Saturday 6 February 2010

The time has come

The time has come when my Mum has decided she now wants to pack up driving after nearly 48years.  I remember her learning to drive in the winter of '62-'63 and Dad buying her an Austin 7 as her first car.  I can't remember her ever driving the Austin however but she was soon driving the Alvis Speed 25 instead and we three kids soon were telling tales about the speed she drove at!  What sneaks..
It is difficult to know what I can do to support Mum when I am often 150 - 200 miles away aboard Caxton but we have been discussing me setting up a monthly bulk Tesco order for her which would ease the loss of her car a bit.  For today though, I will help out with a bit of heavy duty cleaning and then out for lunch together I think.

7 comments:

Dave Winter said...

I had a friend who lived in USA and did his mothers shopping at Tesco from there on the net.Worked well.

Brian and Diana on NB Harnser said...

Passed Caxton twice today, no sign of life, they must all have been asleep.
Ref. Mum.
Do the sums of the cost of keeping and running a car as she does now agains taking a taxi,door to door say once a fortnight.
When my mum and dad stopped driving and sold the car they took a bus into town and a taxi home with the shopping, the driver even carried it in for them.

Nb Yarwood said...

Hi Dave
I have set up the order and I think it will work well as well. As things get more difficult for Mum we can expand the order to cover more of her requirements.
Lesley

Nb Yarwood said...

Hi Harnser Crew
I think the three Caxton males went walkabout yesterday so they may have been out - I did tell Joe to look out for you!
Mum has been increasingly using the local bus to get about over the last year and the driving has been very restricted so the loss of the car will not be an issue I believe. I am still concerned that she has plenty of reasons to get out of the 'four walls'so I am encouraging a number of visits to Tesco etc during the week and provided I get the heavy/bulky stuff delivered she will be fine for now. Such a worry though...
Lesley

Anonymous said...

Hi Leslie
I know alot of older people don't like the idea of 'Day centres', but there are all sorts of other clubs.
My mum bought a laptop and went to computer classes - she's 81. She now e-mails her grandchildren and her great granddaughter :-)
She also goes to a class every week to learn how to do this http://www.pergamano.dk/free%20patterns.htm
She's never done anything arty in her life!
Do I sound proud of her, because I am:-)
I work for Social Services with older people and just love my job.
I'll shut up now and hope your mum manages well and you don't need to worry about being away too much.

Nb Yarwood said...

Hi Anon
Thank you for taking the time to comment - no need to 'shut up' at all.
regards
Lesley

Dave Winter said...

Hi Lesley,
I remember you setting up a shopping run for your mum.I have been looking at this site and you can make good savings for her if my weekly shop is anything to go by.Worth a look.
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/