My mother in law is a wonderful woman. It must be true because that’s what I’ve been told to say.

At 74, she’s still fairly sprightly, but has a chest problem and can’t get about as well as she used to (chest problem! – that’s just the tip of the iceberg - don't get me started on the rest!).

So, a couple of years ago I bought her an electric scooter to sit on and potter around the streets, shops, etc, and to make it a bit easier for her to get to a local Charity shop, where she did a bit of voluntary work. (Keep going, there is a point to all of this!)

I’m so sure that it wasn't the voluntary work that was attractive, it more likely to have been the opportunity to stir things up between co-workers!

A simple machine, (the scooter that is - it's not a reference to the lady in question), yet she still managed to stick the key in the battery charging point and short it out at one point, later snapping one of the two ignition keys in the lock.

Personally, I think that they were deliberate acts, but have no proof!

Anyway, the battery went the journey and I bought her something else for Christmas 2005. An electric bike.

It is brilliant (alloy frame, bright yellow wheels, etc) and she is so well known in the local supermarket that the staff help her to lock it into a trolley store, because it’s one of those things that you know would be stolen the moment your back was turned.

Ideally, she would like a scooter, the type with an engine, as she had a Lambretta back in the 60's.

No matter how tempting this thought is to me, coupled with the mental image of a particularly restricted life expectancy of a very short period after purchase of such a motorised wonder, I must take a different view and consider the carnage that she could cause on the roads!

Yes, we all get old, can’t get about as easily as we used to and sometimes we just have to move into something a bit more manageable.

My mental aberration was to sort out a house for the kids grandmother very close to where we live. It’s small, manageable for her, and close enough for my wife to keep an eye on her when she’s not feeling too hot.

Eventually the day arrives when you’re worn out, falling apart at the seams, the children have taken their toll in their formative years and now, thank goodness, they’ve left home and you’re rattling around a house that is far too big for your needs.

Flats. What a good idea, but you don’t get any privacy in that there are others living in the building and your fellow flat owners could be younger.

There’s always the risk that someone with a drum kit is going to move in or that they like all night parties!

 (As an aside, I got my youngest daughter a drum kit for Christmas a couple of years ago, or rather Santa brought it for her as she is only coming up to 7 as I write this. I am out a lot, of course!)

Apartment schemes for the over 55’s are another option and these tend to be fairly well thought out for ease of access, etc. Do you want to live somewhere surrounded by other coffin dodgers though! 

Bungalows – that’s the best choice. They are always more expensive per square foot than normal houses, because they are considered to be a wasteful use of building land by developers.

As they see it, why build a bungalow on a house plot when you can build a two storey house on the same piece of land and sell it for more? The developers don’t seem to build many bungalows any more and generally you are left with a choice of what is available from older housing stock.

One of the problems that I find is that a lot of these bungalows are occupied by older people who may not have kept things up to scratch as far as maintenance and repair was concerned.

On that basis, alone, a survey report always draws attention to repair and maintenance work.

Specifically, if you are thinking about a bungalow at this stage you need to consider not only the present, but also the future.

What modifications might you need to do in the future to, say,

▪ Install ramps to doors.

▪ Modify the Bathroom by putting in a shower or converting to a Wet Room.

▪ Do you really want to bend down almost to floor level to switch plugs on and off?

▪ If there is the possibility of needing to use a wheelchair or other mobility aids, are the passages wide enough for reasonable access, would some doors need to be widened, etc?

If you were thinking that this is what the future might hold, talk about it now to a Surveyor.

He or she is the best person to talk to and should be able to come up with a few extra ideas that could make life a little more comfortable for you in a few years time.

 

When my oldest daughter, Phoebe, was six, I asked her if she would look after me when I became old and incontinent.

On request, I then explained to her the meaning of the term incontinent.

She then told me that she was going to put me in an old people’s home!

I just thought I’d mention it because it struck me as being very funny at the time.

I do hope that she was joking.