the elderly and hygiene

One morning, as usual, was waiting for the bus at the interchange. There was one elderly lady who was waiting for the same bus. Then suddenly, she started clearing her throat. Sounds like a lot of phlegm stuck. Very soon, she was coughing and before I knew it, she was spitting out the phlegm onto the floor. Eeeek!

So, I went over to her and passed her a tissue paper. She looked at me and said, "谢谢". So I thought, "Ahh.. all is well." Then not long after that, she resumed whatever that she was doing, ie. started to spit onto the floor again. Saw that piece of tissue paper on the floor, with her using the tip of her shoe to move the tissue paper around to cover the spit on the ground.

I guess, old habits hard to correct afterall.