Visiting the elderly

has been off the agenda for weeks now. 
I have no elderly relatives in nursing homes. In our family, even extended family, they tend to stay at home unless it is absolutely impossible for them to do otherwise.  The Senior Cat had a cousin who had lost a leg due to severe diabetes. It eventually became impossible for his wife to care for him at home even with outside help.  He lived the remaining months of his life in a nursing home and, while they were kind enough,  his treatment there made us all the more determined to keep the elderly in our clan at home if we can. Nursing homes simply do not have the staff they need.
I had a call from one  yesterday.
   "Cat, I am sorry to bother you but E... needs some shopping done. She says you did it once before and..."
I hate clothes shopping. I put it off as long as possible. Middle Cat claims it looks like that. A good many of my clothes have, over the years, been bought in the local charity shop. You can find perfectly good things there - some of them new.
Part of the problem of course is that I don't go to work. I work from home. I don't need to dress up. Once in a very long while I might need to go to a meeting or appear in court or something like that. I have suitable clothes for such occasions but I do not have many of them.
Now I had already been clothes shopping for the elderly on one occasion this last week. I had bought the Senior Cat two new flannelette shirts. It took me about five minutes to do that and I was out of the shop again.
This was a little more difficult. E... likes to look "nice" - and so she should. I was aware when I saw her just prior to the lock down that she would probably need a couple of things for winter. They need to be washable too. 
I remembered the shop I had last visited for her. It only sells that brand. I could not remember the size. I asked the nursing assistant who had phoned me to check because E...'s eyesight is not good enough to see the labels. I talked to E.... on the phone too and said I would see what I could do in the afternoon as I wanted to go to the "untidy shop".  Ah, if I was going there could I get her some more wool? She is knitting blanket squares. I told her I had a bag of yarn I had been given that she could use. Oh yes, that would be a good thing.  
When I had finished talking to her I started to revise my plans for the afternoon. It was then I had a thought. I sat down at the computer again and looked up the relevant brand on line. I could search by size. I took down some style numbers and the likely colours.  I phoned the shop. I explained the situation. Did they have? I waited while the very helpful woman at the other end had a look. They had one thing but not the other - and she had something else that was similar and might do. She would put them to one side.
I pedalled down to the untidy shop and bought what I needed. I added a couple of balls of yarn for E... that were "on special" and I went to the other shop.  There was nobody else in there. It had been very quiet. The assistant seemed pleased to have anyone at all come in. She showed me what she had put to one side. Yes, that was the right one and that should also do nicely. "And if they don't fit for some reason you can bring them back. Just keep the docket."
Even in the Age of Covid19 this was possible? 
How had I known what to ask for? She laughed when I told her I had looked it up online. 
I took E...'s shopping in on my way home.
    "Go down and see her. She's in the sun room. Just keep your distance."
I took the things in. E... was dozing. She looks much older. So did the other two residents. It has only been weeks.  I wonder how much use she will get out of what I bought for her. Does it matter?
    "Absolutely perfect. I'll look like the Queen," she told me.
Perhaps that is all that matters.