How do I help Mum choose a home with fewer stairs without choosing her life for her?
Housing"You keep telling me how I'll get into the flat," Mum said after the viewing. "How will I get out to see anyone?"
Her current second-floor rental costs £980 a month. There is no lift. She has started leaving shopping at the bottom while she takes the first bag upstairs, then goes back down for the rest. I worry about the effort, and she says she worries about it too. A ground-floor place has become available for £1,110, with room for her favourite armchair and a small outside bench.
It is also two miles from the library where she volunteers and from the friend she sees most mornings. We tried the journey at her usual time: two buses and a long wait between them. I offered to drive her on Tuesdays, then remembered my work schedule changes every month. She noticed that hesitation before I did.
She hasn't refused to move. She asked whether we could keep looking closer to her present street, even if it took longer and meant a smaller kitchen. I want to take the stairs seriously without presenting the first ground-floor vacancy as her only sensible choice. What should I help compare next, and what support can I honestly promise while we look?