- Joined
- Jun 26, 2008
- Messages
- 6,395
I agree to a certain extent. My Mum was lucky in that a lot of the residents had children (retired !!) who visited often and got to know the other residents. We ‘took turns’ to pop into their coffee mornings or fish and chip suppers.I think retirement villages are unnatural because we're not meant to live in single generation units. I saw this happen in a minor way when my aunt changed character completely when she established a play group & started speaking to everyone, much to my grandmother's exasperation, as though we were three with wet knickers & our fantastic next door neighbour had the same metamorphosis when she left general nursing & became matron in an elderly care home.
I used to drive Mum and another woman the one mile to their weekly keep fit classes. A two hour session consisted of : 20 mins saying their hellos and catching up. 20 mins exercise, 40 mins tea break, more catching up and queuing for the loo. 25 mins putting their coats on and watching for their middle-aged kids or community bus to collect them like the school run !