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My old friend Bert will be 88 years old next month - that's if he makes it of course. I went round to see him last Friday. He has recently spent two weeks in hospital following an episode that involved significant loss of blood from his back passage. It was all very concerning but the issue seems to have settled down now with no need for surgery. I tried to read the hospital discharge report but I could not make head nor tail of it with all the abbreviations and the obscure medical terms. When I went round, his younger son Philip was there. He is effectively Bert's main carer. The telephone rang and it was Bert's estranged wife Pat at the other end of the line. I spoke with her for a little while before passing the handset across to Philip. A conversation began about her television and the remotes that work it. Many older people do not find it easy to operate televisions these days when it all used to be very easy. There was the on/off button, the ...