, Grove Park