Living in an almshouse

 If you have reached the retirement age, you've been waiting for, but life events are dictating the life you want to enjoy, consider living in an almshouse.

Living in an almshouse may not always be a peaceful and restful experience. However, with proper research, you can ensure that you are a good fit for the community of residents.

Retirees who move into an almshouse come with a variety of life experiences. They may not have much financial wealth and could be dealing with age-related health and mental issues.

If you live in an almshouse, you are classified as a recipient of Charity instead of a tenant. A tenancy agreement is a legally binding contract between a landlord and a tenant that outlines the terms and conditions of the living arrangement. According to the law, these agreements protect the rights of both the landlord and the tenant.

As licensees, people who reside in an almshouse don't have a legally binding agreement. The almshouse was established to offer shelter to those experiencing hardship, distress, or need. However, the almshouse, the lessor, can choose to end the residency of any individual at any given time, regardless of whether they have a valid reason.

Since the residents of an almshouse are licensees, the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 will not apply. 

Leaving a residency without a valid reason can cause significant hardship, especially if the resident has lived in the almshouse for a long time. Being forced to leave friends and acquaintances can cause much mental distress that becomes ingrained in a person's mind.

The experience all but concluded my life

  The Ukraine war has made me aware of how insignificant life on this Earth might be. The period I spent in hospital following a covid infection and a cytokine storm made me realise how remarkable my existence on this planet might be. The experience all but concluded my life, and indeed, many shared my expectations. I am left with no doubt that I had reached the boundary that characterised the point of departure. 

I owe gratitude to the doctors who refused my appeals for them to withdraw and leave me to face the inevitable. I was so sick and in pain that it seemed to be a desirable outcome. 

During the first two weeks of January 2022, I drifted into a completely unknown world. Driven by outrageous dreams and horrifying hallucinations, I felt distressed, solitary and alone, often in a dark, infinite and featureless world. Short-term sensory deprivation sessions can be relaxing; extended sensory deprivation can result in extreme anxiety, hallucinations, bizarre thoughts, and depression. 

One morning, I awoke to find myself in a fantastic coherent world that made sense. I felt invigorated but was nevertheless wholly hindered by the loss of physical strength. There is no doubt that my mind and my sight had suffered the consequences of the experience.

I resolved to continue the struggle and did my best to recover. I had no desire for food, yet I picked out the most protein bearing and nutritious morsels I could find within the meals supplied. During the night, I would plan my next physical endeavour. I might decide to sit at the foot of my bed or walk along the bed clutching at the side rails, but I lacked the strength even to reach the foot of the bed.

Toward the end of January, I was visited by three physiotherapist carers who were to get me up and mobile. I rarely had visits of this nature and insisted that I return home to my family waiting for me. After several exhausting and harrowing events to satisfy the authorities, I and my wheelchair were winched up into a waiting vehicle to return home.

Once home, I was allocated three carer visits daily, evidently, to assist Myrtle. Myrtle's dedication and a more suitable diet nurtured me, and I quickly began to recover my strength. The visiting carers insisted I perform prescribed exercises daily, among other supportive duties.

It is now mid-May, and I am all but thoroughly recovered. I can walk freely about the house and attend to all my basic needs; I prefer to use a rollator or a wheeled walker when walking outdoors.

If I learned anything from my experience, that is to continue my exercises for as long as I live. I am now more mobile and physically stronger than I was before. 

 In his book ' Sapiens ', I find it fascinating that Yuval Harari refers to the construction of a tower representing human progress. He compares a tower constructed of mud bricks and wood to a tower built of steel and concrete. He conjectures that the steel and concrete tower 'would grow story by story as far as the eye can see'. The mud and wood tower would disintegrate at some critical point.

The book was published in 2011 and failed to perceive the inevitable complexity of contemporary society. I find it fascinating to compare it with the story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible and how God intervened with a divisive hand in human affairs. The steel and concrete tower has no doubt reached its critical point. 

The emergence of the pandemic and the ensuing chaos is not unlike the scriptural account of the Tower of Babel. A cluster of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause was detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. There are several theories about the origin of the first case. The virus is thought to be of natural animal origin.

A profusion of misinformation and conspiracy theories followed regarding prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Deliberate false information has been scattered through social media and mass media. Incorrect information has been propagated by celebrities, politicians, and other prominent public figures.

The ensuing chaos is costly and can lead to the demise of a culture. The codependent nature of all that holds the steel and concrete tower together is becoming fragmented and unstable. The entire population has become obsessed, even hypnotised. There is so much contradiction and confusion that the masses have lost their sense of rational thought and judgment. 

Information is constantly being compiled about us; we are in danger of being globally ushered in a direction we would prefer to avoid.  

 I find it extraordinarily fascinating reading 'Sapiens' the book written by Yuval Harari. I have always been fascinated by the emergence of early humans in Africa roughly 300,000 years ago. Fossil evidence of early advanced humans emerged in Africa from around this period.

Our early relatives were hunter-gatherers. While seeking nutrition, they gathered edible vegetation, butchered large animals, and scavenged the kills of lions and other predators. While I was aware that they migrated northwards and populated the inhabitable portions of this planet, it all seemed fundamental enough knowledge. 

I have been entirely unaware of the devastation of the flora and fauna that accompanied their progress. I could envision a degree of disruption to the vegetation and the resident wildlife but not to the extent that it seems they might have been responsible for having committed.

Through the ages, those early wise humans (sapiens, the one who knows) achieved extraordinary feats in adapting to the challenging climatic conditions they encountered as they overwhelmed the planet. 

In a sense, one might be tempted to respond with some pride being our early ancestors, but it is also apparent that they had little regard for the destruction of the environment. We have inherited that characteristic; acting like our early relatives, we proceed without concern for future resources or the planet's health. We strip it of all it has to offer.

Unlike the domino effect often used to illustrate a causal impact, our predicament is more like the Tower of Babel in the Bible. The story unveils how God intervenes with a divisive hand in human affairs. There is a tipping point to all human endeavours based upon greed, deceit and deception. As we seek to construct a tower comprising many fragile codependent entities, the structure will disintegrate as it is built.

 A copy of the letter to the new general manager recently appointed to manage our institution for the elderly. He expressed concern for the spread of the coronavirus and suggested that it is mandatory for the unvaccinated to wear masks.

My letter follows:-

I note your concern and advice about the wearing of masks and the need for isolation. I have not had the vaccination and don't intend to have it either. The NHS rates me as high risk owing to many encounters with what was deemed to be terminal cancer 20 years ago. I am in excellent health and have no intention of risking adverse reactions arising from the vaccine. 

I am a pharmacist, and I deregistered after 50 years of active participation. I find the global reaction to COVID implausible. After all, what is the point of being vaccinated if it is to fear the presence of the unvaccinated? Both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated carry the active virus on their person to the same extent. The virus is inactivated only when it enters the bloodstream and encounters the body's defence mechanism. It follows then; even a vaccinated person can be teeming with the virus within their throat and nasal passages just waiting for expulsion. The same is true for any other viral or bacterial infection, whether influenza or a common cold.

The current hype or extravagant and intensive reaction concerning COVID is beyond all reason. In Britain, mad cow disease reached its peak in 1993, with almost 1,000 new cases being reported every week. Since then, little has emerged while most young people of influential age today were born around 1990, are 30 years of age and have been through university.

Current young policymakers and reporters are unaware of life before 1960 when we had to contend with poliomyelitis, measles, mumps and many other diseases. Currently, the coronavirus kills around 0.5 per cent of the people it infects; it is probably minuscule within the global population. In the 20th century alone, smallpox killed hundreds of millions of people before its gradual eradication.

The world reaction to the coronavirus is extreme and ignorant. It has probably caused more chaos than necessary and permanent damage to humankind's superstructure. This strategic structure is the central or most important element of human existence. It has become so large that a tipping point is inevitable, and it has probably reached a rational limit to increase further.

 On Saturday 30th October 2021, on the eve of the COP 26 global meeting, all cathedrals and churches within the UK  are to sound their bells for 30 minutes to ring out a warning to humanity, drawing attention to the climate catastrophe ahead. 

COP26 is the 2021 United Nations climate change conference. The UN has brought almost every country on earth together for global climate summits, and it stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’. Climate change has gone from being a fringe issue to a global priority.

Our local church has sounded the bells somewhat early. As I sit and listen to them, I am moved and filled with sadness—great towering thunder clouds beyond drift by interspaced with blue sky. The clean, fresh autumn breeze flushes my space, and I wonder how we could have arrived at a situation of this nature.

A short article written by a farmer in our local village newsletter reflects the state of the world. 

He comments that fertilizer for next years planting should have been delivered in June, five months ago. Currently, there is no sign of it, and it is unlikely to arrive any time soon.  It is apparently in the country, but there are no truck drivers to deliver it.

There is no Roundup in the country until next year. This herbicide is essential for autumn planting. It is used to kill weeds before the cereals are planted. The number of cultivations on the fields can be reduced using less selective but expensive herbicides.

Rape meal,  the residue after the oilseed has been crushed, is used as cattle feed, last weeks order has not arrived, and we have a day worth left.

Feed supplements that are imported are not available until November, so their use is limited. The price had doubled in 12 months. By reducing this, the fat levels in the milk have dropped. Combine this with poor quality first cut hay, and milk production has been reduced.

Staffing is a problem. It is a mix of lethargy, physical and demanding, long hours; it is hard to find willing workers.

 After 86 years, I cannot help reflecting on the past and how different it was. I must nevertheless hesitate and take note of everything going on in the world around me. 

Before 1963 when American medical researcher Dr Jonas Salk announced that he had successfully developed a poliomyelitis vaccine, we mostly disregarded the threat of infection and continued with life as usual.

The MMR vaccine was announced in the USA in 1963, and I was 28 years old. Published measles cases in the United States fell from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands per year. These illnesses were regarded as a fact of life; before that, we stayed in bed until we recovered.

Now we have COVID, and it is regarded to be a pandemic because its effect is widespread. The pandemic is reported to have negatively affected many people’s mental health. It is worth considering that measles affects about 20 million people worldwide a year. In 1980, 2.6 million people died of measles, and in 1990, 545,000 died. (Wikipedia)

One cannot help wondering if this pandemic is a self-inflicted wound driven by opportunity and profit. It has become manifest that more than a third of 26 significant trials of Ivermectin for use on Covid has serious errors or signs of potential fraud. (BBC News)