‘WE MUSTN’T BE
IT’S Mother’s Day but very few of us will be enjoying the traditional treats – a bunch of red roses and a family party with children and grandchildren.
Those happy lunches I usually enjoy each year, the teasing and the laughter. They now feel a lifetime away, as so much has happened in the past week.
The restaurants and pubs have closed, parties are cancelled. I am drinking to the health of my friends and family via the internet. It’s become a virtual Mother’s Day.
But I know I’m lucky. Many of the older people who ring The Silver Line confidential helpline are used to agonising loneliness, all day, every day.
Mother’s Day, Easter and bank holidays have no special place in their calendars.
As one of our callers told me on Christmas Day itself, for her, “it’s just another day to get through”.
But even older people who are used to coping with isolation are finding these days more difficult than ever.
The Silver Line is struggling to answer all the calls from older people desperately worried about this vile new illness.
We are only able to answer around half of them. The vast majority of our callers live alone, and loneliness has always been their main reason for calling. But now each call is tinged with fear.
Our callers are frightened not just for themselves but for the whole world.
And, of course, some of them, frail themselves, are caring for a partner who needs their support desperately.
What will happen if either of them are struck down by the virus?
Loneliness magnifies this fear. One of our callers, Marjorie, aged 84, needed to talk to someone, because apart from The Silver Line she has nobody else to discuss it with, to share her worries and to make sure she accurately understands the little we know