Things to Do when you're Eighty-Two

There's something to be said for a very active youth. My mother, age eighty-two, who spent her youth climbing on Lake District fells (hurrah) and playing hockey (boo) has remained very physically fit and spends at least eight hours a day gardening. Here are some things she did on holiday last week:

She travelled on the Eskdale to Ravenglass railway:

She visited the Roman fort high up on Hardknott Pass:

Climbed about on the rocks by the River Esk:

Climbed up the big rock by the River Duddon: (she's the little one)

Paddled in the River Duddon (and in the River Esk as well, by the way)

and swung on the swings at Broughton-in-Furness.

A couple of years ago she went to the doctor for her annual check and encountered a doctor who didn't know her.

"And do you take any exercise?" he asked.

"Well," said my mother, "I've just come back from holiday, so I've had a bit more exercise than usual. On holiday in Tenby I usually do about half a mile in the pool before breakfast, then go down on the beach and play a bit of beach tennis, then a swim in the sea before lunch. After lunch I'll probably go down on the beach and have another swim and then come up for a swim in the pool before dinner - probably about another half a mile's worth of lengths. Then after dinner some nights we go for a walk unless there's a dance, in which case I'll go to the dance."

All this is completely and totally true. However, the doctor looked at her, and clearly decided on the spot that here was a case of delusional Alzheimer's. Under "Exercise" he wrote "Moderate".