DORIC COLUMN ROBBIE SHEPHERD

Na, na, I’m nae compleenin’, though auld age is drawin’ on

An I be tae steyter doon the brae ma lane

THE AULD PLOOMAN – JOHN M CAIE

Aul age disna come its leen is a weel-worn sayin fae fowks o oor age an it can aft be a wearisome hurl for some at live alane at es time an ithers in Care Homes or lang-stay in hospital. Waur for faimilies an close freens at cwid only look in fae the ootside wi nae contac – helpless tae hug an comfort – seein the eens they loo dearly at the twilicht o life’s journey. At the time o vreetin es we’re gled tae see a possible relaxin o the rules on Care Homes.

My ain Mam’s birthday wid o been es verra day an losh it disna seem like 14 eer since she pass’t awa haein been a widda for 40 eer afore that, Dad losin a lang sair fecht wi lung cancer – him aye wi at great speerit I myn on sae weel – in her tender care at hame. Mam hersel left us at the age o 98 an it wis jist in the last feow months o her lang life at she wis nae langer the kind, cannie contentit little lady, Harry, Helen an I kent and loo’t sae weel. Fate furls the totem tae quote Charles Murray.

Happy memories, an anither poem cam tae myn fin I think back ower the eers, es fae Peter Buchan – ‘The Win in ‘is Face’.

‘Some can smile in their weary lot altho the fecht be sair.....

Some hae aye the greet in their throat tho they’ve neither cark nor care.’

As Peter pits it ower sae weel, better the een wi the win in his face as a sincere an trusty freen an we aa ken fowk at mak licht o the road aheid tho they maun fyles be sair made tae cope.

For inspiration ye need only look at the news lately an think first o aa on mornin TV presenter Kate Garraway, on foo her warl wis tae cheenge overnicht wi the devastatin news at her man hid been diagnos’t wi the dreidit Covid disease an, fin he wis still in an induc’t coma, foo she fun solace in her ain gairden realisin for the first time the ither side o nature.

Fit a brave lady tae open up her hairt for the benefit o ithers in the same plecht an dash’t, the tears warna far awa at the sicht o Kate an her young bairnies on Gardeners’ World pluntin bulbs in the hope o showin them tae Daddy fin he got better come Springtime.

Again on TV we hid the dowie sicht o rugby star Rob Burrow in a wheelchair – diagnos’t as haein Motor Neurone Disease in Dec an bit a shadda o his athletic physique – haein an afa chauve tae even get the wirds oot, allooin the cameras in tae the faimily circle tae be interview’t bringin awareness o MND.

Ay, gaurs ye think, neen o’s ken fit lies roon the neuk an I leave it tae Doddy Weir, a fella sufferer an giant o a fundraiser, for the hinmaist wirds.

‘ This is the card I have been dealt with so I’ve got to crack on’.

See ye neist wikkeyn.