Hi again, Bob!  This is a continuation of my previous message to you:

BA>  The other problem with living alone out here is that if
BA>  I manage to hurt or disable myself, help is *not* next
BA>  door - a point I have to keep in mind when I'm climing
BA>  on ladders, for instance (I do have to paint the house
BA>  this summer, and it's a 2 story house).  But that's
BA>  more due to a lifestyle choice than it is to having
BA>  survived cancer and a near heart attack.


          Understood.  We have a friend who is seventy-five years old, and
lives alone on a houseboat.  He's worried about what will happen when he
can no longer do that.  Meanwhile he's happy where he is & we phone
more often than we used to because Nora can't get onto the boat.  There are
people who would notice & check up on him if he hadn't surfaced for
awhile... we're not the only ones.  I didn't realize how many friends Nora
had until after her stroke.  Countless people said to me, "Where's
your daughter??  I used to see her walking to school every day." And I
could tell you stories about my father & my mother & my father's
sister... in each case someone who knew them was in the right place at the
right time when they needed help.  If you enjoy living where you live &
you're taking reasonable precautions, I don't see any serious cause for
concern as yet.

          When they'd reached their eighties my parents considered moving
from a bungalow (i.e. a one-storey house with basement) to a self-owned
apartment.  But they kept dragging their feet... and I'm glad they did! 
For one thing, it would have crushed my father's spirit not to have a yard
& basement to putter in.  For another, the building they had their eye
on turned out to be one of those "leaky condos" Vancouver is now
(in)famous for.  It took over a year & cost a gazillion dollars... as
it usually does... to fix the damage to the walls etc.  I've heard many
horror stories about retired folk who lost their life savings that way.  An
old house may have its problems too.  But the land is still worth
something, and the owner(s) are free to make their own decisions about the
maintenance....  ;-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+