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I’ve no idea what 8th day and Unicorn are but I’m guessing wholefoods type shops - perhaps they would be a good place to start encouraging home delivery,
I know Unicorn, they're in Chorlton not a million miles from where I used to work. I used to pop in sometimes during my lunch break. You're not wildly off the mark. I think I've been in 8th Day, isn't that down near the Uni?
It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't do home delivery, but speaking as a vegetarian it's something I considered a treat rather than somewhere to do my weekly shop. I think I recall them doing really nice Greggs-a-like rolls and pasties, but it's been a long time since I was last in there.
I watched an 80-odd year old neighbour of ours drive straight into the side of my car last weekend. She was trying to park in the space in front of it that you could have easily reversed an artic into, but misjudged it by a good 6 foot.
Someone really needs to take her keys off her before it’s a kid rather than my car. Mind you, listening to her trying to pull off I doubt the clutch on her mini will be long for this world.
This is a great story and you shouldn’t laugh, but….
My mates mum was suffering from dementia but she’s a feisty old dear and absolutely refused to stop driving. Every time he went to see her, her car would have another ding or scrape where she’d hit someone else’s car.
So one day he took matters into his own hands and just went round to her house, took her keys and drove the car back to his house.
She then phoned him up to say that her car had been nicked. Calm as you like he said “mum, you sold your car a few months ago”.
Problem solved 😂
It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't do home delivery...
They do, see above 😉
So one day he took matters into his own hands and just went round to her house, took her keys and drove the car back to his house.
She then phoned him up to say that her car had been nicked. Calm as you like he said “mum, you sold your car a few months ago”.
Problem solved
That's good work. Anyone else remember the story where there was a lady with significant dementia who was still driving and daughter was complaining to the local rag that the police wouldn't help look for her car which she'd lost?
It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't do home delivery, but speaking as a vegetarian it's something I considered a treat rather than somewhere to do my weekly shop. I think I recall them doing really nice Greggs-a-like rolls and pasties, but it's been a long time since I was last in there.
I'll ask on WalkRide GM and see if anyone there knows the answer...
Mind you, listening to her trying to pull off I doubt the clutch on her mini will be long for this world.
I see these occasionally. It's always a small farty car like an Up! or an Aygo, pulling out of a supermarket parking bay at less then walking pace, with the engine screaming its tits off. You can smell it after they've gone.
Like... if you must drive then just get an automatic already. 🤷♂️
Seeing as it's really east for the elderly to cope without a car. The rest of you will being getting rid of your cars and using the amazing local facilities?
Seeing as it's really east for the elderly to cope without a car. The rest of you will being getting rid of your cars and using the amazing local facilities?
I haven't owned a car and have been using the amazing local facilities for, what, three years? If I genuinely need a car I borrow my partner's, or take public transport. I was at the hospital today, cost me a ~£30 round trip in a taxi. Still cheaper and easier than running a second car.
the rest of you will being getting rid of your cars and using the amazing local facilities?
Yes exactly!
I very much hope I will get rid of my car and 'use the amazing local facilities', if there is any likelihood that I have become unfit to drive and dangerous to others.
If I genuinely need a car I borrow my partner's
I'm not entirely sure that 'having a car on the drive you can use when you need' really counts as 'coping without a car' tbh...
Seeing as it's really east for the elderly to cope without a car. The rest of you will being getting rid of your cars and using the amazing local facilities?
You seem to still be missing the point, maybe your cognition is failing with age?
Rule 1 dont be a dick
I'm not entirely sure that 'having a car on the drive you can use when you need' really counts as 'coping without a car' tbh...
Aside for the mostly incidental point that I don't have a drive,
Whilst I take your point and agree to a degree, my partner is a WFH childminder. There's always libraries or playgroups or some such. I don't have access to the car for *handwave* 50% of the time during the day and it's not even like she can drop me off unless I climb in the boot because of child seats. I went to to Leeds earlier this week (to deliver a presentation which went down a storm because I'm awesome even though I was crapping myself 😁), that was £13 in a taxi and £20 on the train for the round trip. I had to go to the hospital today and that cost me £30 in taxi fares because she'd forgotten I had an appointment and had sodded off somewhere.
I have almost everything I could ever need right on my doorstep, the one thing I don't have because they closed it is a sodding railway station within walking distance. I'm literally like 100 metres from "Station Road" for gods' sakes. We have bus links which are great, if you have a week to get somewhere and don't mind stopping every seven inches.
I had to go to the hospital today and that cost me £30 in taxi fares
Out of interest, how far away is the hospital?
I know that all STWers are complete driving gods 😉 ,butlooking ahead to your older years, how aware are you of changes (if any)in your competence/skills ,do you do much self assessment?
I don't think I drive as well as I did. I don't know if that's age (51), more likely that I don't drive as much as I did (mostly WFH since covid, cycle when I go in). I hope - really hope - and aim to be prepared to hand the keys over when I get to a point I don't feel safe or someone tells me I need to turn it in. Whoever suggested getting a "test" lesson as an assessment, that's a great idea.
I’m not normally one for arguing that old folk are the main liability on our roads and must be subject to retesting - the stats don’t really bear that out, but there are a small number of elderly drivers who have not relinquished their driving license even although they should have.
I'd argue that there are a shed-load of elderly drivers out there who are somewhere on the borderline between being dangerous and merely annoying and that defining where the tipping point falls is highly problematic. It's part of a much larger societal problem where people have become utterly dependent on their cars for the shortest and easiest journeys, which in turn spawns a world in which many people barely walk anywhere, which then feeds into the ongoing issues around mobility and health generally.
If you build a world where people 'need' cars, then don't be surprised that they cling onto them for as long as they can. Or that GPs and family are reluctant to take away permission to drive, when it's clearly going to majorly derail someone's life. I don't know what we do about that beyond changing the way we live in a quite fundamental way. And maybe that horse bolted a long time ago.
I also get the issues around dementia and driving. My late mother, who died from/with pre-senile dementia, was stopped, by us, from driving when it became apparent that she'd had an accident that she couldn't even remember. That was a slightly horrendous wake-up call.
Seeing as it's really east for the elderly to cope without a car. The rest of you will being getting rid of your cars and using the amazing local facilities?
Assessment for me at 70 and if I'm driving badly, the car goes and I'm switching to taxis/public transport/bike. Too many of the older drivers around here are in a rush due to their perceived lack of remaining life-span which given their skills may well ensure they don't see much more of life.
It's part of a much larger societal problem where people have become utterly dependent on their cars for the shortest and easiest journeys, which in turn spawns a world in which many people barely walk anywhere, which then feeds into the ongoing issues around mobility and health generally.
If you build a world where people 'need' cars, then don't be surprised that they cling onto them for as long as they can. Or that GPs and family are reluctant to take away permission to drive, when it's clearly going to majorly derail someone's life. I don't know what we do about that beyond changing the way we live in a quite fundamental way. And maybe that horse bolted a long time ago.
But then there's good evidence that staying active reduces your risk of dementia and frailty, so building a world dependent on cars for short journeys exacerbates the problem, and more traffic worsens public transport. And the very (middle aged to elderly) people that need to stay active will be the same ones who will scream furiously, turn up for consultation meetings to protest and so on whenever anyone suggests making driving 300m to the paper shop to buy the Daily Mail slightly less convenient, to promote walking, cycling, wheeling, children's independence, nicer residential areas etc.
The theory behind 15 min cities is that people shouldn't have to drive for essential services, and e.g. things like public benches are essential walking infrastructure as some people will need to stop for a rest, and removing them because teenagers is unhelpful.
Without wanting to sound like a scratched record, research suggests that despite appearances and reporting, a majority are in favour of lower traffic. The best thing you can do is get involved in your local active travel group (such as WRGM, LCC, Cyclox or whatever) even if it's as a silent supporter.
The Miracle Pill is also worth a read
But then there's good evidence that staying active reduces your risk of dementia and frailty, so building a world dependent on cars for short journeys exacerbates the problem, and more traffic worsens public transport.
Yep, exactly. It's a human tragedy that we focus so much on treatment rather than prevention with the result that we end up not just with an unhealthy population, but one where a lot of older people may be alive, but have a low quality of life with reduced mobility and chronic illness rife.
Out of interest, how far away is the hospital?
10.5 miles according to Google maps. The taxi was I think £13.50 each way (so £27 not £30).
Going by pubic transport was a non-starter because I didn't realise she'd taken the car until I was due to be setting off. Coming back home I'd just been treated to more up-close camera views of my innards than I cared for and couldn't be bothered with the faff.
Bloody middle aged learners!
"If the learner driver fails to do this, we will not hesitate to take the appropriate action."
Well... why haven't they done so when he's failed to do it twice already?
Yep, exactly. It's a human tragedy that we focus so much on treatment rather than prevention with the result that we end up not just with an unhealthy population, but one where a lot of older people may be alive, but have a low quality of life with reduced mobility and chronic illness rife.
There was an article doing the rounds in Active Travel publications recently, it looked at a story in the Mail (because of course) where they'd done one of the classic media things of "the country only a 1hr flight from the UK where everyone is slim and lives to 100". (I'm paraphrasing but that was the gist of it). The Netherlands.
Then it examined all the things that could possibly be causing this miracle around diet and happiness and quality of life and it really had to take some quite extraordinary steps to avoid referencing the fact that the average weekly cycling distance for an average Dutch person is double the average YEARLY distance of the average Brit. Not "cycling" as in racing and lycra and sporty, just "getting around town, going to work, going to the shops".
All the comments on it were along the line of "so close Daily Mail, so close..."
@crazy-legs I'm sure it's just coincidence that a country that has the safe cycling infrastructure to allow teenagers to get around independently also has the happiest teenagers in Europe?
Mind you, it's also a country where a while back the Crown Princess was filmed cheerily waving at reporters as she cycled past them making her way to school on her own.