Ageing & Growing Old

Are you growing older?

  • Yes, I am

    Votes: 88 60.3%

  • No, I'm getting younger

    Votes: 32 21.9%

  • Sorry, I don't understand the question

    Votes: 17 11.6%

  • I'm a Mod; I think adding silly polls to chat threads is pointless

    Votes: 9 6.2%
  • Total voters
    146
I wash all my tops and denim jackets by machine in cold water and hang on the outside clothesline to dry. Then whatever needs ironing, I take to the cleaner to have it pressed. Lasts longer and looks better than ironing. And I got rid of my iron years ago, honestly who has the time!
I remember my Mum ironing the bed sheets when I was a girl! LOL. And she worked full time and had 4 kids, don't know how she did it!
 
Floyd said:
I have some shirts that don't need ironing- a cotton/poly combo, but some others do look a bit crickled if I don't.
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We used to be issued with nylon shirts back in the Seventies. Ghastly during the heatwave of 1976, but with the advantage that after you’d washed them you’d simply hang them on the line, and the wind pressed them.

Polycotton came in after that, and l had to buy an iron…

maximus otter
 
Some people are their own worst enemies though. My friend complains about how, after she's been for a long walk with her son (who's autistic and she goes walking with him as it's his only real outlet and they can do ten miles a day), she has to come home and clean all the boots and wash all the clothes (she'll iron them all when they're dry) and then cook dinner while her son sits back with a book and asks what's for dinner...

I've told her to get HIM to clean the boots and fill the washing machine (and to stop ironing stuff), but she won't. So now I smile and nod because she's letting off steam over stuff that she really doesn't HAVE to do, she chooses to.
 
escargot said:
Ironing: I quite like it but then I don't have to do much these days.
During winter in an unheated house it's good way to keep warm. Mug of tea, Radio 4, head of steam, Bob's your uncle. :nods:
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I think there was a certain generation that always had to be doing something, otherwise you might be seen as 'lazy'.

MrFs mother is still like it now in her late 70s.

If she's not de-frosting the freezer, she's painting the fence, gardening, or running around after family.
 
catseye said:
Some people are their own worst enemies though. My friend complains about how, after she's been for a long walk with her son (who's autistic and she goes walking with him as it's his only real outlet and they can do ten miles a day), she has to come home and clean all the boots and wash all the clothes (she'll iron them all when they're dry) and then cook dinner while her son sits back with a book and asks what's for dinner...

I've told her to get HIM to clean the boots and fill the washing machine (and to stop ironing stuff), but she won't. So now I smile and nod because she's letting off steam over stuff that she really doesn't HAVE to do, she chooses to.
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Yup, if Sonny can walk 10 miles he can certainly clean four boots and throw two outfits in the washing machine. It'd be good for him and a dignified contribution to the family routine.
 
escargot said:
Yup, if Sonny can walk 10 miles he can certainly clean four boots and throw two outfits in the washing machine. It'd be good for him and a dignified contribution to the family routine.
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Which is what I keep telling her. But she's so full of excuses and 'whataboutery' (apparently he will do the washing 'wrong', I have no idea what her excuse about cleaning the boots is, and he manages perfectly well when we go away somewhere) that I know she has no intention of giving up the martyrhood.
 
catseye said:
Which is what I keep telling her. But she's so full of excuses and 'whataboutery' (apparently he will do the washing 'wrong', I have no idea what her excuse about cleaning the boots is, and he manages perfectly well when we go away somewhere) that I know she has no intention of giving up the martyrhood.
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We discussed this somewhere recently.
Some Mothers do have'em just cannot stop running around after their children, no matter how old the children, or they are.
 
Floyd said:
Woke up in a cold sweat/blind panic in the early hours, so got up and even though I had two jumpers on I could not get warm thereafter.
Is this age, alcohol, or simply years of a cold climate finally wearing me down?
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We* have been nefariously fooled into thinking that it's Summer, because of a few mild days! Now it's floopin' freezing again, as per.


* I
 
Steven said:
We* have been nefariously fooled into thinking that it's Summer, because of a few mild days! Now it's floopin' freezing again, as per.


* I
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Yes that's true.

As much as I love mild weather, I do dislike it sneaking in when it shouldn't really be there as you just know that a few days later when the 'normal' temperature comes back (and it will) that it makes everything feel even worse than if it had just been cold all the time.

I've often said that I would rather have two months of proper, constant winter than it being up and down all the time.
At least you know where you are then.
 
Floyd said:
Woke up in a cold sweat/blind panic in the early hours, so got up and even though I had two jumpers on I could not get warm thereafter.
Is this age, alcohol, or simply years of a cold climate finally wearing me down?
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@Steven is right.
We've had a couple of sunny spring-like cycling days during which all 4 Scargy knees were on open display. How lovely for the locals. :)

Now it's cold again and we're back to fleecy cycling tights and 48 jumpers. :(

We still go out every day though. :nods:

I need to lose some weight to help deal with the diabetes. Regular cycling just melts the fat off.

I've done over 100 miles in a week and bit on the mountain bikes, just gentle pedalling on roads/offroad paths and lanes, and have lost about 10lbs.
:bthumbup:
 
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Here are my new cycling shorts.
Techy bought them.for himself but didn't like the Eric Morecambe vibe.
Ruggish!
 

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escargot said:
Here are my new cycling shorts.
Techy bought them.for himself but didn't like the Eric Morecambe vibe.
Ruggish!
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You need wire hoops in the hems of those!

Mr F had a dinner jacket for formal events with fuller legs than his normal skinny jeans. I, and others, thought the outfit very stylish and rather attractive. :reyes::reyes:


He said that he stayed standing in one place because moving onto the dance floor gave him the unnerving feeling of setting sail with not one but two spinnakers attached to his legs. :dunno:

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Frideswide said:
You need wire hoops in the hems of those!

Mr F had a dinner jacket for formal events with fuller legs than his normal skinny jeans. I, and others, thought the outfit very stylish and rather attractive. :reyes::reyes:


He said that he stayed standing in one place because moving onto the dance floor gave him the unnerving feeling of setting said with not one but two spinnakers attached to his legs. :dunno:

​

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I had to go down a size in my work trousers when I realised that, if I turned around suddenly in my old pair I could face the opposite way while my trousers still faced forward.
 
catseye said:
I had to go down a size in my work trousers when I realised that, if I turned around suddenly in my old pair I could face the opposite way while my trousers still faced forward.
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:rofl:
 
Frideswide said:
You need wire hoops in the hems of those!
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There's a thought. :thought:

That process has been on my mind recently as I quite fancy making a woodcarver's apron with a pouch, as in the photo.
The pouch is held open with a strip of plastic boning.

I don't need one for that purpose but it would be fun to have for fiddly craft jobs.
 

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catseye said:
giving up the martyrhood.
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I interpret that sort of behaviour as a power trip. Keeping your family infantalised and unable to look after themselves by doing the simplest of things gives them a lot of power.

I came to this conclusion after observing the dynamics of my ex husbands family. His granny lived with them and waited hand foot and finger on everyone else, even get this ... my husband used to leave his shoes outside the bedroom door and they'd be polished by the morning! I reminded him once that it might be a good idea to polish his shoes and he was totally baffled! I had to teach him. This was the sort of simple basic task that I assumed was taught at an early age!

Apparently his mother and her father would sit by the fire and watch it go out waiting for this woman to come back and shovel on a bit of coal (from the scuttle sitting on the hearth in front of them no less didn't even need to go out to the coal shed)!!! She never once complained.
 
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I once saw a young man in tears of gratitude.

He had started in business and had gotten some fancy suits.

Would his mother teach him to alter and mend them? No. It was a womans job, and he had to wait until she had the time to do it for him.

The village `Helpful old woman` taught him how to do these tasks, so he could be independent. Right down to invisible stitching.

He was very grateful.
 
Oh she definitely infantilises him. We've all gone out for a walk together and she's all 'don't forget this and that' and 'we're heading this way now, you need to turn around'. He's thirty! And perfectly capable of seeing which way we are heading. But she's a very dear friend and while I can point out some things I don't want to hurt her by telling her she's babying a man who would be quite capable of running his own household (given a few pointers and maybe someone keeping an overall eye open).
 
catseye said:
Oh she definitely infantilises him. We've all gone out for a walk together and she's all 'don't forget this and that' and 'we're heading this way now, you need to turn around'. He's thirty! And perfectly capable of seeing which way we are heading.
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My brother-in-law is almost 50 and mildly “on the spectrum.” He is quite capable of using a computer, Sky+, an electric guitar, a 3D printer etc., but apparently incapable of doing his own washing, cooking, banking, shopping and so on.

I have few problems with my mother-in-law acting the martyr if she wants to; my major issue is that once she’s gone, she expects that her daughter - my dear wife - will seamlessly take up the job.

I’m quite a bit older than my wife; my concern is that her future is not one of a long, happy, relaxed and independent retirement, but rather as an ageing nursemaid to a clinging manbaby.

maximus otter
 
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