It's Still Life

MQ12 & MQ 13

13 November: I’m at the garden centre. Need a new baking sheet (there’s a cook shop next to the Hebes and the Holly). And I hear Bing Crosby sending good tidings to all – the Christmas grotto is alive with white-haired people lurching about with walking sticks. That explains the buses in the carpark. So, I buy my baking sheet, walk around, just browsing, (and tut-tutting over the price of festive pickled onions), plus tocking-up a few easy Fitbit steps. I consider joining the procession for lunch at the Garden Cafe, but the decision is made for me; the cashier asks for my luncheon voucher. I respond with a blank look, and she asks if I’m with the Broad Horizon Retirement Village. I’m turned away since I am not. A resident. The cafe swells with jolly song. Bless them each, they’re singing for their lunch. People…