Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Going back home II

When you are in Taiwan you moan continually about the power old people have over their children: living in their houses and expecting them to simply open their wallet when they need money.

But back in England our treatment of old people seems to have gone a little far the other way. Town centers are desperately sad: bored, listless and lonely old people, desperate for something to do, some human interaction, or feeling of self-worth, hang around in doorways politely holding them open for people who are not on their shoulder, but in the process of finishing parking their cars a few streets away; otherwise giving their place up in queues in shops, seats on buses to frail fitness instructors, the perfectly ably bodied, and superheroes.

They should be a compromise somewhere.

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