...Mend

The ancient person in the archive was so delighted by the exercise of formulating 'making do' advice that the decision was taken to give you the benefit of even more management tips.  So here goes, with no special order of importance.  You will all have heard the one that says "what else can I do while I'm down here?" to the unfortunate who has dropped her/his mobile phone on the floor. Whenever practical, leave it there until you can amass other reasons for bending down. Milk weighs. Either order it for delivery or get someone else to bring it, leaving you free to carry bananas and other items which would be too heavy to carry along with the milk.

Consider installing handle bars and/or gripping devices wherever there are steps or other hazards. It may be more sensible to have a home that looks like a geriatric ward than to risk tottering over when moving up or down. Recently, I asked an architect friend to assess whether or not it may be possible to instal facilities on the entry level of where I live. It is not. Make sure you are approaching home a few minutes before you planned to so as to leave more time for what used to be the dash up the stairs but is now a time-sensitive scramble with bag, coat, shopping, stick et al flung in a heap on the hall floor. If you live alone don't. I do know we can't all be cat lovers but if you are at least tolerant of them, it is quite wonderful to have an adoring feline greet you and wait for you to lie on the bed so that she/he can lie with you. Be warned: dogs need walking. What happens if you are unwell? I suppose you have to hire a dog-walker. By the way though, a dog is more likely than a cat to sound the alarm if something nasty comes to pass. In an extension to the advice in the post before this one, furnish your kitchen with any make-it-easier tools you can find. The most effective one in my kitchen is the kind and competent lady who comes regularly to 'do' for me. Keep your ears tuned for current use of language. Make sure you know what the unfamiliar words and phrases mean. Above all, don't use them. There is little so toe curling as a person trying to communicate in their own language with people of whose generation she/he  is not. You wouldn't expect a lady, in her ninth decade, to wear torn jeans and a purple streak in her hair, (read 'him', also, for the above)  so be sure to eschew the jargon, too. Likewise, give up the slang/jargon which belongs to your generation. 'Spiffing', 'gosh' and many more such will make you an alien in an unfriendly world. I have just remembered that old age, in so very many ways, turns one back to the earliest years: not much hair, not much colour in it, a propensity to fall over, lack of co-ordination and a threatening sense of insecurity,  and, judging by my almost daily experience, better neither to be seen nor  to be heard. But it's a great life if you can wing it  Bore da
Ps Try to live in a small space so there is always something on hand to hang on to if you fall. I know, I know: you can also bump in to those very things