Apparently Carers UK have been given just under £100,000 to look at ways of getting more over 55s carers into sport to combat loneliness.
Personally I don’t see that paying towards many sitting services for our carees. …
Don’t be silly. that’s just the cost of someone writing a report, not actually giving us carers anything! Yet again disappointing that our elusive management haven’t shared this with us themselves!
Had to smile.
My 10 year stint … pushed mother in wheelchair virtually every time I went out for more than an hour so.
Now paying the price a little … back twinges and muscle spasms in arms / legs … missing the exercise ?
Sport ?
Turn the clock back and a wheelchair derby round the local supermarket , perhaps ?
( Mother with crash helmet on and Arsenal scarf wrapped round her neck … just loving it ! )
Slalom course … through the slower traffic on the pavement in any busy town … busy as in a decade or more ago !
( Points deduced by counting the trail of the dead left in your wake ? )
Hill climbing … a 1 in 4 400 yard one near to where I was in me caring days ?
( After 300 yards , mother took pity on me … got out , and pushed me up the last 100 ! )
Juggling … always a good one … how many problems you can juggle at once ?
Mental dexterity ?
Easiest of all for half the carer army … taking £ 10 / £ 20 / £ 30 per week … and getting the maximum amout of food in /
household bills paid … and still avoid being evicted or being made insolvent !
Avoiding creditors ?
Always good for testing your sprinting / ducking and diving prowess … at any unexpected time .
Cost ?
Not a penny … all done " Voluntary " … as if there was a virtual slave driver with a whip behind me at all times.
2019 … quite easy … visit your second nearest food bank … walking , of course … 2 / 3 times a week.
( For some , that extra 100 yards or so will do you good … especially on an empty stomach ? )
Even if not needed now … may well be needed tomorrow / next week / next month.
Street Sport … as so practiced in CarerLand !
( That £ 100,000 … 4 cans of beans extra for every carer needing a food bank in the last calender year …
house specials not Heinz ! Another £ 20,000 needed for 4 cans of those ! )
I like the idea of going to your 2nd nearest food bank. You ought to claim £25k of the £100k for that idea alone. Also leave the trolley behind and carry your food bank parcels back in grocery bags.
… and be mugged on me way 'Ome ???
Prior to Internet shopping , used to wheel mother into Lowestoft … 2 and a bit miles … load up … mother balancing most
in her lap … couple slung over the handle bars … and returned home … often with that inevitable juggling bit thrown
in once the rain started … holding umbrella over mother’s head / pushing and steering wheelchair with one hand …
and sprinting … in case mother let loose what she was carrying ( Good practice for any slip fielder come the cricket
season ! )… always remembering to put the brake on first ( All inside 2 seconds ! ).
Yep , even got a virtual gold medal for that … sport ?
( Interesting inscription , always puzzled me … the word SUCKER … underneath … THERE’S A CARER BORN EVERY MINUTE.
Thanks to the immortal WC Fields … via PJ Burnam … for that one … did he predict our Plight some 80 odd years ago ? )
Platinum medal ?
All the above and … the traffic lights just turned green.
Only a few survive to collect that one !
Like many carers, I would love to do an evening exercise class or go for a swim, but who would look after S?
Don’t suggest DPs it was hard enough getting funding to cover his shortened hours at college follow on service and even if we did get DPs who would we find to do the care?
Melly1
Sounds like a ready made marathon course for any carer , Melly ?
One where the finish line keeps moving … further away ?
One where the finish line keeps moving … further away ?
Too true, Chris. I’m dreading his review this July, individual budgets aren’t keeping up with the rising care costs - national living wage & pensions…
It’s like an obstacle course with no finish line.
Melly1
Yep … warned all and sundry about rises in the minimum wage and the virtual " Freezing " of DPs and other bits coming
out from the LAs back in November :
https://www.carersuk.org/forum/support-and-advice/carer-disability-benefits/warning-rise-in-minimum-wage-due-limit-now-increased-to-123-no-dp-increase-less-care-for-same-monies-34838?hilit=rise%20in%20minum%20wage
Same / less care for more monies.
Don’t forget that obstacle course … fences get higher as you proceed.
We were first hit with this at his review two summers ago and each consecutive review since.
Melly1
Welcome to … Alice in Blunderland … Wonderland … for non Captain Beefheart fans … a reality simply unknown
to our supporting organisations.
And , for the next chapter of the best selling book in CarerLand … " How to Get More Blood Out of a Stone " … over to
Melly and low milllions of others out there … in the REAL world.
FINANCES and AFFORDABLE SUPPORT … our two main " ASKS " … for decades !!!
BACK TO THREAD !!!
There you are…marathons and obstacle courses… we are already doing Sport ! 
just a version that ages you, rather than improves your health!
Melly1
Sounds like Aintree , Sally … you want to jump a fence but your 'Orse doesn’t ???
__
Chris can set the course.
An invitation ?
Be me last after what follows ?
Ground zero … Worksop … pick any beau jeu residence which hasn’t been condemned ( Since World War 1 … not 2 ! ) ) …
outside privvy … tin bath on nail … BTL of course … catherine wheel meter ( Prepayment ) … take your caree with you
… full range of current benefits and allowances … and try to survive for a whole three months WITHOUT even thinking of
window shopping in our food bank !
Easy task … prices / rents are on the low side on this manor … support services non existent , so NO help there … no great
surprise to most reading this posting ?
( Rent less Housing Benefit gap ? Anywhere between £ 25 to £ 100 per month …more if you want an inside privvy or
bathroom ! )
Your income is strictly limited … your expenditure isn’t … using a credit card ? Instant disqualification !
A clock ticks … this task doesn’t !
( For any younger readers … under 50 nowadays … ticks … as on slate … one’s debt ? )
Last one to survive will then be able to do a little more than merely window shopping at you know where.
( As a special treat , I have supplied the ladies at my local with real ones … the ones with ( Now ) a portrait of BoJo on
them being a little iffy … yep , BoJo … as in clown … and not a very good one at that ??? )
The Olympics … multi disciplined … Street Style … in CarerLand !!!