Up the coast in Forster.
It was called 'Golden Ponds', of all names.
My wife's mother lives there and it was her 83rd birthday, so a bunch of children and grand children converged on Forster for a visit and were scattered around the town.
The retirement village has a house they keep for the relatives of residents and we ended up there - $40 per night.
It's funny, other times when we've been up there, I’ve felt like a youngster walking around the village. This time I didn't. I'm pretty sure the average age of residents has come down dramatically, though my kids made the observation one morning in that unconsciously unkind way kids do that I looked like I fitted in.
They've got a huge communal vege garden and a pool and an enormous shared shed. One afternoon, I played lawn bowls with a few of the old blokes and enjoyed that, though the bar in the social club wasn't open afterwards. There was even a library. I guess lots of people move into those places with a few boxes of books, and when they move on they don’t have much need for them. A couple of residents act as ‘library monitors’ – I bet they don’t have to do much ‘shhhing’ as most people there would be pretty hard of hearing.
The house we were staying in had a huge shower - wheelchair accessible, I guess. And it had rails. There was even a rail beside the dunny. I've noticed that I have adopted the habit of making a satisfied little grunt when I have to bend down and pick something up off the floor – it’s my little reward for effort - and I used the rails once. The taps also had those easy turn handles and the light switches were those really big ones that are easy to find in the dark.
I've never really got those places, but I do now. I've known old people who have stuck it out in the family home in their old neighborhood and get desperately lonely because their friends have all moved on. A mate of mine calls his mum every day when he's driving home from work because he knows if he doesn't she can go a whole day without talking to anyone.
When the time comes, if I can find a village with a huge shed, I'll be there in a flash. And I'll work out how to get a bit more speed out of those buggies people use to get around.
It was called 'Golden Ponds', of all names.
My wife's mother lives there and it was her 83rd birthday, so a bunch of children and grand children converged on Forster for a visit and were scattered around the town.
The retirement village has a house they keep for the relatives of residents and we ended up there - $40 per night.
It's funny, other times when we've been up there, I’ve felt like a youngster walking around the village. This time I didn't. I'm pretty sure the average age of residents has come down dramatically, though my kids made the observation one morning in that unconsciously unkind way kids do that I looked like I fitted in.
They've got a huge communal vege garden and a pool and an enormous shared shed. One afternoon, I played lawn bowls with a few of the old blokes and enjoyed that, though the bar in the social club wasn't open afterwards. There was even a library. I guess lots of people move into those places with a few boxes of books, and when they move on they don’t have much need for them. A couple of residents act as ‘library monitors’ – I bet they don’t have to do much ‘shhhing’ as most people there would be pretty hard of hearing.
The house we were staying in had a huge shower - wheelchair accessible, I guess. And it had rails. There was even a rail beside the dunny. I've noticed that I have adopted the habit of making a satisfied little grunt when I have to bend down and pick something up off the floor – it’s my little reward for effort - and I used the rails once. The taps also had those easy turn handles and the light switches were those really big ones that are easy to find in the dark.
I've never really got those places, but I do now. I've known old people who have stuck it out in the family home in their old neighborhood and get desperately lonely because their friends have all moved on. A mate of mine calls his mum every day when he's driving home from work because he knows if he doesn't she can go a whole day without talking to anyone.
When the time comes, if I can find a village with a huge shed, I'll be there in a flash. And I'll work out how to get a bit more speed out of those buggies people use to get around.
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