Amanda 92 years
Palvelu- tai senioritalo, Uusimaa
Description of daily life
I do tend to sleep late in the mornings. I pretty much only wake up between nine and ten. I get up, have a wash and get dressed, and then I go straight to the service centre restaurant to have lunch. They serve lunch between 11 and 13. In the past we could sit where we liked, but during the coronavirus pandemic we were told what to do.
We ended up having our meals together with the same group – it just happened naturally. It’s quite nice. We keep eating quietly until twelve, nobody has anything to talk about. Then we start chatting. We leave the service centre restaurant soon after 12.
Previously, the meals were brought to you at home. Well, it was great to have your meals delivered to your door, but it was not fun. And now that all the rules have been relaxed, we can go and eat in the restaurant between 11 and 13. I used to do a lot of Nordic walking, and for 11 years I went around everywhere in this area. But for some funny reason – or because of all these years – well, a 92-year-old is quite elderly already. It has meant that I don’t have the energy for these walks anymore. But I do go shopping because there is a shop quite near here. I go over with my backpack.
My daughter also lives close by, and she visits every now and then. We go shopping, buy something nice and go the balcony. If the weather is nice we eat out there. So that's the way it goes. And then I watch television for the rest of the evening. In the past I used to sleep through the night because I did not need to go to the loo. I have to get up at least three times a night to change my pads. So that’s my nights. Luckily I manage to sleep for a few hours every time, but it does break up your sleep.
Everyday highlights
It’s a highlight when the grandchildren come for a visit. Over the last 11 years, I have really loved living in this retirement facility. The food is really tasty.
Daily life of my own choosing
You are absolutely free to do what you choose to do. This is the great thing about living here, you can do what you want. You don't have to do anything. For example, they have a sauna and swimming pool here, but I have sciatic pain in my back, and bathing in the sauna is not good for it. I cannot go swimming because I have a problem with incontinence, so it wouldn’t be nice to go into the pool. You don’t have to do these things. If you did, I couldn’t even be living here. Nobody forces you to do anything here.
Housing
I live in a block of flats. My flat has a bedroom and a living room, and a kitchenette in a corner. The flat is pretty spacious, and because it is on the seventh floor, the balcony is great when we have a really good summer. Well, it's full of snow in winter, but there’s no need to go out there then. This is a rental flat and I have been living here alone for 11 years. My home is pretty bright because it gets the morning sun and is high up in the building.
The radiator in the living room needs more pressure in winter to spread the heat around the room. When the maintenance guy did not pressurise the radiator, I had to buy an electrical heater so that I wouldn’t be cold sitting here in the evenings. And especially in winter, it was terribly cold all day long. I have a warm bedroom. Otherwise I really love living here.
Service use
I use the meal services. I never really cook anything at home, except tea sometimes. Previously, when the grandchildren came for a visit, I tried to make something for them. Now I appeal to my old age and say that you either come and have a meal at the restaurant, or you will have to go and buy the food yourselves. Great granny – I am actually already a great grandmother – will give you the money. In the past it was lovely to make something for them. But once you get older you just don’t have the energy. I don’t, anyway. When I turned 90 I was still like that, but the years that have passed have taken their toll – I somehow get tired.
I still go shopping myself. I can even manage it alone. But I have to get a cleaning service. A cleaner comes once a month.
I use banking services on the computer. I’m afraid that the day might come when I’m no longer able to do it, but so far I’m still OK. Years and years ago my daughter’s daughter said, we have bought a new computer, would granny like our old one. I said yes, bring it here. Then they showed me how to do it and afterwards they have said that when they were teaching me, they were wondering that it seemed so easy. It still is, but I’m afraid that I might suddenly blank out and no longer remember how to do things. Yes, I use the computer to pay my bills.
For example, because there is a pharmacy nearby, I prefer to call them on the phone. They will deliver the medicines, and it costs a tenner. And if only I could have got into a bigger pharmacy with the computer, but I wasn’t able to. Or I might have done it, but then I couldn’t be bothered, because the way I do it is so easy. My daughter lives in the same city with her husband, and they certainly look after my business if I come across something like that.
I have taken a taxi into the city if I need to buy something in a department store. And in the old days I used huge amounts of all these creams. Now I only have a cream that was prescribed to me, it will have to do. I used trams for quite a long time, but not recently. When you get old, you are not quite so able, and you dare not go out. So I use taxis. Like recently when I went to the laboratory to have an ECG, I took a taxi both ways.
Mobility
Old age has meant that I cannot walk without a stick. I dare not go anywhere if I don't bring this. If I fall, I cannot get up. I have prosthetic joints in both knees. I have sometimes fallen at home. I had a safety bracelet but it gave me a rash. So now I have a heart-sized one hanging around my neck. I can then get a message to the carers so they come and pick me up. This is why walking poles are good if you go further. Nordic walking is a physical activity that I can still do and have been doing for years.
Important people
Naturally my daughter, who lives in the same city, and her daughter who also lives here, she is very important. I don’t see my daughter very often, but we do talk on the phone quite a lot. We don’t meet terribly often, but these days she has visited more as she has noticed that I have grown older. All my siblings, and my father and mother, are dead, which means I’m alone. There were eight of us in the family. When I go to the service centre restaurant for my meals, I may meet one of my neighbours from here, with whom I am a bit closer than others.
Turning points of life
For me, it was having to leave – I was a war evacuee. I was 9 when we had to leave. That was a turning point in my life. And the deaths of my mother and father. When I applied for a place in the retirement home and was told I could have a flat, that was also a turning point.
Digital devices
I used to look up all sorts of things on the computer – you can find anything at all – but now I can’t be bothered anymore. For me it’s important to get my bills paid, and I can still do that.
I watch television, sports and ski jumping in winter, skiing and such. In summer, those kind of things are not really on so I don’t watch television very much. It's just a habit to turn it on in the morning, and see what time it is and so on. But it’s not quite what it used to be.
There’s one problem with using the computer. I have a password, and I am no longer able to do one of the characters. This means I can’t access my page anymore. My daughter said she will take care of it. So I have become forgetful enough not to remember that character. They have told me how to do it on the computer, but I just have forgotten. I’m not going to worry about it.
Summary of good everyday life and housing
Staying in some kind of good health, of course, without old age affecting all parts of your body so you can no longer move.
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