MOT for mind and body.

The mind seems OK, little you can do about it if it’s not. At our memory workshop I was picking up anagrams quicker than the others. They looked rather peeved. There is a healthy rivalry, and, yes, still feel the umbilical cord with the country of our birth. But they do not think logically about a grammatical or spelling problem, they probably gave up after school or university and rely on instinct. I have to work, all the time, and use memory tricks. They are surprised when I address staff by name, few do. I look at their name badge, notice voice, little particularities of walking, their attitude to us oldies ~ brisk, motherly, jolly along, barely contained patience.

I have puzzles: anagrams, logic, crosswords, word finding, SUDOKU. I struggle with inertia to get around to them. I was going to study, bought all my encyclopaedias, only the Atlas gets a lot of attention, quizzes and finding my family.

I am patient and logical at the endless official problems which have arisen, and are still bubbling up, over the last year. I have to pay much more attention to the computer screen, the promised help with technology here does not exist. The big problem remains, which I wrote about in a blog ‘Why bother?’ There is absolutely no incentive or impulse to improve my French or general education, because there is no outlet for it. My current French level is more than enough for the needs of my daily life. It is really mental gymnastics, which the experts tell us is vital to counteract aging problems. So, the brain passes its MOT. I am trying to persuade it to do a Masters in Anthropology. It may jib at this, and the authorities think it a joke.

So, what about the body? A different matter. Was it forty years ago? Jane Fonda, ‘Feel the burn’. If it did not hurt it wasn’t any good. The Green Goddess on TV every morning. Rosemary Conley? They all wrote the definitive exercise and diet book, don’t know who is the current guru. A mushrooming of gyms. The 10,000 steps. Personal trainers.

The French talk about a ‘Coup de Vieux’, sudden old age, and ‘A l’Abandon’, just had enough struggling. I have scary habits now. I swim every morning, now tell myself that is enough. It is not enough for leg circulation and avoiding oedema. I should do exercises for flexibility; otherwise I will suffer the indignity of a nurse to put my stockings on. And if I do not strengthen a dodgy back I will fall over getting my knickers on. I have two armchairs, bought well before Mr G was ill. They were expensive, are beautiful, comfortable and sentimental. I crash down into them, and heave myself out of them. They creak, they risk going before I do. But this is affecting my mental health, because I castigate myself for not doing things, but lack the self discipline to do them. Any advice?

The Gardnener

A Moodscope member