Even though you can't see it

Thursday 3rd Oct 2024

Just because you cannot see it, it doesn’t mean it is not there.

I met my friend in the street and he was wearing a lanyard. The lanyard was covered with sunflowers, startling yellow on a bright green background. I admired it.

“II like your sunflower lanyard, what is it for?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s to show I have a hidden disability,” he said. He has the beginnings of dementia and you cannot tell as he walks down the street. I will look out for the sunflowers because things are not always what they seem. There are lots of hidden illnesses and perhaps the person I saw parking in a space for the disabled and walking away had a disability we could not see. I wonder if he was wearing the sunflower lanyard.

The road was very busy and it is a good job my friend was with a group of people as he could not have crossed the road safely. The traffic in town is non-stop and seems to be increasing. I remember when I was a young girl one of our games was to go to our lane end and write down car number plates. It was called ‘Spotting the Cars Game’.

We stood there on the side of the main road with our shiny red notebooks displaying the wreath symbol around a shield. It was an important game which we played separately at different times of the day. When a car came chugging round the bend we had to read and remember its number plate and write it down. I once saw five cars in one day and that was enough to win the game!

Our grapes have been winners this year. They are in the polytunnel and we have never been so successful. We had guests at the weekend and I thought it would be good to serve our grapes with the cheese board. I cut one of the huge bunches and it fell heavily into my hand and then fell from my hands onto the ground. It was as if the bunch could move on its own as each fruit rolled against its neighbour. They all had to be washed, but it was worth it when we were at the table and one guest told us how grapes are very good for our health.

At my age I am very health conscious and have taken up going to the pool again. This week I met someone who said a ‘teacher’ had made her put her head under the surface when she was young and she has been terrified of water ever since, but she looked confident and her fear did not show.

 (Taken from my column in the Shropshire Star)