Morning all.
I’m putting some info together so I am trying to get a rough idea of how many unpaid/paid carers currently don’t drive but still care, either full time or part time, for someone.
Feel free to reply if you or someone you know is in the situation.
Thanks in advance.
Jay
Hi @JayB May I ask the purpose of collecting the info?
Well I’m a carer for my wife and I don’t drive so was wondering if there were any others who were in the same position as me.
@JayB I do not drive. My husband is 87 and stopped driving around 15 years ago. I am 64. That said, I am very lucky as I have a Morrisons Daily and a Co-op within easy walking distance and the former has a post office. It is also only a 20 minute walk into town. Yes at times I wish I had learnt but at the time, my husband and I went everywhere together. Are you struggling to cope? The GP Surgery is a short taxi ride. I also do a lot of things online and have deliveries as although I can walk , I am very slight and cannot carry that much.
Hi. I’m not struggling to cope but thank you so much for asking.
I drive and was often worried that if I had to stop driving I would have major problems caring for my (now) late husband. I live in a rural area with what they jokingly call a ‘bus service’ but takes an hour just to get seven miles to the nearest town
I live on the edge of the New Forest, 2 miles to town, no reliable bus service. I’m dreading getting too ill or old to be able to drive. I passed my test when I was 17 years and 3 months old, 17 lessons all paid for myself. I was given a car as part of my first job at 19 by my employer, and had my own car all my married life.
So you drive currently? Do you have a carer or care for someone yourself?
Yes, currently driving, but I have chronic arthritis now. When I was well I would think nothing of driving from the New Forest to Preston and back up Friday, back Sunday. I ran a lorry show every year, in places like Liverpool, Chorley, Ironbridge, again Friday to Sunday. Every weekend in the summer we went to a steam rally somewhere. Son was at a college near Warminster, so I used to go and get him (120 mile round trip, then drive to a rally, then back to Warminster in time for 9am Monday. Now my shoulders hurt so much that if I drive 15 miles to see my son I’m sat in bed at 4am rubbing in Voltarol - hence I’m a Night Owl here. We were used to long distance driving. Husband once drove a Land Rover to Australia. When we worked in Australia we went on a holiday including a steam rally in Victoria, 9,000 miles in 5 weeks. It was 1.000 miles from home to the nearest department store in 1973!
No carer for myself, but eldest som and grandson live with me and we all help each other. My youngest son M, has learning difficulties, lives 15 miles away, the other side of the New Forest, no appropriate bus route, I currently walk with a stick.