If you allow people to just talk, nearly everyone will tell you some interesting and often fascinating things. And with elderly people whose memories are intact, every single one of them without exception has some area (or several) of expertise. For those of you still young and frivolous, let me warn you that one aspect of your life that shifts as you age, is the number of hours you’re going to spend visiting people in hospitals and rest homes. I was in my late 40s, leaving a hospital after visiting a 94 year old former ship’s captain. I was annoyed, because I’d spent more time visiting than planned—2 hours more. I at least had the sense to call and cancel a previous appointment from Cap’s room. Thinking about it, I realized that in such situations with old folks, I ALWAYS overstayed my time, and the reason is simply that I am too intrigued with the things tumbling from them to tear myself away. By now I have an expertise on visiting folks in institutions that comes only with practice, and I’ve arrived at some interesting realizations. Here are 2 of them. First, the amount of knowledge and talent locked away and wasting in our institutions must be absolutely staggering. The second revelation is that excursions to such places should be planned like picnics.