One More David

Myrtle Park, Bingley, W.Yorks UK.

I met David in Myrtle park - he was exercising his leg after treatment for an ulcer due to poor circulation.
He was very friendly and keen to talk and told me in snippets little jigsaw glimpses of his life. He immediately came across as a refined, erudite and gentle man.

He is 79 & lives in a Bupa home in Baildon & had come over to Bingley on the bus. He is an only child and never married and his only remaining relatives are 3 cousins who he never sees. He said he got very lonely at times. He told me the other residents were 10 or 20 years older than him and living a more 'sedate lifestyle' - in wheelchairs mostly! He is the only one who goes out at all. I got the feeling he felt quite isolated but that the home was not unpleasant.

His father was the vicar of St. Paul's church at Buttershaw in Bradford for many years but had a cerebral attack while in the pulpit giving a sermon and had to give up work. David looked after his mother until she died at 91.
He is an ex Bradford Grammar School student and was a music teacher working in Bradford, Harrogate and Skipton - he started work in primary but then moved into secondary which he said was a 'big mistake'. He still plays the piano in the home.

He told me that talking to me was like a 'wonderful drug' (I can assure you not many people take this drug) as he never gets a chance to talk to ordinary people. I very much enjoyed hearing his thoughts and recollections and felt bad I had to leave him.

As we talked, I saw this chance encounter as an opportunity for a Blip - I did not like the superficial and exploitative feeling this gave me at the same time feeling a conflict. But I found he was amenable to having a picture taken and I felt I would love to be able to show him his photo on a screen as I think he'd be very interested.

I think he would be really pleased to see comments and if he felt that he'd had some contact with the outside world and that people knew who he was, people maybe from all around the world......it would give a great boost to his morale. So this is why I took the plunge ....... In the hope a superficial impulse could really bring a little interest and light to a 79 year old man who said 'I'm lonely' .