After leaving the soup kitchen meal, I was walking along the pavement with the 94-year-old woman I've been looking after over the past two months, heading for the Tube station.
A middle-aged couple coming from the opposite direction started to walk around her (on her left), to make way for her.
She, on her part, also started to walk around them on the same side (on her left), to make way for them, so she ended up blocking their way (not deliberately, of course), almost bumping into them in the process.
Over the last eight weeks since I first met her, I've been trying to teach her to make people give way to her, rather than her giving way to them and walking around them.
Apart from the fact that her age means she has the right of way (out of respect, based on standard behaviour "rules"), I'm also trying to help her avoid a fall, because she's 94 and not always steady on her feet.
By walking around people, she needs to take more steps. Taking extra steps might increase the risk of falling, as she has two bad knees and frequent leg cramps. A fall at that age might have serious consequences, not just inconvenience mobility-wise.
After the encounter on the pavement with the couple, I said to her, "Why did you walk around them, giving way to them, when they were already trying to give way to you by walking around you?"
Her answer: "I didn't see them."
Huh??!! If she hadn't seen them, then why was she walking around them to give way to them (instead of walking straight on like she'd been doing up to that point)???!!!
I pointed out the illogicality of her reply, and got silence back.
(London, 2026)
