7. Getting a personal Warrant of Fitness
Hi, I’m Rachel McAlpine, I’m 84 and I’m learning how to be old. When vehicles get old, they need a certificate to prove they are safe on the road. Today I’ve got my grandson Hugo with me, he’s 12 years old and he’s going to help me renew my personal Warrant of Fitness. Like most young people, Hugo does know a lot about getting old, and he is very helpful. He is checking whether I can safely continue being out and about on roads and footpaths. Am I well maintained? Will I crash? Am I a danger to traffic? This seems reasonable, because my old body is a vehicle for myself, and I motor around on my legs.
Hugo and I find human equivalents for tyres, lights, bodies, seat belts, suspension, and so forth. We have a contest to see who can keep singing the longest. This is to test my lung capacity. Hugo sees himself as a Nissan GTR and I’m a Baby Austin. Or maybe an old VW Beetle. To pass our personal Warrant of Fitness we old people-cars don’t need to be perfect: we just need to be as safe as possible for another 12 months.
Some organisations already offer a proactive medical check that they call a warrant of fitness. Buildings in New Zealand are required to have a Building or Housing Warrant of Fitness. Now I think we need a Warrant of Fitness specifically for old age. Of course it must be optional, not mandatory. One day! In the meantime, this rough-and-ready test will have to do.
This old saying is highly relevant: “A stitch in time saves nine.” We heard that all the time in the 1940s, and everything got mended. Cars, socks, shoes, houses and now humans.
Wonderful Rachel. Looks like you are doing super well.
I passed! That’s all we ask, good enough to keep going 🙂