Legacy
Legacy
Please note: this post is 139 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only
Last week, NLC volunteer Mike Niles posted about his first meeting with an older neighbour, Mitzi, whom we matched him to through our Love Your Neighbour scheme. It wasn't an easy first session. But as Mike and Mitzi got to know one another, they became friends -- and shared experiences they would never have imagined...
BY MIKE NILES
A mate initially let me know about North London Cares after she'd been to a couple of the Film Nights they host. I had a look around the website and picked out supporting a neighbour as the activity that most suited the help I was looking to give. They managed to match myself and Mitzi together really quickly based on where we live and it didn't take long before I started the visits.
As the visits continued with Mitzi, she began asking me to help her with certain things. First up, creating labels for filing her documents. Next, changing a couple of lightbulbs. Pretty straightforward.
When she caught me playing around on my iPhone while having a cuppa one week, she asked me to explain what I was up to. A week or so before, I'd taught Mitzi how to send a text message on her old-school Nokia mobile, so she was clearly taking an interest in technology.
Now, you'll understand why I spared her the details of i0S and 3G when I tell you Mitzi has never accessed the internet or email. I explained that my phone could search for information across the world -- so she decided to put me to the test.
I searched for film titles, VHS players, famous actors from bygone days, Plan B (of course)... you name it. And from that day forth, my cracked iPhone 3 was affectionately known as "The Magic Box".
With the World Wide Web at my fingertips and other household chores under control, I was quietly confident I'd be able to help with most things Mitzi threw at me. That is, until Nooshy got sick.
Nooshy is Mitzi's cat and this lovely little feline hates my guts. I don't think it's personal -- apparently she hates everyone -- but she's particularly vocal in her distaste for me. The vets put her on some medication that needed to be syringed into her mouth while someone held her still. Step forward cat-lover Mike*.
If Nooshy wasn't fond of me beforehand, she certainly wasn't after I'd forced a bit of plastic in her mouth against her will and released some disgusting looking medicine.
t was quite a busy day that one but the thing that stood out most was probably injecting medicine into Nooshy. She got better so that's the main thing. However, this was a few months ago now and we're still not talking.
*Mike doesn't love cats.
This is the second in a series of blog posts charting Mike's developing relationship with his older neighbour Mitzi (read the first here). If you would like to support one of your neighbours in north London in a similar way -- from odd jobs around the house to a little extra companionship -- please sign up and we'll be in touch soon.