Time for a communal approach to growing old

Like attracts like, and I find that just as I spend much of my weekend with my elderly mother, several of my friends are in the same position. Amongst my friends there some who have children and some who don't. Those of us with children may assume that they will follow our example and take an interest in our care, but there are no guarantees. My daughters will have had 18 years care from me (at least), but can I really hold them to reciprocating this as I get older? What of my friends with no children?

Our bodies deteriorate but, if we are lucky, our faculties remain intact. In my mother's case having a lively mind but an ageing body is frustrating. She has a desire for something other than daytime television and yet a body that moves slowly and painfully, limiting what she can do. Sheltered housing is good for keeping safe, but you don't get to choose your neighbours. If you want culture or political debate this may not be forthcoming if your main points of contact are Bingo and carpet bowls.

Perhaps the answer is to create our own communities of friends, buy and adapt properties together where we can use our collective incomes to buy in staff if needed. Places where we can cook together, eat together, swop books, help one another to get out and about and yet have privacy when we need it. A large house divided into flats or a terrace of small houses, modified to create communal areas and individual dwellings. An open source approach to ageing that might take some of the pressure off the generation below. Time for the grey revolution!