What do you do when your knees are giving out and you don't think you'll be able to walk much longer? If it's my Dad, he builds a concrete ramp over the front steps so he can drive his mobility scooter up into the house. "Me knees aren't real good," he says. What he actually means is that the cartilage has completely worn away and it's just bone rubbing on bone, and the only thing that can fix it is two total knee reconstructions. Dad's been resisting surgery for years. "I'm all original parts," he says, "And that's how I'm gonna stay." But he can see the day coming when his 'original parts' won't be able to get him up the front steps. So being a forward thinking type of bloke he decided to be prepared for when that day comes. Using a shovel that's nearly as old as he is, he dug out the ground for a path leading up to the ramp, shovelled a load of gravel and sand off the trailer to use in the concrete, built the frame to box up the ramp, and mixed the concrete by hand with the aid of a little cement mixer he borrowed off a mate. He poured in barrow load after barrow load of concrete and stamped it down with the shovel until the ramp was complete. Not bad for an 87 year old with two dodgy knees.
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