Injuries are responsible for the discomfort, hospitalisation, disabilities, institutionalisation and even death of many Malaysians in their senior years. A great number of these injuries are preventable and measures to prevent them should be the concern of health practitioners, governments and communities everywhere. Today, we start a series of 12 illustrated stories which follows the whimsical romance of two active seniors who, through lack of prevention, end up in awkward situations and almost miss their rendezvous with love. The series offers insight into some of the personal preventive measures seniors can take to make their environment safer. It was produced by Health Canada to promote a greater awareness of injury prevention for seniors and has been adapted to the Malaysian context by consultant geriatrician Professor Dr Philip Poi.

BEFORE Malaysia converted to metric measures, we used to say that an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure. Now we figure that 50g of prevention is worth about half a kilo of cure. The poetry has suffered but the point is still valid, and I was reminded of that one hot day last year.

Since my wife passed away eight years ago, I have made a habit of walking to our local lake gardens, relaxing on one particular bench off the beaten path, and reading the paper in peace. In July, a woman I didn’t know began sitting on the same bench every day to read.

Hardly a word passed between us but, over time, I began to get the impression that she was there to see me. Her possible interest made me think about her differently. I found myself making sure I was at the garden at exactly the same time every day. Right through August I never missed. Nor did she. Over the next few weeks, I was thinking a whole lot more about her than about the daily news. I decided I would ask her out.

I had been out of the dating scene for a while – 50 years or so – and it took a bit of doing for me to muster the courage to ask her out dancing. There is a community hall not too far from my place where they still bring in a dance band for us seniors once a month. I decided to ask her to come dancing with me the following Saturday night.

But I kept putting it off. Friday rolled around and I still had not thought of a good line to open the conversation. Nervous, I cut the lawn, cleaned the kitchen, and then swept the garage to keep myself busy. In fact, I distracted myself so well that, the first time I looked at the clock, I saw that I was nearly an hour late. She might be gone!

I ran out of the house, leaving my wallet, sunglasses, hearing aid and newspaper on the coffee table. Hoping she had not left yet, I ran most of the way to the garden.

Now I pride myself on being a fairly active senior, but it had been quite a while since I pushed myself this hard. And the day was hot, really hot. The sun beat down on me and, by the time I arrived, I was wiped out. In fact, I was really in trouble.

Fortunately (actually unfortunately) she was still there when I arrived. I dropped down onto the bench exhausted, heaving and gasping for breath. I hadn’t yet learned the great secret of aging – keep active but pace yourself. I was fried.

She leaned over, probably to ask me if I was okay, but I never heard a word she said; my hearing aid was back in the house with my cash and shades! I muttered that I was fine and, to hide the truth (that I couldn’t hear her at all), I waved her off as though I wanted to be alone.

And alone was exactly how I spent Saturday evening. The big first date would have to wait.

Next week: One woman’s poison.

• Sipping pretty
• Jeph of all trades
• Artful hero
• Meet the contenders
• Saving the (real) world
• Capital guides
• For your consideration