Don’t miss…

WE COULD all do with a bit of support and care after the turbulence of the past two years. Over a lunch with property professionals recently, it became clear that everyone had suffered during the hard lockdowns.

Estate agents had not been able to work, construction workers were sent home, not knowing where their next meal would come from, and developers were despairing as cranes stopped working.

At the lunch, what was clear was just how hard it had been for many to be shut down. However, it wasn’t only concern about where the next rand was coming from, but the isolation, that got to some.

Isolation was real, and we all agreed it was the elderly who felt it most

I remembered our beloved writer Alan Simmonds, who died last year. Before we even went into lockdown as a country the retirement establishment in which he was staying shut its doors. He survived Covid twice – he was tough like that – and, at 80 years of age, was still a brilliant writer. In the end, it was a heart attack that took him on the day he was going to meet the outside world for the first time after almost 18 months of being in lockdown.

I remember the many conversations and WhatsApps Al and I shared. He told me how he enjoyed the companionship where he lived and how he loved the birdlife and pottering in the garden.

It helped knowing he wasn’t completely alone. However, I do know Al missed the companionship of the younger generation as much as we missed his wisdom.

According to the experts I lunched with, it is this in particular that is driving the development of multi-generational retirement villages. I am all for it. My wise mom used to say, if you don’t have an old person in your life, go and buy one.

She would have loved the idea of multi-generational accommodation.