“Old age is not a disease - it is strength and survivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illnesses.”

Maggie Kuhn

“The age of a woman doesn't mean a thing. The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The soul is born old but grows young. That is the comedy of life. And the body is born young and grows old. That is life's tragedy.”

Oscar Wilde

RETAILER SOCIAL CARE

“Men and women approaching retirement age should be recycled for public service work, and their companies should foot the bill. We can no longer afford to scrap-pile people.”

Mahatma Gandhi

Small retailers such as bakers, butchers and greengrocers are another group of the communities' unpaid social carers, especially for elderly residents, but these retailers are fast disappearing from The Blue and other high streets, which I believe is extremely short-sighted of local councils and the central government:
these types of retailers are normally well settled into a communitythe residents often know the retailers by their first name and vica versathis has enormous advantages for the community and the local authority, but especially the elderly residents.

The retailers will expect to see the elderly resident either daily or during their normal shopping trips, and if the elderly person does not turn up then the retailer would typically speak to a neighbour who would check on the person; this is extremely valuable to the elderly person, to the community and to the local council:
a retailer would also be willing to give a loaf of bread, a lamb chop, or some vegetables to a elderly person, who was a regular if that person didn't have their pension payment yetthis means that the elderly person would not miss a meal which may have been the case without the retailer.

These unofficial social care services are extremely valuable to a community. There is no way a major retailer such as Tesco, Iceland or The COOP, would provide this type of care.

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

George Bernard Shaw

“Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late”

Benjamin Franklin

“Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success.”

Dale Carnegie

“The minute a man ceases to grow, no matter what his years, that minute he begins to be old.”

William James

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”

Sophia Loren

SYSTEMATIC EROSION