Introducing Herbie…the long-legged lamb and WB...my colleague.
He’s part of the deco brought by WB to brighten up his table with the onset of Christmas. Christmas is definitely in the air with houses and shops starting to be decorated inside out and Christmas Markets mushrooming around town and villages. I’ll do a special post on Christmas in Hannover with pics this weekend when the snap-happy man aka hubby dearest dah habis snap sana snap sini.Talking about my colleague ni…he is a very sweet old man of 60, very tall with legs as long as Herbie and like many other Germans his age, is still working at the office as their official retirement age is 65. Although very the baik hati, always telling me the history of this and that, teaching me itu dan ini and reminiscing about his past…..sama macam most other old German people that I have encountered, he can be grumpy too. Kalau dia dah start marah, berjela-jela dengar dia membebel in German on the phone with whoever it is on the other end of the line. Sabor je la....
The only thing I can deduce is that the oldies are lonely and depressed sebab orang tua kat sini mostly duduk on their own without their kids. Their culture dictates that once the kids move out, then it’s bye-bye forever. And because of that too I think they are very active even though dah tua sebab dah terpaksa…and when I say tua, it’s really, really tua ok….bertongkat and pakai walking frame support tu…You can see them going shopping all by themselves kat supermarket….jalan terhencot-hencot, slowly but surely…kalau saper pernah tengok episode Mr Bean yang ada lelaki and perempuan tua turun tangga kat hotel and Mr Bean trying to overtake them…teruk lagi dari tu slow nyer.
Ada one morning while hubby was sending me to the office, we saw one very old and frail lady, kecik molek tapi masih bergaya with long coat, topi all, walking her dog. Actually more of the dog walking her bukan dia yang walking the dog..ha..ha....punya frail nyer dia, terhoyong-hayang dia ditarik dek anjing tu yang menonong-nonong charging ahead. Mana nak control anjing lagi, mana nak jaga topi jangan jatuh lagi. Both hubby and me looked at each other and we burst out laughing…..it was totally and absolutely funny especially when we were chit-chatting about kedaya-tahanan oldies here just the day before. Kalau kat M'sia, dok rumah diam-diam jer la, tak der nyer nak gallavanting around.
So…back to the issue of parents staying by themselves in their twilight years, WB’s mom is also destined to the same fate. Umur dah dekat 90 and yet she still lives alone hobbling along fine as WB’s dad passed away some time back. She still does her shopping and enjoying life, not just confined to the house. Hats off to them!
For paranoid me, I have been trying to coax my kids into staying with me bila dah retire and tua nanti. Trying my luck with each one of them…..kadang2x resort to bribing. I will say “saper duduk dengan Mama nanti I give the house plus I pay all the bills”…setakat ni response yang dapat macam tak berapa menggalakkan despite the carrot…Syirah says “Nanti I ask my husband first” and I’m like thinking.... Amboihhhh…ni dah very teradvance in becoming isteri mithali (I would like to think that I’m isteri mithali…betul tak Yangggg?……so it must have rubbed on Syira too). Imran pulak…initial reaction selepas mendiamkan diri beberapa lama dengan slow nyer kata, tengok la dulu…bertuah betoi!…aper yang dia tengok2x tu huh…b*n* ler tu….so tak take after his Abah who just barks his orders to Mama aka moi….Hakeem pulak still too young….maybe I can usap2x his head and say “Hakeem mesti duduk dengan Mama” like a hundred times every nite masa dia tengah nak tido and while his sub-concious mind is taking over….ala-ala hypnotise gitu…
Syaza I must say is the most level-headed one and most responsible….she didn’t kick-up a fuss and said ok but better if it’s a different house next to ours but she’ll take care of Mama/Abah. She also said that we can stay with her if she decides to migrate…a plan she’s considering with my blessing…yabedabedoo….kalau boleh UK ok….jangan Mongolia sudah… so Yanggggg....better make sure one of them stays with us, if not I follow you go play golf...want or not?
