I got a nice surprise when I responded to my NHS responder alert on Wednesday. It was for Mrs R who I had a lovely conversation with a few weeks ago so was looking forward to checking in on how she was getting on.

She was just as cheerful as the previous time I called - despite having recently broken her foot and looking after her husband with dementia. It was great to find out that her daughter-in-law from Australia will be able to stay with them for a month (after having two weeks quarantine). We spoke a bit about the theatre industry as her daughter has been put on furlough and one of my friends has recently been told she’ll be made redundant from her theatre job.

It was interesting to find out that during World War Two her husband had lived very close to me and turns out we both went to the same school (though probably 50 years apart!). It was nice to hear about some local history and made me feel I should try to find out more about the area I’ve grown up in. GoodGym even came up in the conversation when speaking about learning to use modern technology. I mentioned a GoodGym mission when a Cardiff runner taught an older person how to use her tablet.

After checking Mrs R was okay for shopping and didn’t need any prescriptions picking up, we said goodbye and she said she had really enjoyed the chat, as had I.

*I am a member of Goodgym Cardiff but am currently completing missions in Darlington