Wooo…although about 35,000 people a day are catching covid in these parts (apparently the highest rate in Europe)…many are returning to some kind of post-pandemic normal. We are short of van/lorry/tanker drivers and the brexiters are probably biting their lips as we invite ‘jonny foreigner’ in to drive long-distance lorries and pick crops. It feels like we are slowly getting off our (sore) butts and starting to do stuff again…adverts are appearing in shop windows showing 3 things – the economy is picking up, businesses need staff, and are consigning cash to history….all the pics below are from the same high street….
Edna (I think she was an Edna) stood pleading with a guard at London’s Waterloo station. I need help getting down the escalator, she said (pointing to it with her walking stick), I just can’t get down on my own. But I can’t leave my post, the guard insists. They tussle over the issue but eventually, persuasive Edna secures the arm of the rather unhappy station guard. Can I help? I ask, (having arrived at the station too early for my nearby sewing class)…Ooo..says Edna – yes please…I just need to hold on to someone’s arm going down the escalator. The relieved guard hands Edna over and we make our way down the moving stairway arm in arm (she instructs me that I must crook my arm on my hip and she will loop her arm through). Will you need help walking across the concourse I ask as we approach the bottom of the escalator. Oh yes please, says Edna, I need platform 24 and that’s right at the very end. I’m 90 says Edna (she looks but does not act 90) and I’m going to Richmond to do some ironing. Oh, I say, completely stunned that she’s 90 and apparently still working. Work keeps you going she says. I work for 2 doctors and I iron their shirts for them every week but it’s every few weeks at the moment because of the pandemic. They’re German, you know…and I’m English…but they are very nice. Edna knows an easy cut-through that involves putting her Freedom (travel) pass through a barrier and she waves away a second station guard who is indicating that she should not do that….but she’s clearly done it many times before. I’m sorry I’m so bossy she says, dragging me through. She leads me towards the 10.22 to Richmond (I must catch that train she says), then let’s go of my arm and thanks me profusely. Edna is a lady who knows exactly what she’s doing and where she is going… and age and escalators are not going to stop her.
Dealing now with my own aged mother, I know age is nothing but a time to grow bolder (https://growingbolder.com). And motion is lotion….I’d better remember that.
jx
Ain't we got it made? 