Dear LPG, 

We all know the importance of keeping those feet of ours moving.  The ‘use it or lose it’ reality sometimes inspires, although a bit of pain as you put your weight on them can be off-putting as we age.  For some, the hard part can be walking for an extended amount of time because taking more than a few steps causes breathlessness or exertion, but for others, the fear is all in the mind.  

We must keep putting one foot before the other for as long as possible. Despite the freedom pass in my pocket, I remember when a trip to my local shopping centre would constitute a walk there and back.  I would not bother with the wait at the bus stop unless I found a friend that I mainly wanted to stand and chat with waiting for the same bus, but just a few years down the line, I find myself having to work at getting to the bus stop to make the same journey.  

One friend has lost the confidence to start such a journey in the past few years. The lack of a need to practice an extended walk to anywhere during the period of lockdown at home has turned what used to be an action that her legs were ready for into a challenge that is almost beyond her.  

She lives not far from me, and I pop in to see her most days on my way to or from my outings, but all my encouragement attempts and offers to go out with her came to nothing for a long time.  Then some two years after our freedom to leave home without a car had been restored started a sort of journey.  

I started by talking about the music we loved back in the day, and wriggling around on a chair was the next stage.  After a cup of tea, I would notice a wriggle in her hips as she stood in front of the sink and washed up the teacups. Getting her to have a bit of a dance around the house came next. 

It has taken me about two years of gentle and persistent cajoling, but I finally got her to come to the shops once a week.   She always talked about the distance, even though we could see the shop from her garden gate. 

I felt that all my hard work was worth it one day when she told me it was as if the distance between us and the shop had looked a little shorter from her point of view.  

This has been a 2-year journey, but some other LPG readers might have friends who still have problems getting out; I want to say keep trying.  It is worth persevering.  

CJ, Brockley