It was our Probus meeting yesterday which is always enjoyable. I've taken on the role of Stand-in Secretary as the real Secretary is ill so there was a bit of preparation for me before the meeting.
One other task I have is to drive to Westbury, about 15 minutes away, to pick up one of our older members. Chas is 88 and was moved into an Aged Care unit in Westbury last year when he could no longer look after himself in his own home. I'm not sure of the reasoning as the move has isolated him from his old friends and neighbours, and he still has to do all his shopping, cooking and so on.
I get the impression that I'm the only person he sees in the average month so he gabbles on from the minute I pick him up. On the trip to Deloraine, the familiar sites trigger memories and he makes the same comments every time: I used to wash the windows in that house, that's a trig station on that hill, I was a surveyor during the war, we used to send weather information to Western Junction every morning, I helped to build that little barn, and so on.
It's a bugger getting old, especially when other people feel they can make decisions for you. Chas has never married so he only has his elderly cat and dog for company. Everybody knows him in Deloraine but, in Westbury, he's that odd bloke who mutters to himself and is best avoided. There are terrible sins committed in the name of social welfare.
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