Take the O out of OAP!

THE RURAL IDYLL OF A SILVER SURFER

This is my first blog and I hope that anyone reading this will be kind enough to let me know what they think of it - good or bad.
To put you in the picture - I am 77 and live on a farm in Devon, England. I used to farm here on my own but the land is now worked by my youngest son whose land adjoins mine. He grows corn and rears beef. My eldest son farms the far side of that so I can go out of my house going East and remain on family land for as far as I can (could) walk. He also grows cereals, rears beef and pigs and his partner has a successful stud. This photo is of some of the brood mares and their foals born this year.
Until three years ago I was incredibly active, swimming 600 yards three or four times a week. I did this in my own pool and swam to music. Sometimes it was Glen Miller, at others Mozart - anything to give me a rhythm as I didn’t stop between lengths. I also walked a lot and could go up really steep hills, again without stopping or feeling puffed. I cut the lawns on a ride-on mulcher mower and grew our vegetables in an 18’ x32’ poly tunnel as well as looking after flower beds. Then I got a very rare lung disorder (cryptogenic organising pneumonia or COP for short) which stopped me in my tracks for about 18 months.
I was just getting back towards being fit again when this day last year I had to jump out of the way of a motorbike! It was at an Enduro event held on my son’s farm and the injury I sustained has stopped me again! I had what is called a gluteal tendinopathy of the great tranchonter (in lay terms the tendon joining the sticking out part of my hip bone which goes down to my knee had come adrift at the top.) I tell you, old age doesn’t creep up on you, it comes in fits and starts. The prognosis given by my doctor and a specialist I saw after having an MRI scan was to live with it as an operation would only have a 50/50 chance of success me being so old!! They didn’t actually say that but it’s what they meant. So… I still swim, but half the lengths I managed before and I can only walk about a mile and going up hills is really painful.
As I love getting to places away from roads I have bought a Tramper. This amazing machine is a cross between a mobility scooter and an ATV (all terrain vehicle) and goes cross country. It does exactly as the ads say and has transformed my life! The battery lasts for 15 hours on rough going or 20 on roads. 8 miles an hour is its top speed and that is quite fast enough on the lanes around here sitting in something so small. As it is virtually silent I can hear the birds, my husband talking if he is walking beside me, and by taking my hand off the handlebar I stop in an instant if I see something of interest in the bank.
We, the Tramper and I, go across the fields or through the woods, flattening the undergrowth as we go. Muddy gateways and huge deep puddles that even cars would balk at are no problem - we sail through! Once I’m at a favourite place I leave the Tramper and walk as far as is comfortable, then get on again and trundle home. I tell you, if you like the inaccessible outdoors and find walking a long way difficult, or you have a dog that wants to go further than you can, the Tramper is the answer. You could phone Beamer Ltd, (who make the Tramper in England) on 01794884766 to find out your nearest agent.
The next blog won’t be so much about me but this first one is telling you certain facts that will be relevant in future.
Here is to health, wealth and happiness for us all. Janet