The sadness of social isolation

I signed up with Age Uk - they have tea parties for the elderly & housebound. You can volunteer to host the tea party or be a driver and everybody seems to love it. I had about 12 at the one I had and boy, can they eat. Had doggy bags too! It's not too onerous either, twice a year to do your bit although for the elderly people involved it's a different outing every month. It's something.

" boy, can they eat"!

It's really good Sel.

jo it was fun, some characters, all women! Just remembered, it's Contact the Elderly, not Age UK now I think. I do think it's a nice idea, not perhaps for everyone but my Mum would have loved it. Also, it's something to dress up for - all they need are a few men

Sel just had a good chuckle at your comment about the appetites at the Tea parties. It reminded me of when my sister had a Guest House and regular parties of pensioners staying "half board". She used to send a cheese board round after the three course evening meal - with no stinting on portion sizes- and she could not understand why the cheese board always came back completely empty.

The mystery was solved when she spied on the dining room to see all the old dears furtively wrapping up all the cheese and biscuits in their napkins - presumably for supper or snacks next day! After that the cheese was served by the waitress - and of course my sister's cheese bill was considerably reduced!

My mother always used her capacious handbag to the full at the breakfast buffet when my parents were on holiday -particularly Germany or Austria. She would be buttering rolls and filling them with cheese and cold meats and stuffing them into her handbag so that they could save on lunch! Not sto stupid!

*Gagagran andgracesmum that did make me laugh, my Mum was just the same..and sugar packets were never safe! I suppose though their generation lived through real deprivation so it was understandable. I do remember too having to restrain my Mum from taking cuttings from any NT garden she visited!

Seen the same tactics at funerals teas! Beware any elderly mourners with large handbags.

When we went to a garden with my mother, we had to pretend not to be with her when she sneaked a pair of nail scissors out of her bag and proceeded to take the odd cutting. She had that in common with my ex, though not much more.

nanadog i have been to quite a few funerals latley .a new a was forgetting some think my large hand bag .must remember next time

My Nana just the same anno - I think i still have the descendents of one of her "little cuttings" in my garden. No botanical specimen was safe!

I love the little cutttings idea - what a cheek!

The Daily Mail article is both timely and true. And well done Esther Rantzen for trying to do something about it.

Chronic loneliness and childhood obesity. Two serious, debilitating modern problems that scarcely existed when we were young.

I think loneliness has always existed - many people are lonely in their marriage. When I was a child, there were many women living alone in our area, because they had lost their husbands in the war, or had never had a chance to be married because so many men had died in the First World War.
I think we just talk about it more these days.
And, of course, not every who lives in isolation is lonely (although I do have very regular phone and e-mail contact with several members of my family and with friends.)

greatnan
You have just reminded me of a book which was written by Queen Wilhelmina - the mother of Queen Juliana-. She was a right Tartar, but that is another story.
The title of the book is: Alone But Not Lonely.

When we went to Paris last year we used my handbag to put bread, cheese and croissants in to take to the racecourse for our dinner .

You see? never too old to learn from a Mum!!