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Ageing & Growing Old

Are you growing older?

  • Yes, I am

    Votes: 82 61.7%

  • No, I'm getting younger

    Votes: 28 21.1%

  • Sorry, I don't understand the question

    Votes: 16 12.0%

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

    Votes: 7 5.3%
  • Total voters
    133
@Elsupremo and @MungomanII - consider your selves hugged! Or whatever is an appropriately over the top physical gesture of support and tenderness ;)
 
Video - no commentary, just captions.
Looe boat builder Clifford Adams, 91, never wants to retire

Clifford Adams has been building boats in Looe, Cornwall, since before World War Two.
He says despite now being 91 years old, he never wants to retire.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34703602

He looks fitter than me... :(
 
Irish Lives: centenarian recalls his capture at a bridge too far
Ted Shea fought terrifying battles in the Parachute Regiment in the second World War

“I will always remember it, the 17th September 1944. We took off from Beacon Hill in Lincolnshire, I can even tell you the time we took off – it was 11 o’clock. It was a lovely day and the sun was shining and when you looked down, you could see people going to church.”

Ted Shea is sitting in the front room of his home in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, flicking through an album of old photographs when he pauses at the picture of himself and his unit crouched in the back of a Dakota as they were preparing to parachute into Arnhem and one of the bloodiest battles of second World War.

On the eve of celebrating his 100th birthday, Ted is in reflective mood as he looks back on a life less ordinary which brought him from Glengarriff, West Cork, to London and through the horrors of war in North Africa, Italy and Holland before setting up home in the northeast of England. ...

In 1939, he joined the Queen’s Royal Regiment based in Surrey. War broke out soon after and he volunteered to join the newly formed Parachute Regiment where his training took him all over England and he remembers singing ‘Kevin Barry’ in the troop convoys.

“I had never been in plane before but we had to do seven jumps to qualify as a paratrooper – five from a barrage balloon with a basket beneath — there was a hole in the bottom and you just dropped through it and then two jumps from a plane and you were qualified,” he recalls.

Ted’s first taste of action came in Tunisia when he parachuted into Souk El Arba in November 1942 before going to fight beside the French Foreign Legion at Djabel Mansour. ...

He was wounded in the leg at Djabel Mansour in February 1943 but soon rejoined his unit to be with them when they parachuted into Sicily in July 1943 where he helped secure the Catania Bridge. They were then withdrawn to take part in the invasion of Italy, landing by sea at Taranto and fighting his way up to Brindisi before they were again withdrawn. ...

Back in Britain, Ted and the paratroopers were held in reserve during the D-Day landings but three months later, the British 1st Airborne Division were to play a central role in Operation Market Garden when they were assigned to capture the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem in eastern Holland. ...

“We didn’t have a chance up against the German Panzers – we didn’t have any artillery – all we had were mortars and Bren guns and of course the main army never made it up and the Germans cut us off and we were stuck there on our own.”

Wounded when “a burst of machine gun bullets” ripped up his arm, Ted was captured and ended up having his arm amputated by a German doctor before he was transferred to Stalag VII A POW camp at Moosburg near Munich from where he was repatriated in a prisoner exchange in January 1945.

Back in Britain when war ended, Ted spent two years attending Roehampton Hospitalwhere surgeons worked to correct the botched amputation before he was discharged from the army. By this time he had met his future wife Sheila Hoare from Old Parish near Dungarvan. ...

Like many second World War veterans, he is modest about the part he played in the defeat of Hitler and fascism. Ask him if he sees himself as a hero, he shuffles uncomfortably for a moment and then replies in a low voice: “It was just a day’s work to you really, I wasn’t a hero. The heroes are all those chaps we left behind – we lost a lot of good men in Arnhem, I lost a lot of pals – they are the real heroes.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/h...lls-his-capture-at-a-bridge-too-far-1.2412150
 
For the first time, I think in this thread, a Quiz! (But I'm not going back to check up!)
Can we guess how old you are based on your song choice? Take our quiz
Your taste in music may reveal more about how old you are than you think

Adele has recently released her new album, '25', named after the age she was when she began writing it.
But is there a big link between music and age?

Most people remember the first single, or album, they ever bought, but perhaps the songs, genres and albums we listen to say more about our age then we might think.

Can we guess how old you are based on your selection of songs? Have a go at our quiz. Simply choose a song from the categories, and see whether we guess your age bracket correctly.

Created by Mollie Goodfellow on November 5, 2015

Pick a song from each of the categories and see if we can tell your age.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...-your-song-choice-take-our-quiz-a6723021.html

Quick and easy to play. But I was surprised it guessed I was in my 50s, when I'm actually 70...
 
How odd. I chose stuff like the Beach Boys and Michael Jackson, then it told me I was in my 20s!
 
Naughty_Felid said:
Omeprazole is a funny one, in some rare cases it can make people agitated. Chest pain is rare again but more common. Glad you are ok.

Was looking at some of those Swiss Euthanasia Clinics, I might print off some of the brochures and leave them around the tea room at work.
Click to expand...

Leaving some of them around the Houses of Parliament might be more to the point.

Interested in the issues with Omeprazole - I've been taking it for several years to counteract the effect that Naproxen (pain-killer for an old neck injury) had on my stomach.
 
That music quiz said I was in my 40s - but I'm in my 50s!
 
We all grow old and die, but there are always new generations to replace us. But not all families can put on a gathering like this:
More than 100 descendants at 40th and final Hearn family gathering at Carnon Downs
By WBCaroline | Posted: November 09, 2015

More than 100 descendants of a Cornish farming family from across continents and five generations marked the 40th and final family party.
The annual gathering has been held since the death of Sarah Hearn, the linchpin of the close-knit family.
Sarah and her husband William had 14 children, two of whom died in infancy, but a year after the "industrious tiny lady" passed away, aged 98, in 1974, the surviving children decided to organise a family get-together.
And the annual tradition has continued, with few exceptions, at Carnon Downs Village Hall ever since.

Sarah and William lived at Carnkie, Wendron, before moving to Polkanuggo Farm, Longdowns.
William was a farmer and local preacher while Sarah would bake pasties and walk to her children's school in Stithians to give them their dinner. Every Friday she would sell her home-made butter and cream at market.
She was also a skilled craftswoman and knitted at least 35 blankets for family from recycled jumpers and donated yarns.
Great granddaughter Jean Morcom said the blanket she was working on when she died was displayed at the party: "The rolled up ball of wool with the knitting needles still in place, just as she left it".

Also present were Sarah and William's last surviving daughter Florrie Hardy, who lives in Hampshire and will celebrate her 100th birthday in February, and twins Lottie and Lola, aged four months. The youngest descendant, Isabella, aged five weeks, was not present, but family members also travelled from California, Crete and across the UK. Granddaughter Shirley Provis has spent countless hours on the family tree and traced 36 grandchildren, 77 great grandchildren, 136 great great grandchildren, 66 great great great grandchildren and one great great great great grandchild.
"There was a lot of people and a lot of tea served," she said. "We had all the generations from Florrie who is almost 100 to four-month-old babies and every age in between."

Mrs Morcom added that Sarah would have approved, adding: "It was lovely to catch-up with everyone. The day summed up my great grandmother, she was very much for everyone together."
The descendants decided to make Saturday's party the last, due to distances and fewer direct descendants surviving.
But they are planning a grand centenary birthday for Florrie.

http://www.westbriton.co.uk/100-des...-gathering/story-28127544-detail/story.html#1
 
rynner2 said:
For the first time, I think in this thread, a Quiz! (But I'm not going back to check up!)
Can we guess how old you are based on your song choice?


Finally managed to get onto the quiz and it says I'm in my 40's. lol I wish.
Click to expand...
 
Pensions Helpline warning: Put the phone down - they're trying to make money out of you
Simon Read got a call from a dodgy Salford-based call centre that is a "lead generator" for financial firms
Simon Read
Tuesday 24 November 2015

Someone claiming to be from "the Pensions Helpline" phoned me this week; she was calling about government changes to pensions. Having written about retirement savings for years, and in particular the recent changes that have created such confusion among consumers, I know there's no such thing and so challenged the caller.

She admitted it was actually nothing to do with the Government or its Pensions Wise helpline. Instead – as I later found out – it was a dodgy Salford-based call centre. The saleswoman didn't want to give up easily and offered me a free pensions report if I gave her some personal information. I refused, at which point she harrumphed: "We can't help you then."

A little investigation suggested the firm was set up last month and that the people behind it used to be double-glazing sales people. There's nothing illegal about what the firm does: it is a "lead generator" for financial firms, which then do a hard sell. But it's a warning to all: if anyone calls about pensions, put the phone down. They're trying to make money out of you, not help you.

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/...trying-to-make-money-out-of-you-a6742881.html

Oh good, I look forward to getting one of these calls! Forewarned is forearmed! :twisted:
 
escargot1 said:
Me too. :evil:
Click to expand...
You could always pretend to be interested, give them a load of fake details, drag it out as far as you can then right and the end say "I'm 22, do I still qualify?". I love winding these types up.
 
I had a terrible night - I hardly slept at all. Stupid little thoughts get hooked in your brain, and niggle away. One of these was that I couldn't seem to remember my National Insurance number. Now this doesn't really matter, but once I knew it off by heart. When I started my last job the lady who did the wages asked me to let her have my N.I. number - she was quite surprised when I was able to rattle it of from memory!

But last night I couldn't recall it. In the end I just had to get up and root through two drawers of old papers before I found it. Then I went back to bed, my mind more peaceful, and I may even have dozed a little. But I still couldn't really sleep, so I got up early... :rolleyes:
 
rynner2 said:
back to bed, my mind more peaceful,
Click to expand...
These things have got to be done. And although it'll be pointless saying this, try not to worry about such things.

I bet your technique for remembering your NI number is a sequence chant.

Try an entirely-different approach, just for the middle two numbers, such as word association/rhyming link.

That'll prompt you to remember the first and last pairs. Then try placing the two-plus-last letters into a stupid but funny abbreviation (ideally something rude).

But try not to let thought processes interrupt sleep....easier said than sorted, but there are some tricks that seem to help
 
Ermintrude said:
I bet your technique for remembering your NI number is a sequence chant.

Try an entirely-different approach, just for the middle two numbers, such as word association/rhyming link.

That'll prompt you to remember the first and last pairs. Then try placing the two-plus-last letters into a stupid but funny abbreviation (ideally something rude).
Click to expand...
I don't recall ever trying to remember my N.I. number - it just seemed to stick in my mind from way back when.
It consists of two letters, followed by six numbers and then another letter. And when I did find it written down today, I realised that during the sleepless night I had remembered the numbers and the last letter correctly! It was just the first two letters that eluded me. I kept trying the start of my NH number instead, although that seemed wrong.

But now the number's refreshed in my mind I think it will stay for however many years I have left. Unless I develop Alzheimer's or something, which is always a worry as you get old...
 
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