Social care reform

So this is the latest bright idea for the social care reform plan but from what I have heard and seen during the day, there is one question to which I have not seen the answer.
If one of a married couple needs residential care at the end of life, he/she has the option to 'borrow' money from the state to pay for it, and this is then repaid, with interest, after death from the sale of the home. My question is, what about the spouse still living in the house? Are they made homeless so that the house can be sold or is the sale deferred until they too die?
When I was still working, I used to tell colleagues of a similar age that, by the time we were old, the government of the day would have introduced compulsory euthanasia - and they would laugh. Are any of us laughing now at the prospect of what awaits us in our twilight years?

Simple pleasures

This post from Elaine  sits well with my thoughts today. For the past month I have  been  suffering almost continuously  with sciatica,  This has meant dosing myself with copious amounts of pain killers and anti-inflammatories, crawling round the house, struggling to do the minimum possible amount of housework (well, every cloud...!) and shopping and presenting myself weekly at the doctor's in search of a different/better/stronger pain killer. In fact, the receptionist now knows my name, and that's not a good thing.
Worst of all, is  not being able to take the dogs out for their walks. I have to admit that dog walking is sometimes a bit of a drag, especially if the weather is bad but, until now, I had not realised how much I missed it when I could no longer do it.
So, here's the thing. Last evening, sitting on the sofa with a hot water bottle clutched to my thigh to drown the pain; this morning, still discomfort but hardly any pain and suddenly, I am able to walk like a normal, two legged human!
Ever the one to push it, I decide to attempt a short walk with Paddy. Success! I even managed to manoeuvre him .past two cats. Next it's Jake's turn. His waistline has been sneakily expanded lately so we end up doing one of our normal, shorter walks. Altogether, I was out for about 45 minutes; not a marathon and not at a brisk march but, it's walking!
Next, I mowed the grass, spurred on, I have to say, by the fact that Formula One was overwhelming the air waves and I needed an escape route.
And now it's evening and I am sitting typing this, still not in pain and still wondering what has happened but not wishing to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Tomorrow, I could be back to square one but let's hope not. Even if I am, at least the dogs and I had two very pleasant walks and the sun was shining!