DON'T STORES WANT THE ELDERLY TO SHOP ANY MORE?

Today is my wonderful husband's 84th birthday.  Yesterday we had the family here to share afternoon tea and help him celebrate another milestone in his life.  It was great to have them together again as we don't see them nearly often enough.  Easy for us to say; we are retired but they are not and we do understand how busy their lives are.  It's just we love them all so much and do miss them.

We had eaten far too many calories yesterday so instead of going out for a large meal we settled for just a quiche and salad at a cafe in nearby shopping centre.  It was one of the most delicious quiches we'd had for a long time so it was a good choice.

We had some shopping to do for our great-grandies and I took my walker with me so I could spend some time on my feet.  Unfortunately I took the wrong one (the one without the seat) so after about half an hour I just needed to sit down and there was not one seat in the store nor even one just outside in the arcade either.  I could have walked right to the other end of the shop and pretended to be trying on shoes but there are only a couple of tiny seats in the shoe section anyway and I doubt I would have made the distance.  Would it be too much trouble just to have perhaps 2 or 3 of these seats available for the elderly who do still love to go to the shops occasionally or is it all just about making money these days?

I spoke to the lovely lady at the entrance to Kmart, while Phil went to the checkout, and she agreed with me.  My comment to her was that if they supplied seats then people might sit down instead of spending money.  I feel she understood just what I was saying.  Sounds cynical I know but many years ago there was always an odd seat dotted around for the convenience of shoppers. I must admit Big W does have a couple of seats available but still not nearly enough.  They don't take up all that much room if strategically placed.

Next time I will take my larger walker that does have a seat but it takes up more room which is a nuisance when trying to squeeze through narrow aisles when other people are looking at goods on the shelves.  Using the larger one though, I can find a quiet corner and sit for a few moments to allow the aches and pains to subside which enables me to spend longer time shopping.

I do have to acknowledge how patient Phil is with me.  I know without him I would never manage. He got me into the car and knowing how much I was hurting when we arrived home he had me sit down and put my feet up while he made me a cuppa and we had a piece of cream sponge each (I still don't know why I bought so much for afternoon tea yesterday but you always like to feel there is more rather than less when you have visitors...well you do don't you?).  We'd not really had much carb in our lunch and sponge cake is not a real no-no and it does taste yummy and waste not, want not and all that jazz. Well that's our excuse anyway!!

Phil had a sleep in his recliner while I lay down on my bed but just for a rest as for some reason I cannot sleep during the day.  He is now preparing an easy dinner for us and then we will watch a film that arrived today from JBs.  It's called the Bucket List with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson.  It's supposed to be funny so hopefully we will enjoy a good laugh together to end the day and it does have subtitles for the hard of hearing.....always have to remember that.