Unbelievable

You never fully understand some things until you do it yourself. Having just taken an elderly man who has just come out of hospital to get some shopping, I am staggered once again about how difficult it is for someone who has n0t fully got their wits about them to engage with the routine of going about the daily business.

• I smiled in relief when he told me his car battery was flat. While it will no doubt be a loss of independence, it will protect him and others on the road.
• Time and time again supermarket shelf stackers left their trolley in the middle of the aisle, making it difficult for anyone with a walking frame to get passed. More often than not cartons of goods were strewn off the trolley further blocking the aisle. The possibility of a person with low vision actually realising an obstacle was there was almost negligible.
• The busy and the hurried are impatient of the slow and tiring . I count myself amongst this group. Towards the end of a shopping trip which would have taken me about 30 mins, but which took well over an hour...I was resorting to "Just wait here then you won't have to walk all the way down there to get a can of pineapple". Patronising but efficient. But the worst example was a man who ducked and weaved to avoid my shopping trolley, but then almost toppled my friend and his frame. An audible tutting was noticeable. Thank goodness my friend is quite deaf.
• Most shop assistants were good at dealing with the man who couldn't distinguish between the $10 & $100 note...but then I was checking like an hawk that he was getting the right change. How much would the $100 or so of groceries cost him if I hadn't been there.

I tell myself that it would be good for me to go shopping like this every week...in the end we were both chuckling about our little adventure...but I know that I will be glad when one or two of our parish family takes over this responsibility.