Practical tips from wise doctors

On a visit to my mother's village some years back, I was stopped in the street by an elderly total stranger who said "You ain't a local yokel are you?" We got chatting and eventually he confided to me that his wife had died two years earlier and he had fallen into depression. His doctor had told him "Find a job". He had volunteered to look after the local museum. "Exercise every day". The museum was a 20 minute walk from his home. "Talk to a total stranger every day". I was his his total stranger on that day! He said he was now so much happier. It was possibly the same doctor who told my mother when she started getting heart problems "Sell your bungalow and get a house with stairs and do your shopping by bike". My mother obeyed and felt much better for many years. It's not all about medicine, is it!