I’ve recently had a minor operation on my two big toes (don’t ask for details – I’m sure you don’t want/need to know!). It’s given me a new appreciation of how important mobility is. I can still walk about fairly normally, but I can’t put shoes on for any length of time, as the toenails (which I now don’t have – oops, too much information) are very sensitive, and not yet ready to have any pressure put on them.

Thus I haven’t been able to take part in any of the Probus walks over the last six weeks or so – and I’m missing them something rotten! I’m doing the best I can, by going to the lunches that follow the regular walks – but it’s not the same!

Hopefully in another few weeks all will be back to normal. It has to be, as we are approaching autumn with its lower temperatures and more chance of heavy rain, and my sandals are going to look increasingly bizarre!

This experience, and the fact that we are all ageing, got me thinking. If you had to lose one of your six senses, which one would you choose?

• Well I’m already hard of hearing, and find that a bit limiting, especially when groups of people are talking at the same time, or when actors in TV dramas mumble and subtitles are either absent or out of synch.
• I think losing sight must be very difficult to manage, though my sister seems to manage very well with extremely poor vision in just one eye – though she’s got much more will power than I have.
• I guess that it wouldn’t be too bad to lose the sense of smell – though I’m probably thinking of bad smells that it would be OK not to be aware of. Maybe if you couldn’t smell anything, your personal hygiene might deteriorate, and suddenly no-one would want to talk to you? Flowers, perfumes, even cigar smoke do have some importance in a normal life.
• I think taste is pretty important. Food seems to be a very important part of life now. When working, I think I tended to rush meals and get back to work – now I still rush meals, but enjoy them especially when they’re not bland in taste.

The last two senses are much trickier:

• an inability to sense touch would be very isolating personally as well as affecting all your activities of daily living. I guess that you couldn’t pick anything up, though you could drop a lot. And I currently have a bit too much sensitivity to touch!
• A lack of intuition would cause a lot of social upsets. So much of our everyday judgements relies on instinctive awareness of what people around are thinking. But enough about Brexit!

It does make you think!