When I was a student overseas many years ago, my foster mother there, Mrs Johnson (assigned by JPA) sometimes brought us to Devon, a beautiful place in southwest England to visit her octogenarian mother who lived there on her own. Of course she had nurses coming but I didn’t think they’re stayed with her in the house.

Devon is quite far from where we lived in Essex – on the other side of England.

I shall always remember her 90th birthday party, complete with ninety candles, and the sight of her blowing each and every single candle out!

In Sabah, at least at that time, that kind of thing happening would be very rare.

It struck me that this might be an isolated case, but when Mrs Johnson herself, who is now 79 years old moved to a smaller house a few years ago instead of going to live with her children, I realised that they like to be independent.

Of course, they take excellent care of their health and I can learn a thing or two from them in this area. For example, Mrs Johnson still goes on cycling holidays well into her seventies!

This is not to say the UK doesn’t have care homes, as going to such a home would be unavoidable in certain circumstances.

My point is, by living among them and observing you’d notice differences in attitude and thinking – this could be a clue in answering the question of why Great Britain, once a world superpower is far more advanced than us.

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