A reformed cynic
I do honestly try not to be so cynical about everything.
It’s a trait which even I find irritating, though these days it’s very hard not to cast a very jaundiced eye on life.
Anyhows I was browsing around and I came across an article:
Government wants building of old age retirement villages to begin by November 2019.
My instant reaction was “Oh yeah, the bastards just want our houses”.
I chided myself. This was typical cynicism and I really must stop. Maybe there are other reasons for their plans? So I read on.
Apparently they want to “move away from the model of nursing homes towards community based retirement villages, similar to what is seen in the US“. This is indeed a good thing. Give the wrinklies their own little private spaces whilst providing all the central facilities that are required in ancient age. I think most people would prefer that to being stuck in an old folks home somewhere at the mercy of the staff?
There are times when living at home ceases to be viable for some. There may be a need for constant nursing, or specialist equipment. The person’s house may not be adaptable to their needs or they may need constant medical attention. A retirement village provides independence where the occupant has their own furniture, their own car and total independence while at the same time providing a community. to prevent isolation.
Indeed I was wrong to be cynical. It seems that the gubmint is actually doing something altruistic for a change. I read on. I reached the bottom of the article.
The aim of moving away from the nursing home model towards more home-based community care is to encourage elderly residents to sell their homes and move to a local retirement village. In doing so, larger homes could be placed back on the market for families to purchase.
Fuck them. I was right with my instinct. The fuckers do want our houses.
I’m going back to being a cynic where I belong.
jokes aside that sounds disturbing and it looks like they really want to get their hands on peoples property.
pitting grandparents against parents typical Fine Gael methods of divide and conquer
They have been gently moving for some time towards the idea of ousting people into smaller houses. We hear about “wasted bedrooms” and people living in houses that “are too big” for them. Like a lot of ideas, a gentle hint now usually turns into a law sooner or later.
They can fuck right off. Regardless of the size of my house or the number of bedrooms it is my house. The house is my property to do with as I please. The gubmint has no right to decide what I should do with it. Apart from that, I am living in a community where I am familiar and happy. I know my neighbours and they know me. No fancy “retirement village” can possibly compensate for that.
There’s nothing wrong with making the provision, it simply adds to the choices available.
The problem comes when they start to make it compulsory (or pseudo-compulsory by fiddling with taxes/allowances etc.) – that’s when we should get suitably cantankerous.
I have no problem with choice. I have a nasty feeing though that they are eventually going to decide on a tax on spare bedrooms. The census figures give them the number of inhabitants and the number of bedrooms in each house so they can easily come up with some formula. What’s the bet?
Being a ‘cynic’ means being right more often than being wrong.
With just cause.
I first read some bollocks piece a few years ago now about this, and thought then that’s early confirmation they’d be after our homes.
The piece was along the lines of one’s housing needs, where a (immigrants at the top of the list as we know) family of umpteen and growing would be far more than this poor old bugger and his Mrs and three dogs, who really ought to hurry up and die.
Obviously it wouldn’t apply to the apparatchiks or more equal than others who know best how the rest of us should live.
When i relayed this to the good lady, she wondered if the pile of ashes resulting from us being forced from the home we paid for would be of much use to the needy.
Being cynical is a good frame of mind, don’t trust the bastards.
I remember a few mentions in the past all right. That’s the way they do it – a mention here, a mention there, gradually increasing in frequency until it becomes the “obvious solution” to the housing crisis.
Frankly I am with your good lady [in spirit, not in person]. A pile of ashes sounds like a nice gesture.
A cynic is merely a realist with experience; hence, the older you are the more cynical you become.
I look forward to a happy cynical future so.
It is proven that the isolation of older people does not work. Channel 4 did a two part documentary last year at the Saint Monica’s Trust homes in Bristol where they have moved a nursery school into one of the sites to change the atmosphere of the place. Would someone tell the Irish government that their idea is past its sell-by date?
Assisted living, that is your very own room in an old folks home, properly staffed with some form of common room.
£1,340 A WEEK in Edinburgh. And that’s before charges for physio and such.
Retirement villages are okay, however we have stacks of retirement apartments in the UK. They’re better because the communal charges are lower, with no grounds to maintain.
One drawback is thy don’t keep pace with the housing market, so less to leave the sprogs. We are slap bang into the baby boomers, so in about 15 years all bar the best are likely to depreciate.
They call it “Assisted Living” here in the states for those older folks who can still (mostly) manage for themselves but have gotten to the point where life has stopped giving them things and starts taking things away–like their general health. Usually made up of rather high end apartment complexes thay, of course, only the well-off can afford in their older age.
And do I recall a post of yours a year or two back about apartment complexes that were built and then abandoned for some reason or other and still remain empty today? If so, then your government should use those instead of building yet more more complexes. Makes sense to me but that’s most likely the problem. It makes sense.