Ageing & Growing Old

[rynner2]

This story is not about growing old, but it clearly relates to the previous story, and makes some very strong points that ought to be trumpeted aloud:

No more singing policemen
The police keep abdicating their responsibility: to protect us from violent yobs
Martin Samuel

Surveying the wreckage of another family and its surrounding community, Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, of the Cheshire Constabulary, had no doubt of the way ahead: “I think society is beginning to see the events of today, and the murder of Mr Newlove, as a tipping point where we all have to take action against antisocial behaviour,” he said, sagely.

Not all, Garry. You. Specifically you. You, Garry Shewan, and the officers under your command, have to take action against antisocial behaviour because that is your job. We're done. We're finished. They've got us licked. Garry Newlove tried to take action against antisocial behaviour and he was kicked to death outside his home, as his children watched.

And do you know why? Because it is absolutely impossible for a rational, civilised human being to confront the perpetrators of such a crime, as there is nothing in the mind of the average individual that allows him to challenge such wickedness and violent relish on equal terms. That is why we need law enforcers, with experience and back-up and a mandate to deal with any incident in the manner they see fit. When Mr Newlove was lying on the floor having his brain toed into grisly submission, his horrified family was not looking for society to come around the corner and save him; they were looking for coppers.

Considering that the little gang of human effluence that gathered nightly outside Mr Newlove's house was prepared to commit murder if challenged, then to match the intensity of that blood lust, the 47-year-old sales manager would have had to leave his house armed with a semi-automatic weapon. There were three of them, so he could not have taken them on in a fight or a reasoned discussion, as his death proved. He had previously explored the correct process of involving the police and the local council, but to no effect. Violence and vandalism were endemic in the Station Road North area of Fearnhead in Warrington, to the extent that the community felt under siege. In the ten days before Mr Newlove was murdered, seven local householders were attacked, four on the night that he died.

Just about everything that has passed the lips of the police subsequently has been a mealy-mouthed abdication of responsibility: “Unless we challenge the drinking culture of today,” said Mr Shewan, “this is a tragedy that can happen again and again. We have to send a very strong message that the availability of cheap, strong alcohol is not acceptable.” With this statement, the Assistant Chief Constable involves the Cheshire police in something over which it has no jurisdiction - off-licence sales in the Warrington area - while refusing to admit control over an issue that is entirely its concern - crime committed by known criminals on its watch.

If Cheshire police had put an officer, or two, on duty in Station Road North, just hanging about, breaking up the gangs, identifying troublemakers and dealing with problems as they occurred, Mr Newlove would still be alive. The access to cheap hooch, the absence of parental control, the failings of modern society are all outweighed by that simple fact. Another decent guy is dead because the police found better things to do than protect a vulnerable section of the community.

Mr Newlove had no chance because confronted by such base, compassionless, evil little men, nobody has. In a street fight, while Joe Average is still trying to compute the rules of engagement, whether violence is justified and what the ramifications could be, while he is still trying to overcome feelings of fear and confusion, and adapt to a world in which all the conventions and tenderness of humanity have been abandoned, those who are well versed in violence are stamping on his head until it cracks.

It must be presumed that police officers, although no less decent, are familiar with the territory and better prepared to tackle it. They have the training and the authority of law. Mr Shewan's belief that society will heal itself unaided by the police, therefore, is at best optimistic, and at worst, self-serving and negligent.

The police have lost sight of what matters. On the website of Cheshire police there is a policing plan leaflet headed, “Keeping it local to deliver the service you want”, and beneath it is a picture of grinning bobby miming with an acoustic guitar in a record shop as amused staff look on. This is the service we want, apparently. Not coppers; singers:

“And here he is, all the way from the underpass Fearnhead, please give a warm Warrington welcome to Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan. Good to see you, Garry, and what will you be playing tonight?”

“Well, Jim, I'd like to do a medley of the classics, starting with that old duet, Don't Go Breaking Your Skull, then the Tony Bennett standard I Left My Teeth In San Francisco and finishing with what I'd like to think has become my signature tune, If I Had a Hammer.”

On the website, Inspector Stuart Woodcock, of Warrington South, explains: “The focus these days is more localised with the aim of understanding what the problems are in each neighbourhood, and getting to know the residents as well as the local criminals.” Presumably, given his record, Cheshire police “knew” gang leader Adam Swellings, but did not care enough to make sure he had not returned to his old haunts, to link up with his murdering rabble of toe-rags. Everything that is wrong with modern policing is contained in that one sentence, in which the notions of knowing residents and local criminals are equated. Maybe the inspector could organise a meet-and-greet, to get the communities together. Maybe the singing copper could come along and give everybody a tune.

Or maybe Cheshire police could go back to doing the job, which does not involve knowing murderers but nicking, bullying and frightening them out of their wits. There is a tipping point, all right, but not where the Assistant Chief Constable thinks. If contributory negligence were more than a common law defence, Cheshire police would be beside Mr Newlove's killers in the dock.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 207061.ece

 

[rynner2]

Britain's oldest identical male triplets are still 'sprightly boyos' on their 80th birthday
Last updated at 17:10pm on 18th January 2008

Britain's longest-surviving male triplets will celebrate their 80th birthday tomorrow - and their friends still can't tell them apart.

Identical brothers Idwal, Ivor and Morgan Llewellyn share a deep bond.

Morgan said: "We are as close now as when we were little boys - and we help to keep each other young.

"They wanted to put 240 candles on our cake and we would have no trouble blowing them out. We've still got plenty of puff!"

Idwal, Morgan and Ivor Llewellyn (l-r) prepare to celebrate their joint 80th birthday

Retired industrial chemist Morgan recalls a fellow Welshman spotted him in a bar in Greece and shouted: "Hello Ivor".

Widower Morgan said: "It took me the rest of the fortnight's holiday to convince him I wasn't my brother."

All three have celebrated golden weddings but sadly Morgan's wife Pamela and Ivor's wife Megan have died leaving Idwal's wife Vera as the surviving spouse.

Their mother Emmy had a shock when they were born in 1928 - long before ante-natal scans were available.

She and her miner husband Daniel thought they were having one large baby - instead of three lookalike tiny tots weighing a total of 17lb. :shock:

When Emmy took them to their grandparents' house a mile away, the journey took five hours because so many people wanted to look at them.

At school, the lads got used to being known by the collective name of "Trip" - short for triplets.

And eight decades later, the trio are still known as the Rhondda Triplets in the Welsh valleys where they were born and still live.

Widower Ivor, a former pit surveyor, said: "From the day we were born, our mother was known as the Triplets Mam and we were always called Trip at school.

"We had a specially-made pram and our proud mum dressed us in the same clothes. But we stopped doing that as soon as we were old enough to make our own choices."

But even now when the triplets go shopping separately, they often return to find they have bought the same clothes.

Relatives, including their seven children and 12 grandchildren, are travelling from all over Britain to raise a toast to the sprightly boyos.

Idwal, also a retired surveyor, said: "We have always stayed healthy and are looking forward to our 90th birthday together."

The Llewellyn boys are the second oldest identical triplets in Britain after Yorkshire-born Doris Kingston, Alice Holmes and Gladys Caress, who celebrated their 80th birthday last June.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=509049&in_page_id=1770

Edit: URL resized. P_M

 

[rynner2]

Meet Scotland's oldest tennis champ… George is a smash hit at the age of 87

ONLY days after Scotland's tennis hopes were dashed with Andy Murray's early exit from the Australian Open, devotees of the game have finally found something to cheer about.

The new hero may be more than four times Murray's age, but he has achieved something that has eluded the British number one – victory in the world men's tennis doubles, the age-equivalent of grand slam events.

If Murray is disheartened at failing to win at the very highest level, he might take a few tips from Scotland's latest champion, 87-year-old George Stewart.

The sprightly El-Alamein veteran has just returned home after triumphing in New Zealand with his doubles partner Gerry Ells. The pair, who have a combined age of 174, beat the favourites in the doubles final for the over-85s at the Super-Seniors World Championships, organised by the International Tennis Federation.

A grandfather and former lieutenant-colonel, Mr Stewart is what you might describe as a "late developer". He only started playing competitive tennis when he was 75.

Speaking at his home in Scone, Perthshire, the widower said he was delighted with the victory, despite crashing out in the first round of the singles competition where he was ranked fifth in the world.

"After taking up tennis in my late 50s for health and fitness after a lifetime involved in skiing, it is amazing to think that I am a world champion.

"I thought I would give it a go and was very unsuccessful when I started. But I stuck at it and got better and better.

"There are veterans' tournaments all over the world, almost every week of the year, and I play a lot, really using the tournaments as an opportunity for travel and a holiday as well."

The Super-Seniors World Championships, which were held in Christchurch, New Zealand, in December attracted 345 competitors from 24 nations. Last year, he won the doubles title in Turkey with Gerry, but also made the singles final.

The retired forester, who served with the Royal Artillery during the Second World War, said: "I went to the world championships last year and finished runner-up in the singles, which was sheer luck.

"I still play reasonably well but it's a high standard. This year I went into the singles with no expectations and promptly got knocked out in the first round.

"But in the doubles, Gerry and I made the final and we played the number one pair and beat them 6-4, 6-4, which was a great win. I was so pleased to defend our title, especially because we beat such worthwhile opponents."

A regular at Perth's Kinnoull Tennis Club as well as Perth Tennis Club, he continues to hone his racquet skills. Brought up in Glasgow, he said he was proud to still be competing at a high level despite his advancing years.

"The very fact that the championships are run by the International Tennis Federation, whose other responsibility is the Davis Cup, shows they are a big thing.

"'Veterans' tennis is a very big sport on a world basis, even if it is still to really take off in Britain."

While most octogenarians look to crosswords and bowls to fill their time, Mr Stewart is already planning the defence of his title.

Andrew Pennycook, a friend and secretary of Perth Tennis Club, described him as an "absolute gent" with a steely determination. "He was a very good skier and … as you can imagine … he's extremely fit.

"This is like winning a grand slam for the older generation. George is a member of two tennis clubs in Perth and plays a couple of times a week in the summer months. Perth is the oldest club in Scotland, so it's nice to have one of the oldest guys playing with us."

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Mee ... 3695661.jp

I might take up tennis.... when I'm old enough!

 

[rynner2]

Everything comes to she who waits...

Tribute to a forgotten 'girls' army
By Richard Alleyne
Last Updated: 2:14am GMT 28/01/2008

For so long they have been the forgotten army of women who toiled the fields and forests through two world wars.

Now the Land Girls and Lumber Jills who fed and warmed Britain when their men went off to fight are finally to be honoured.

After a long campaign, the surviving members of the Women's Land Army and Women's Timber Corps, as they were officially known, are to receive a special badge recognising their efforts.

At their peak in 1943, they numbered more than 84,000. Now there are thought to be little more than 20,000. The move is a triumph for those who have campaigned for formal acknowledgement.

Dorothy Taylor, 79, who has petitioned the Government for more than 30 years, said: "It is more about the recognition of our efforts as part of the war and the work we did than the badge itself.

"Sadly, many former land girls have now passed on. We are literally a dying breed."

Wearing a uniform that included green jumpers and ties, brown breeches and brown felt hats, the Land Girls were often pictured smiling and joking as they worked in glorious sunshine.

But this image hid a reality of gruelling and monotonous work often undertaken by homesick raw recruits from industrial towns living miles from relatives and friends.

Their tasks included back-breaking stints of digging ditches, ploughing fields and harvesting crops. Lumber Jills provided wood for the war effort, felling trees, sawing timber and sharpening saws.

Despite the long hours, poor conditions and low pay, there was a strong sense of patriotism and camaraderie.

The first group of veterans will receive their badges at a ceremony to be held later this year. The badge will not be given to the relatives of the deceased, except for those who died after Dec 6 last year.

Hilda Gibson, 83, from Huddersfield, who spent two years in the Land Army, first working in pest control in Lincolnshire, then on a poultry farm in Norfolk, said: "They were men's jobs we took on, they were heavy jobs and hard work. I wanted a job that was important and I felt that it was."

Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, said: "This badge is a fitting way to pay tribute to their determination, courage and spirit in the face of adversity."

Application forms are available by writing to Mr Dermot McInerney, Defra, 5E Millbank, c/o 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR or by calling 08459 335577 or online at www.defra.gov.uk/farm/working/wla/

http://tinyurl.com/3c8dkr

 

[rynner2]

This is an article literally about growing old, but it should be of vital interest to all age groups:

Sedentary life 'speeds up ageing'

Leading a sedentary lifestyle may make us genetically old before our time, a study suggests.
A study of twins found those who were physically active during their leisure time appeared biologically younger than their sedentary peers.

The researchers found key pieces of DNA called telomeres shortened more quickly in inactive people. It is thought that could signify faster cellular ageing.

The King's College London study appears in Archives of Internal Medicine.

An active lifestyle has been linked to lower rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

However, the latest research suggests that inactivity not only makes people more vulnerable to disease, but may actually speed up the ageing process itself.

The King's team studied 2,401 white twins, asking them to fill out questionnaires on their level of physical activity, and taking a blood sample from which DNA was extracted.

They particularly focused on telomeres, the repeat sequences of DNA that sit on the ends of chromosomes, protecting them from damage.

As people age, their telomeres become shorter, leaving cells more susceptible to damage and death.

Examining white blood cells from the immune system in particular, the researchers found that, on average, telomeres lost 21 component parts - called nucleotides - every year.

But men and women who were less physically active in their leisure time had shorter leukocyte telomeres compared to those who were more active.

The average telomere length in those who took the least amount of exercise - 16 minutes of physical activity a week - was 200 nucleotides shorter than those who took the most exercise - 199 minutes of physical activity a week.

The most active people had telomeres of a length comparable to those found in inactive people who were up to 10 years' younger, on average.

Direct comparison of twins who had different levels of physical activity produced similar results.

Impact of stress

The researchers suggest that physically inactive people may be more vulnerable to the damage caused to cells by exposure to oxygen, and to inflammation.

Stress is also thought to have an impact on telomere length, and the researchers suggest people who exercise regularly may help to reduce their stress levels.

Writing in the journal, the researchers said: "Our results show that adults who partake in regular physical activity are biologically younger than sedentary individuals.

"This conclusion provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potential anti-aging effect of regular exercise."

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Jack Guralnik, of the US National Institute on Aging, said more work was needed to show a direct relationship between ageing and physical activity.

He said: "Persons who exercise are different from sedentary persons in many ways, and although certain variables were adjusted for in this analysis, many additional factors could be responsible for the biological differences between active and sedentary persons.

"Nevertheless, this article serves as one of many pieces of evidence that telomere length might be targeted in studying aging outcomes."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7212698.stm

 

[escargot]

Here you go, then -

Over-70s only! Manchester opens playground for oldies

Wednesday January 30, 2008

Guardian Unlimited

The UK's first playground specifically for older people has opened near Manchester.
The "older people's play area" in Dam Head Park, Blackley, in north Manchester, features six pieces of equipment - featuring the slogan "Never too old to play" - designed to provide gentle exercise.

The playground, which officially opened yesterday after being tested by locals aged over 70, cost £15,000 to build.

Established by the Dam Head Residents Association, it includes equipment for upper body exercise, training leg muscles, hip exercise, and stomach and leg training. Some of the equipment is accessible to wheelchair users.

The equipment was installed after Peggy Yuill, treasurer of the residents association, saw a newspaper article about a similar facility in Germany. Funding was provided from Northwards Housing, which runs the local estate.

Gordon Lishman, director general of the charity Age Concern, said the playground could help older people maintain good physical and mental health.

He said: "A well-designed fitness park could be a great way to encourage older people to exercise and socialise.

"Exercising a few times a week can make a big difference to someone's health and doesn't have to be strenuous.

"Equally, socialising with others can help to alleviate feelings of loneliness and depression.

"Many older people aren't exercising enough and we are really keen for local authorities to offer a range of accessible and affordable facilities that promote physical activity in later life."

 

[rynner2]

This character doesn't need a play park...!

Joe Brown: jellied eels and hedgehog hair
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 31/01/2008

Joe Brown, one of Britain's first pop stars, has just kicked off his 50th-anniversary tour. He talks to Helen Brown about being supported by the Beatles, the day he upset Johnny Cash, and how he was almost in the car crash that killed Eddie Cochran

Back in the day when the Beatles were a warm-up act, a shy, young George Harrison sneaked into one of the headliner's dressing rooms to have a cheeky photograph of himself snapped with the star's guitar.

The six-string in question belonged to Joe Brown, voted the "Top UK Vocal Performer" in 1962 by the NME, and this year celebrating 50 years in showbiz. Although, as I discovered when I went to meet him backstage on his nigh-on never-ending tour schedule, it turns out he wouldn't have liked the thought of young wannabes messing around with his gear.

As I head down the concrete corridors of Croydon's Fairfield Hall, the sound of cockney cursing bounces irascibly off the walls. A stage hand scurries past balancing coffee on top of a huge stack of Very Best of Joe Brown CDs. There's a predictable clatter of tumbling plastic, and then the 67-year-old musician paces into view, raking tense fingers through his trademark hedgehog hairdo.

"Sorry, lahhve," he says, "I've just had a nightmare getting here. As soon as I get on to the dual carriageway for a gig, I'm sure somebody radios ahead for them four nuns in the Mini to pull out." The self-billed "cheeky chappie" blows off more steam until his PR proffers a herbal remedy.

His daughter Sam, best known for her soulful 1988 hit Stop!, smiles apologetically. She explains that her dad's perfectionist showmanship can make the pre-gig atmosphere rather stormy. It's obvious he wants my interview over so that he can get on with the crucial sound-checks. "Nobody should pay to see a guy smooch on stage and spend hours tuning up. You've gotta be professional." He lights a roll-up. "Dad's got a real working-class work ethic," says Sam.

"I usually do two 60-date tours a year," he grins. "It keeps me active."

Brown is the original cockney rockabilly, the first real English guitar hero. George Harrison wasn't the only successor to acknowledge a debt to his home grown rock and roll. Keith Richards first saw him at Crayford Town Hall in 1962 and admits: "He was there before any of us. Great player. Much respect." Mark Knopfler describes him as "the genuine article - a bona fide British rocker and born entertainer whose roots go back beyond the UK skiffle boom to music hall, early folk music and the Mississippi Delta."

And, as a new generation of British rock musicians such as Pete Doherty, Jamie T and Arctic Monkeys embrace the vernacular knees-up beat of Albion, you'll see an increasing number of young faces among Brown's audience, singing along to songs about Henry VIII and jellied eels.

etc

http://tinyurl.com/3b3l5x

link to a greatest hits medley
http://del.interoute.com/?id=8958d0a4-c ... ery=stream

 

[rynner2]

..but this great-gran is leading the quiet life:

Home alone, in a 30-apartment complex
Simon de Bruxelles

From her window, Mavis Ward can see seven beaches and a car park that is empty — apart from her silver Ford Ka.

The view she knew about when she bought her two-bedroom flat in a new development in Newquay. What she was not expecting was to have the building to herself for most of the time.

Mrs Ward, an 83-year-old great- grandmother, is the only full-time resident of the Horizons building, a complex of 30 apartments overlooking the popular Cornish resort. Every other flat was bought by Londoners as a second home or to rent out as a holiday let.

Not only does she not have to fight for a parking space, she has a free run of the gymnasium, swimming pool, manicured roof garden and the sauna. In the summer she expects to share with seasonal visitors but in the winter she has the place to herself.

When she bought the £300,000 flat it was to let out as a holiday home to provide her with income. Instead, she decided to live in it herself.

Mrs Ward said: “I can see seven beaches and the sea and the whole of Newquay is laid out before me. Who can blame me for wanting to live out my end days here?”

In addition to the facilities, to which all the residents contribute — though most rarely use them — there is a full-time handyman on call in case she needs the sink unblocked or a shelf putting up.

She now enjoys keeping fit on the treadmill, riding solo in the lift and taking in the panoramic views of the town’s sandy beaches and green spaces.

Mrs Ward, who is divorced and has three daughters, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, said: “When I bought the flat and moved in I had no idea it would just be me. At first I wandered around thinking, ‘Where on earth is everyone?’.

“I was delighted when I realised I was the only permanent resident. I decided to move in the first place because I wanted some space. It’s a busy town and I was sick of the hubbub.

“Now I’m lady of the manor. I really can do as I please. I’ve got a gym with a swimming pool, treadmill, rowing machine, exercise bike and sauna. I never have to fight for a parking space and if I need work done the maintenance man is right there.

“Sometimes I don’t see people for weeks. When the owners do come back and use their flats at the weekends they come and say hello and check I’m OK. I think people see me as one of the fittings of the place — I’m like a permanent feature.”

Despite being the only full-time resident, Mrs Ward is rarely lonely and the sophisticated security system means she feels safe.

Two million people in Britain — 5 per cent — now own a second home, according to the Office for National Statistics. The number of second homes is 2.6 million, an increase of 300,000 in five years.

In Devon and Cornwall an estimated one in ten houses is a second home. In some particularly desirable resorts, such as Rock, the proportion can be 50 per cent or higher. The number of second homes that stand empty for much of the year has been blamed for the death of local pubs, post offices and schools.

A recent survey found that there were most second homes in London, followed by Birmingham, Snowdonia and Manchester.

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/l ... 365818.ece


Breaking news... Breaking news... Breaking news...

Rumours are increasing that rynner is about to retire!

Can this be true?

Watch this space....

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

...

Breaking news... Breaking news... Breaking news...

Rumours are increasing that rynner is about to retire!

Can this be true?

Watch this space....

Well, Spring always comes a month, or two early down there in West Penwith, so time to kick back and start waxing the surfboard.

 

[rynner2]

An article too long to reproduce in full, but worth a read if you like football, and especially if you don't!

Football is for everybody – even 62-year-old grannies
A lifelong aversion to sport crumbled one day at Stamford Bridge when Joanna Trollope was researching her new novel. Now she can’t get enough of the beautiful game

As far as I was concerned, anything to do with games at school was the big dread. In the 1950s there were hearty games periods every single afternoon, unless the pitches were three feet deep in snow, and this prospect induced in me, from late morning onwards, a daily dose of sickening funk.

Running about – hockey and tennis – left me purple in the face with misted-up (NHS) specs and exasperated teammates. Faced with the gym or the athletics field, my body (5ft 9in by the age of 12) behaved like a broken umbrella stuck in a tree, all angles, stiffness and panic.

............

And then – well, then I got older. One of the truly liberating joys of growing older is that some aspects of life that used to cripple one with some form of distress just mellow peacefully into simply not mattering. I discovered that running about badly and humiliatingly at 12 had somehow segued into running about (in much the same way) rather well at 62 as I played in goal for my football-mad, eager-to-score five-year-old grandson.

Wishing to play with – and please – Alexander led quietly, to my surprise, to an interest in what held this bright and original little boy so in thrall that his bedroom walls were completely covered with pictures of footballers, mostly from Liverpool FC, torn out of Match! magazine and stuck up enthusiastically and haphazardly with Blu-Tack.

Looking round, I also noticed that a great many of my cleverer friends were not only seriously interested in football but had been so all their lives, and that this was no cult affectation since these were people much keener on displaying intellectual and creative prowess than anything remotely social or even athletic.

I started to look at the sports pages of newspapers, and I realised that much of the writing was not just extremely good but also – right up my street – psychological. And I began to think that if I was going to lay claim to writing fiction that really reflected contemporary life, I was going to have, to some degree anyway, to include football.

I have always researched my novels – a habit, I suppose, left over from writing historical fiction. For the current book, Friday Nights, which is primarily about modern female friendship, I spent a wet Sunday two years ago walking the streets of Fulham, in west London, looking for the right houses and settings for my characters; and on my way westwards, I passed Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea FC.

I must have passed it hundreds of times in my life, without really taking it in. That day, however, I stood on the immense forecourt, under my umbrella, and gazed at it, and it came to me that one of my male characters, in his pursuit of one of the single mothers in the book, might well seek to ingratiate himself with her by taking her eight-year-old son to a football game. And if he was going to do that, then I had to do it too.

Lady Luck was on duty. Bradley Rose, driver supreme for my paper-back publisher, Transworld, has been going to Stamford Bridge since he was seven. He was sent, in the care of his older brother, to stand at the Shed end, since their father considered the family’s local ground, Highbury, where Arsenal used to play, too dangerously violent then for a small boy.

I applied to Brad. Would he take me, just the once, for the sake of fictional accuracy? I envisaged an interesting afternoon with my notebook, which would neatly provide me with the authentic details I needed for chapter eight, all done and dusted in a few hours.

Brad was admirable. He agreed, gave me just enough guidance to make sure I behaved properly in a football situation and then left me to it. I had been given a seat normally occupied by his brother David – thank you, David – in the Mat-thew Harding stand, and was going to be surrounded by a gang of the Rose brothers’ football mates. “You might”, Brad said calmly, “find the language a bit fresh.” He bought me a chicken pie and a lime and soda and led me up a series of sternly stewarded staircases and passages, on and on, higher and higher and out – into the stadium.

I could not believe it. Even now, writing about it, I can feel that first surge of excitement and amazement at the size of the thing, the space, the greenness, the number of people. Apart from some concerts at Wem-bley, I’ve never been with so many organised people, 42,000 of them, already braying and bellowing away in all those crude, seductive chants that give you, in these complicated cultural days, such a glorious, simple feeling of belonging.

The game itself was eye-opening. Seeing a whole pitch (not just televi-sion camera slices), witnessing the speed and deftness of the players, the atmosphere – all of that has been described so often and so well by so many that all I need to say is that I was bowled over. I couldn’t believe how gripped I was, nor how dismayed I was when it was over, even though we (yes, I was an instant convert to Chelsea) won (2-1 against Portsmouth).

I went home on the kind of high remembered from really good exam results, and lay in bed reading the programme, detail by detail. I thought of Alexander’s bedroom walls with absolute empathy.

....................................

I suppose that the first reason is that I am at last free to appreciate sport because nobody expects me to participate in it – except small and forgiving grandchildren – and so I can, for the first time in my life, sink into enjoying it. I can be deeply interested in it from my mental and physical armchair; there is nothing, praise be, to be proved athletically any more. As with most things, I can probably achieve much more with my head than with the rest of me – for example, I now find I read the football press almost every day, and miss it during the summer holiday. 8)

The second reason goes back to that first dose of football chanting two years ago. We live – often for excellent reasons – in a world of insisted-upon tolerance and verbal restraint, and although this is commendable in many (if slightly priggish) ways, it is a wonderful relief to have an area of life where it is permissible, even encouraged, to be intensely, unashamedly partisan.

A third reason is the human connection. There is no other arena that I can think of where you can, so naturally and safely and unaffectedly, be with such a vast body of other people, of every class and caste, of every age and type, all united by enthusiasm for something that, although it is immensely subtle and skilful, offers no opportunity for the intellectual snobbery that can afflict, say, music or the theatre. And it’s not sexist, either. I’ve noticed a lot of women, of all ages, at games, looking both involved and perfectly at home.

And then there is the game itself, played by beautifully athletic, supremely fit young men – you’d have to be the most chronic of old misanthropes not to rejoice in that. Yet – and this just adds to the depth of football’s allure – even the fittest and the best can’t play for ever. Football is for young men, and thus there is a poignancy and an intensity in watching them play in their physical prime.

I wouldn’t have felt all this, younger. Nor, before the horror of Hillsborough, would I have had the opportunity – a football stadium was no place to take your child or your girlfriend or your granny.

There is often a – regrettable – tendency to think that the past offered life in a purer, less debased form; but in this instance, I couldn’t disagree more. Football and I just had to be ready for each other. It may have taken nearly 50 years – but it was worth the wait.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 510767.ece

 

[stu neville]

Chelsea could have done with her playing centre-forward, yesterday. Doubt she'd have done much worse .

 

[Timble2]

Grumpy old men behaving badly.

By the time you've hit fifty you know what's bad for you...

Over-55s 'causing holiday havoc'
Older British holidaymakers are causing the sort of trouble normally associated with the younger generation, the Foreign Office has said.
Over-55s are endangering their health by drinking too much alcohol and trying out dangerous sports such as bungee jumping on overseas trips, it warns.

Excessive drinking has led to abusive behaviour from some fifty-somethings, according to the Foreign Office.

Over-eating and over-drinking has also resulted in drownings, it added.

The Foreign Office said recent surveys showed 20% of 55-plus holidaymakers try activities they would not contemplate at home.

In addition, nearly two in three admitted not taking out travel insurance on their last trip overseas, and more than half of older holidaymakers drink more alcohol abroad than they would in the UK.

Rania Kossiori, British vice-Consul in Rhodes, Greece, said: "Most problems we see with the older generation of Brits arise from over-consumption of alcohol and food.

"Drinking and staying too long in the sun can make you ill, and undertaking strenuous activity like going swimming or snorkelling after a large meal can put you in unnecessary danger. People have drowned this way."

"After one too many drinks people can become abusive, for example shouting at resort staff," she went on.

"We've also had instances where a few too many drinks has led older guests to over-estimate their strength, for example going swimming in bad weather conditions, which has ended in tragedy," she added.

Foreign Office Minister Meg Munn said: "The Foreign Office is all for over-55s having fun on holiday, but it is crucial they make some simple preparations to help avoid encountering difficulties whilst abroad.

"Acquiring adequate travel insurance is a must, and health scares abroad can be avoided by visiting a GP and having a health check before embarking on a holiday."

Saga, a holiday company catering for older people, said: "It's a misnomer that only the young can have new experiences on holiday or take part in exciting and often rigorous activities.

"Just because you're over 50 does not mean you have to put your surf-board into storage or hang up your salopettes."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/7305669.stm

Published: 2008/03/20 03:26:36 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

 

[escargot]

On the Today programme this morning they were called 'Saga louts'! :lol:

 

[Pete Younger]

more than half of older holidaymakers drink more alcohol abroad than they would in the UK.

Well there's a surprise, if you can't let your hair down on holiday, what's the point?

 

[JamesWhitehead]

We've let our hair down, we've let our skin down, we've let our arses down and best of all we've depleted the nieces' inheritance!

Now where next? :devil:

 

[rynner2]

Sooner or later, the Grim Reaper gets us all:

People photographed before and after death:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/galle ... =333325401

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

I tried, but I only got about half way through those

 

[rynner2]

Ah well, this story is, I think, a bit happier...

Man seeks drinking pal for father

A man who is afraid his father could be lonely has advertised for a drinking companion for him - at £7 an hour - and there is no shortage of likely helpers.

Jack Hammond, 88, of Cadnam, Hampshire, will now meet candidates who answered the 25p advertisement placed in a local post office by his son Michael.

Mr Hammond used to drink with a neighbour in Barton-on-Sea but is now in a nursing home near his son Michael.

Michael Hammond said he had been "absolutely staggered" by the response.

'Best job'

"When you put an advertisement in a post office for 25p you don't expect anything to come of it, so the response has been amazing," he said.

"But there must be hundreds and hundreds of people in the same position needing some company.

"Dad will be going out with some of the candidates next week but we are going to do it properly, as he is vulnerable."

Mr Hammond added: "It's a bit difficult at this age to go out to a pub on his own. He is hoping to find a gentleman who is not too bombastic and enjoys a nice pint.

"Three of the responses came from the shop advertisement and four from the publicity but we are hoping for more."

Mr Hammond said the ideal candidate would be a man who can talk about his father's career in engineering, or his father's passion for golf.

He said women would be out of the question as Mr Hammond senior would feel uncomfortable going to a pub with a woman he did not know.

"It's got to be the best job in the world," he added.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hamp ... 328410.stm

Cynics may ask whether Mr. H. junior drinks with his dad, but I think it's great he cares about his dad this way.

 

[rynner2]

Another Booze and Age story...

Want to see your 100th birthday? Be like the French and drink red wine

Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Saturday, 5 April 2008

In the battle of the centenarians, it is an unequal contest. France and Britain have near identical populations, yet today 20,000 French citizens are aged 100-plus against 11,000 people in Britain.

The increase in the very old is happening across the Western world but the number in France has soared, according to the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies in Paris, which published the figures.

They show French centenarians have risen from 3,760 in 1990 to 20,115 in 2008, a more than five-fold increase. In Britain, centenarians are the fastest growing section of the population, yet we still trail our continental cousins. What is the secret of the French success?

France still holds the record for the world's longest lived person – Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 aged 122 years, five months and 14 days. She attributed her longevity to a diet rich in olive oil, regular glasses of port and an ability to "keep smiling".

With her keen interest in good food and drink and zest for life she was the perfect advertisement for the health-giving properties of la vie française. Despite the French passion for cream, eggs and foie gras, le digestif after a meal, and an addiction to Gitanes cigarettes, they have half our obesity levels, less than half our death rate from heart disease and lower rates of cancer in women (but not men). They play boules and cycle, even in their dotage, which keeps them active enough to enjoy lunch. And lunch they take very seriously – a proper, sit-down, three- or four-course meal from an early age.

The biggest puzzle is how the land of Escoffier, with its love of rich food and creamy sauces, has managed to avoid an epidemic of heart disease. The French and British diets contain similar quantities of fat, at around 40 per cent of total calories, yet French rates of heart disease in the under-75s are less than half those in Britain.

Kay Tee-Khaw, professor of clinical gerontology at the University of Oxford, said: "France's high number of centenarians is interesting. A major cause of death in middle age is heart disease. Life expectancy from age 65 is substantially better in France, because they have substantially lower rates of heart disease. It is better in Crete and Greece, too.

"We know this must be due to lifestyle because the time trends are so clear. There have been massive changes [in longevity] and it has happened so fast it must be due to lifestyle but we have not been so good at understanding what aspects. I think red wine has something to do with it."

The low rate of heart disease in France, despite its rich diet, is the French paradox which has puzzled medical researchers for decades. US scientists have suggested the explanation could be the French habit of eating everything, but less of it.

Like Britain, the country has a north-south divide, with cream cheese and cider dominating menus in Normandy and fish, fruit and vegetables and olive oil rather than butter featuring more prominently close to the Mediterranean. Death rates fall as the consumption of fruit and vegetables increases.

Then there is the wine. There have been rapid increases in wine sales in the UK in the past decade, yet British consumption at 27 litres a head per year still has a long way to go to match the French at 64 litres. Despite drinking in greater quantities, the French drink more moderately, with meals, as opposed to binge drinking in Britain.

Red wine is thought to be good for combating heart disease. But Roger Corder, professor of experimental therapeutics at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and author of The Wine Diet, believes the explanation is more complex. He observed that the Gers region close to the Pyrénées in the south had twice the national average of men aged over 90.

When he analysed the Madiran wine, made with at least 40 per cent Tannat grapes grown in the region, he found it had among the highest levels in any wine of a plant chemical, procyanadin, which has a beneficial effect on the blood vessels.

"The wines to look for containing high levels of procyanadins are those with firm tannins made in the traditional way. It is not just about Madirans. There are plenty of choices out there."

He added: "But it is not just about wine. The French spend more on food and eat better quality and more variety. It is about a lifetime's habit. Cut out all this dieting nonsense and just eat healthily and exercise. The French join cycle clubs – and then go for fantastic lunches."

The French recipe for a longer life

The Germans have a saying: "Happy like God in France". A modern version might be "Happy like a wrinkly in France".

The explosion in the numbers of very elderly French is something of a mystery to the French themselves. And a bit of a worry. By mid-century, at the current rate, there could be 170,000 French centenarians.

The best guess of French researchers is that there is something in the French climate and diet which is conducive to long life. But climate and diet have been roughly the same for years. The proliferation of French centenarians, three quarters of them women, is explained by advances in medical treatment, and the generally lavish provision of good-quality healthcare since the 1940s.

A decade ago, American researchers discovered something that they called the "French Paradox". French people lived longer and were healthier even though they consumed many things – especially large quantities of red wine – which were supposed to inflict bodily harm.

The true paradox of French longevity is more complex than that. It is a series of interlocking paradoxes.

First, there are regional differences. Expectation of life is higher in the south of France than in the north, and especially high in the south-west. If you truly wish to live to be 100, you could try the red wine, olive oil, poultry, fish and haricots of the typical French south-western diet.

Secondly, longevity is supposed to be a sign of contentment. Yet polls and anecdotal evidence suggest the French are a naturally cantankerous and discontented people.

Finally,the French are no longer eating and drinking like the French. Medical researchers worry they have moved to a more Anglo-Saxon diet: more fat, more processed foods, more beer.

Perhaps there will not be a great great granny-boom in mid-century France after all.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 04902.html
A few months ago I switched to using olive oil, and eating more fruit and veg. I also try to get regular execise, and hills that used to make me puff I now take in my stride!

I even have a bottle of red in the house, so far unopened.... 8)

 

[rynner2]

Fiesta driver, 93, wrecks two Porsches
Last Updated: 1:26am BST 15/04/2008

If you are going to have an accident after 76 years of incident-free motoring, you might as well do it in style - though that was the last thing on Jack Higgs's mind as he hurtled towards two Porsches.

The 93-year-old, who had received not so much as a parking ticket since he began driving at 17, caused £60,000 worth of damage to the two sports cars after losing control of his Ford Fiesta.

Mr Higgs, a retired Pentecostal minister, was parking next to a Porsche showroom when his car shot backwards.

First, his 13-year-old hatchback hit a gleaming red Carrera II which acted as a ramp, causing Mr Higgs's car to flip over on to a silver Porsche 911 parked alongside. :shock:

Staff in the showroom ran outside to be confronted by a scene of wreckage and Mr Higgs hanging upside down by his seatbelt in his overturned car.

Dave Coombs, a dealer at the showroom in Penarth, near Cardiff, said on Monday: "It was amazing. We could hardly believe our eyes at the damage.

"He managed to get himself free and walked out without a scratch. But the Porsches were a real mess.

"There was glass and bits of broken metal everywhere, but Jack is such a gentleman he asked for a sweeping brush to help clear them up. 8)

"But we walked him to his home for a cup of sweet tea while the breakdown trucks arrived to tow away the cars.

"I'm not too concerned about the cars - what matters is that Jack survived which is incredible considering his great age."

The widower is well-known to staff at the garage, RS Porsche, because he lives next door.

He is allowed to drive across the forecourt to reach his garage almost every day - something he has been doing for the last 45 years without any hitches.

He cannot explain how he managed to lose control of his car and smash into the pristine Porsches on this occasion.

One of the cars was a write-off while the other was badly damaged and will need extensive repairs.

Both cars were privately owned and were in the garage for servicing. The cost of Mr Higgs's first accident in 76 years was put at £60,000 - which will be met by his insurance company.

His blue Fiesta, worth £600, was also a write-off but it will not matter because the pensioner has decided to quit the roads.

Mr Higgs, who has driven more than half-a-million miles in his lifetime, said on Monday: "I can't understand it, nothing like this has happened to me before.

"I've been driving since I was 17, have a clean licence and have never even picked up so much as a parking ticket.

"I just don't know what happened except that I lost control as I was reversing and suddenly I had hit the cars.

"The next thing I knew I was hanging upside down in my car thanking my lucky stars I was still alive."

Mr Higgs was given the all-clear after being checked over by paramedics.

He added: "It was a miracle I got out alive and I put it down to the power of prayer and God looking after me.

"But that's it - the end of my driving career, I'm never driving again. I'll have to get lifts or go on the bus in future."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... che115.xml

Is this a case of old age catching up with him, or just another motoring statistic (the longer you drive, the more chance of being involved in an accident) - or a bit of both?

At least he survived; there was a case a few years ago where an elderly female motorist (normally very active and alert) managed to get into reverse by mistake, and her car drove off the back of a ferry, with fatal consequences...

 

[rynner2]

The Times adds:

....
Mr Higgs, of Penarth, near Cardiff, said that his driving career was now over. “I must have the longest no-claims bonus in history,” he said. “Until now.” 8)

 

[escargot]

He cannot explain how he managed to lose control of his car and smash into the pristine Porsches on this occasion.

Sometimes, you just get the devil in you.

 

[rynner2]

World's oldest person set to turn 115
By Katie Franklin and agencies
Last Updated: 1:21pm BST 19/04/2008

American Edna Parker, the world's oldest known person, will celebrate her 115th birthday on Sunday, defying mind-boggling odds.

Her achievement was recognised by Guinness World Records last August after the death of a Japanese woman four months her senior.

There are only 75 people alive - 64 women and 11 men - that are 110 or older, according to the Gerontology Research Group, a California-based organisation that verifies reports of extreme ages.

Mrs Parker, who was born April 20, 1893, has been a widow since her husband Earl died of a heart attack in 1938.

She has also outlived her two sons - Clifford and Earl Jr - but is far from lonely with five grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 13 great-great grandchildren to keep her company.

"We don't know why she's lived so long," said Don Parker, her 59-year-old grandson.

"But she's never been a worrier and she's always been a thin person, so maybe that has something to do with it."

Scientists who study longevity hope that Mrs Parker can help unlock the secrets to long life.

Two years ago, researchers from the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University took a blood sample from Mrs Parker for the group's DNA database of supercentenarians.

Her DNA is now preserved with samples of about 100 other people who reached the 110-year milestone, and whose genes are being analysed, said Dr Tom Perls, an aging specialist who directs the project.

"They're really our best bet for finding the elusive Holy Grail of our field - which are these longevity-enabling genes," he said.

On Friday, a birthday party for Mrs Parker was held at her nursing home in Shelbyville, Indiana.

A smiling Mrs Parker looked on as relatives and guests released 115 balloons into the sky to celebrate her milestone.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... old119.xml

I've always been a worrier, and I've never been thin...

 

[rynner2]

Man seeks drinking pal for father

A man who is afraid his father could be lonely has advertised for a drinking companion for him - at £7 an hour - and there is no shortage of likely helpers.

Son solves his lonely father’s drink problem with a pub-visit job share
Will Pavia

Scores applied for the position and after a series of interviews, two men were found to be up to the job of having a pint with Jack Hammond, a genial elderly gentleman in need of a regular drinking partner.

A retired doctor and a former military man have stepped into the breach and will now accompany Mr Hammond, 88, to the Compass Inn several nights a week, to discuss current affairs and military history.

It never appeared that there would be any difficulty filling the vacancy, after Mr Hammond’s son Mike advertised in a local post office in Hampshire for a man to take his father to the pub. He offered £7 an hour, plus expenses.

Mr Hammond, a gregarious gentleman, had never before lacked for a companion, but he had lately moved into a care home where there was only one other male resident.

He felt awkward asking one of the ladies to accompany him for a drink, and he soon found he had nothing in common with the other male inhabitant. His son Mike, a chef, would take him out twice a week, but he decided to advertise for another man of a similar age and dispostion to his father, who might be willing to take Mr Hammond out on other evenings.

Competition was fierce: after the story of this search ran in The Times the battle almost came to resemble a television talent contest. Mike Hammond whittled down the candidates with a series of phone interviews before asking a shortlist of hopefuls to join him and his dad for a trial drink.

A retired kitchen fitter, Trevor Pugh, 78, from Southampton, was the initial frontrunner because of his age and military background. In the end he secured the post in a job-share with Henry Rosenvinge, 58, a retired doctor. The two gentlemen will now accompany Mr Hammond to the pub several nights a week to discuss current affairs and military history.

Mr Hammond, a widower, was a radar technician during the Second World War. He professed himself delighted with the outcome. He said: “I think they are very enjoyable and I’m looking forward to continuing going down the pub with both of them.”

Mr Pugh will pocket the seven pounds an hour to boost his pension but is not claiming expenses.

He said: “I saw the story in my newspaper with Jack’s photograph so I rang up and agreed to take him out twice a week. I like having topical discussions and meeting new people and I’d be happy to take him down the pub and enjoy a chat. If he wants to go out for a day or go to the cricket this summer I will take him.

“There is ten years difference in our ages but we are both ex-Army so we have that in common.” Mr Rosenvinge promised to accompany Mr Hammond to the pub without payment and hopes to drink with him for many years to come.

He said: “He has a lot of stories and we are both from Lancashire so we have a lot we can argue about. I’m looking to come once a week for a couple of hours but we will be careful - we know what our limits are with alcohol. I’m looking forward to coming down here with him for a number of months or even years.”

Mike Hammond was convinced he had found the right gentlemen for the job. “Dad’s now going to be going down the pub several times a week - three with his new friends and twice with me. He was an extremely social person before moving into the care home and I want to give him some of his old life back. I hope things turn out well,” he said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_a ... 803623.ece

 

[rynner2]

I've just finished the Einstein biography. Here are a few of his thoughts on life and death from his old age (he died aged 76).

From a graveside eulogy to a long-time colleague:
"Brief is this existence, as a fleeting visit in a strange house. The path to be pursued is poorly lit by a flickering conciousness."

From a letter to the queen mother of Belgium:
"The strange thing about growing old is that the intimate identification with the here and now is slowly lost. One feels transposed into infinity, more or less alone."

And, quirky to the last, he replied to birthday greetings with this:
"I am a deeply religious nonbeliever. This is a somewhat new kind of religion." 8)

His name is a byword for genius, but he also comes across as a gentle, humble, and humourous man. I find myself in agreement with almost all of his ideas, whether in the fields of religion, politics, or philosophy.

I first heard of him in a children's encyclopedia, probably before I was eight years old. There was a picture, and a caption that read something like "Albert Einstein revolutionised our ideas of space and time." And that was all! I re-read that book many times, but never found any expansion of that brief statement. But it sparked my curiosity, and helped shape my future life.

And if there is some kind of afterlife, I would like to meet Albert Einstein. He was one of the world's special people.

 

[rynner2]

Striking a blow for OAPs, Joan Bakewell the parking fine fighter
By Emily Andrews
Last updated at 2:41 AM on 24th May 2008

During her younger years as a television presenter she was known as the 'thinking man's crumpet'.

But these days Joan Bakewell has a new title - champion of the elderly.

The veteran broadcaster successfully appealed against a parking ticket she incurred after becoming confused by a high-tech pay-by-phone system.

The 75-year-old said her refusal to pay the fine was a 'stand for the elderly', against councils that run the world 'as if we are all 25-year-old men who are brilliant with gizmos'.

Her battle began after she parked for a medical appointment in Harley Street, Central London, last November.

Traditional parking machines in Westminster have been replaced by a system that requires drivers to pay by phone.

Miss Bakewell had problems hearing the automated payment line and found the system 'terribly confusing'.

She said: 'There was heavy traffic and I was struggling to hear what is already a complicated instruction.

'I entered the number of hours and the automated system said that they had received that and I thought that must be it and so I finished the call and went for my appointment.'

She returned, however, to find a £40 ticket on her Toyota Celica.

Westminster Council refused to listen to her pleas that she thought she had paid and that she was hard of hearing, and pursued her for the money. The fine spiralled to £80 and then £160.

Miss Bakewell waited until she was summoned to a parking tribunal hearing to plead her case.

Yesterday tribunal adjudicator Alistair McFarlane ordered Westminster Council to cancel her fine. He said that Miss Bakewell thought she had paid - and that the council had provided no evidence to the contrary.

He pointed out the council had stated 'rather ungraciously that the system is created for texting and if you can't operate it, then you should park elsewhere'.

Afterwards, Miss Bakewell said: 'I didn't expect a reprieve at all but I just felt I had to do something. This system hugely disadvantages old people.

It is terribly confusing and older people, including me, get flustered - you start thinking: "Where is one of the grandchildren to help".

'I am batting for everybody on this and someone has to take a stand for the little people against bureaucracy.'

.....

Under the pay-by-phone scheme, motorists must first set up an account with a credit or debit card and then pay with a text message quoting their registration plate, the number of minutes of parking they require and the parking bay number.

Miss Bakewell had an account that had been set up by her son, as she did not know how to do it. But she still fell foul of the system.

The scheme is used in London and by private parking firm APCOA, which runs car parks at 63 train stations between London and Penzance.

But it is expected to be taken up across the country due to its low maintenance costs and the fact that there are no parking meters to vandalise.

The 0870 number that drivers need to phone is a premium rate number that can cost up to ten times more than a normal landline call.

A spokesman for Help The Aged said: 'This kind of whizzbang technology system does not help older people and will leave them bewildered and confused.'

A spokesman for Westminster Council said the case should never have escalated to an appeal hearing and apologised to Miss Bakewell.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1021603/Striking-blow-OAPs-Joan-Bakewell-parking-fine-fighter.html

I don't have a mobile phone - luckily, I don't have a car either!

 

[escargot]

At the courts where I work I see lots of people trying to fight parking tickets. They all lose and it costs them a bomb.

If the police have issued the ticket, it's worth going in person to the police station, politely explaining how the misunderstanding came about and asking for it to be withdrawn.

With a private parking firm though you're stuffed as it's a civil matter and you only have machines to argue with.

 

[rynner2]

A short while ago, on another thread, I used the term "Little grey cells" - and now I find this!

Forget the suggestion age withers our minds
Laura Donnelly
Last Updated: 1:32AM BST 25/05/2008

Those little grey cells couldn't be better named. Scientists comparing the brain power of elderly and young people have discovered that the ability to concentrate remains undimmed by age.
Researchers expected to find that pensioners struggle to concentrate on a series of tasks if they are distracted by competing sights and sounds. Instead, the study found that participants from 65 to 90 did almost as well as those under 40.

The older group also did as well when it came to "multi-tasking", switching quickly from one job to another. Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in North Carolina, said their study suggested that the brain's ability to engage in several senses simultaneously remained intact.

Dr Lorna Layward, the research manager for Help the Aged, said that people feared most the loss of cognitive function. "The effects of ageing on the brain are very variable; while some aspects, such as memory, will be affected in some people, others, such as the ability to concentrate, can go unchanged," she added.

Robert Logie, the professor of human cognitive neuroscience at Edinburgh University, said his own research for the Alzheimer's Society suggested that healthy elderly people were able to "multi-task" just as well as younger ones – but only if they were given a bit more time to react to stimuli.

The research comes as the Government and the Alzheimer's Society prepare to launch a national campaign about dementia, which has become a significant challenge to society, according to Ivan Lewis, the Health minister. "We are determined to bring it out of the shadows," he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... minds.html

 

[rynner2]

Britain's oldest married couple celebrate their 'oak' wedding with a simple kiss
By Jaya Narain
Last updated at 2:45 AM on 26th May 2008

As with any married couple, there are times when Frank and Anita Milford don’t quite see eye to eye.

But they have never let the odd disagreement get in the way of their love for each other and their dedication to their marriage.

To prove it, Frank, 100, and Anita, 99, today celebrate their 80th wedding anniversary, equalling the record for England’s longest-ever marriage.

Frank and Anita Milford are celebrating their 80th wedding anniversary

They say the secret to a lasting marriage is to iron out your arguments before bedtime and share a kiss and a cuddle every night before bed.

Mrs Milford said: ‘It’s our golden rule. Couples these days don’t last long because they often don’t take enough time for each other.

'Our advice to young couples would be to make time for a little romance every day.’

Mr Milford added: ‘To win over your sweetheart you need a dose of old-fashioned chivalry and don’t let your standards slip. We do everything together even after 80 years.’

The pair met in 1926 at a YMCA dance in their home town of Plymouth. They married two years later, on May 26, 1928, and after the register office ceremony popped to the cinema to catch a Charlie Chaplin film.

Shortly after they moved to a bungalow in the city’s St Budeaux district, where they lived until 2005. Mr Milford worked at Devonport Dockyard until retiring at 60.

The couple have two children, Marie, 78, and Frank, 73, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Mr Milford said: ‘We’re proud of what we have achieved. When we started we had low wages and worked very hard.

‘The war years were tough - a bomb even dropped on our house. But we have come through it.’ Since moving to a nursing home, the couple have taken up a range of hobbies.

They have just received a letter from the Queen congratulating them on their ‘oak’ anniversary. Their 80 years together equals the English record set by Percy and Florence Arrowsmith of Hereford in 2006. Mr Arrowsmith died a fortnight after celebrating the anniversary.

Guinness World Records says the longest British marriage was that of Thomas and Elizabeth Morgan of Caerleon, South Wales, who were married for 81 years 260 days until her death in 1891.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -kiss.html

 

[rynner2]

A poignant little tale here:

Wayward Alzheimer's patients foiled by fake bus stop
By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin
Last Updated: 2:52PM BST 03/06/2008

A German nursing home has come up with a novel idea to stop Alzheimer's patients from wandering off: a phantom bus stop.
The bus stop, in front of the Benrath Senior Centre in the western city of Düsseldorf, is an exact replica of a standard stop, with one small difference: buses never stop there.

The idea emerged after the centre was forced to rely on police to retrieve patients who wanted to return to their homes and families but had forgotten that in many cases neither existed any longer.

"If we can’t find them then we have to alert the police,” said Benrath's director Richard Neureither. “It can be particularly dangerous if this happens in winter and they spend the night out in the cold.”

Without powers to detain patients, he said, Benrath had been forced to look for other solutions.

“We cannot and must not run after people and lock them up,” said Mr Neureither.

Instead, Benrath home teamed up with local care association called the 'Old Lions'. They went to the Rheinbahn transport network which was happy to provide the bus stop to nowhere.

“It sounds funny,” said Old Lions Chairman Franz-Josef Goebel, “but it helps. Our members are 84 years-old on average. Their short-term memory hardly works at all, but the long-term memory is still active. They know the green and yellow bus sign and remember that waiting there means they will go home.” The result is that errant patients now wait for their trip home at the bus stop, before quickly forgetting why they were there in the first place.

“We will approach them and say that the bus is coming later today and invite them in to the home for a coffee,” said Mr Neureither. “Five minutes later they have completely forgotten they wanted to leave.” The idea has proved so successful that it has now been adopted by several other homes across Germany.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... -stop.html