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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
Speaking of grey-haired gents, who's that in your avatar, Stu? I can almost place him but not...quite...
 
Ah, sweet youth :lol: ....(I'm a 20 guv a day man - ref: the bullshitters; comic strip)
 
Leaferne said:
Speaking of grey-haired gents, who's that in your avatar, Stu? I can almost place him but not...quite...
Click to expand...

Shutttit you slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag!
 
Leaferne said:
Speaking of grey-haired gents, who's that in your avatar, Stu? I can almost place him but not...quite...
Click to expand...
gavajones said:
Methinks it's Inspector Morse (John Thaw)?
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It is him, but in an earlier incarnation.

Tis the much-missed Mr Thaw, as the great Inspector Jack Regan in The Sweeney.

Got a DVD boxset of it for Xmas. One night, I'll do a Manny from Black Books and watch every episode back to back for 48 hours, drinking espresso throughout.

And then do some modding.
 
Thaw reckoned that he always looked 10 years older than his age, so he got parts that he wouldn't have been considered for otherwise.

He also had a scar on his chin from smoking when he was younger.

Smoking?

Yup, he crashed a car through trying to light a fag when taking a bend. Silly man.

You can tell I watched 'Parkinson', can't you? :D

Anyway....

Old age and death

Eventually, you reach a point where you realise that

a. no matter how bad old age is, it's still a better deal than the alternative, which is horizontal horticulture.

b. you can come to terms with the idea of your own death, possibly through the deaths of those close to you, after which NOTHING supernatural can frighen you.

So that's why I am hoping to enjoy being locked, alone, in a 'haunted dungeon' in July. ;)
 
Hopefully alone but I may have no control over that. I do not expect to be scared.
 
I agree, I wouldn't expect to scared either. Do they give you a light or do you go in the dark, with only a brief look around first?
 
Local Old Git falls down steps in pub

Onlooker says: "That was a perfect rolling break-fall!"

The old git checked his bus pass was undamaged and returned to the bar.
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Rynnerville Daily News

Which reminded me of an incident in my youth. Running to get to a St John's Ambulance Cadet class, I tripped on an uneven paving stone, did a perfect rolling somersault in mid-air, and landed on my feet, still running!

Clearly I have missed a career as an Olympic gymnast! :D
 
Or olympic judo expert.

Theory of Break-Falling and Postures of Judo
UKEMI NO HOHO ( Theory of Break-falling )

Ukemi No Shurui ( type of break fall )

Ushiro ukemi (backward break fall)

Yoko ukemi (side break fall)

Mae ukemi (front break fall)

Zenpho kaiten (rolling break fall)

Yoko Kaiten (side rolling break fall)

Mute ukemi (break fall without hands)

In order to avoid hurting the body, it is necessary to strike the mat with the arm and hand. This must be done just before the back or shoulder reaches the mat, not afterwards.

When break-falling, a good curve should be made of the body, from the hand right down to the back and this line should be kept stiff.

The head must be kept bent forward.

Both legs should be kept almost straight and about the distance apart as in the natural posture.

When striking the mat the arm should be kept stiff and straight, and the palm of the hand downwards.
Click to expand...




see:www.busenjudo.co.uk/articles.html
 
I will be taking a torch. Or six. :lol:

And a camera, and a digital voice recorder. 8)

Other FTMBers are going too so they can testify to my bravery.
 
:lol: Lots of red meat...grah grah grah. so pumped up that any ghosts will run/float a mile/kilometer.

Good luck :D
 
Go on! :D

Am jealous re: The rynnersault. I once did a perfect flip while skiing (truth - it was a fluke and many muscles were pulled; but smiley face and lying saved the day "of course I meant to do that'....Ouch)
 
OMG, there it is, in black and white. 40.


Damn. :x
 
Happy 31st May. We share with Clint Eastwood apparantly (dunno what that says - must find an astrologer :lol: ). But as a Gemini, I don't believe in that stuff.
 
Fly-past for Britain's oldest man

The RAF has scheduled a fly-past over the East Sussex coast to celebrate the 110th birthday of Britain's oldest man.
Two tornadoes from 31 squadron are to fly over the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne for the anniversary on Tuesday.

Mr Allingham, a World War I air service veteran, lived in the town after retiring, but recently moved to a care home near Brighton.

"He really does marvel at the fact he has reached the age he has," said close friend, Denis Goodwin.

"It's going to be a tremendous day for Henry and I'm sure he will enjoy it."

Mr Allingham will be joined by senior figures in the RAF for the fly-past.

He will later have a private lunch with family members from the US.

He served as a mechanic with the Royal Naval Air Service during the war, before transferring to the newly-created RAF.

He is the last remaining founder member of the RAF and the only remaining survivor of the battle of Jutland.

He has five grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.

In March, Mr Allingham was given the freedom of Eastbourne, where he had lived since the 1960s.

Three weeks ago he moved to St Dunstan's, a care home for ex-service personnel, in Ovingdean.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sout ... 044206.stm
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Let's hope that health and safety experts don't cancel the event because the excitement might be too much for the old boy....
 
Good point!

Clearly they will not allow anyone to bake a cake for him. Oooo, do you think if people look up too quickly they might hurt their necks? I mean...who would they sue? The local council (of course); or perhaps teachers - who clearly have abused thier authority. No....wait...It's the old boy's fault: If he hadn't lived so long..etc

Happy Birthday to the OB :D
 
rynner said:
Let's hope that health and safety experts don't cancel the event because the excitement might be too much for the old boy....
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I've just found this report of the birthday celebrations
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sout ... 052152.stm
- but I'm not going to quote it because it mainly centres on Gordon Brown
(well, if politicians can't find any babies to kiss, they'll muscle in at the other end of the age spectrum).

But more importantly, there's no mention whatesoever of any RAF flypast.

So was it cancelled after all? If so, :evil:



(On a lighter note, there's mention of the Chief of Defence Staff, Sir Jock Stirrup - I wnder what his nickname is? :D )
 
You'da thunk that a flypast would be mentioned...perhaps the loonies decided that they didn't want any 'nasty' associations with the past etc...(I choose to believe the worst)

Oh well, glad the old boy made it...as Rynner says 'Happy eleventy first' :D
 
From Our Front Line Reporter:
(half an hour ago.)

Fom the pub, an old, stooped man was seen shiifling slowly down the opposite pavement. He had a walking stick and, despite the hot weather, a thick overcoat. His speed was only a few feet per minute.

One of the drinkers looked, and said,
"Isn't that old Alfie?"
Others agreed it was.
"He's gone downhill since his wife died."
Muttered agreements.
The landlord said,
"He doesn't know what time it is, half the time. He's tried to come in here at 9 in the morning, thinking it was 12 o'clock."
"He used to be a referee, down the rugby club."
"Yes, he was a good ref too."
"He only sent you off once!"

Another everyday story of a sad decline....
 
:cry:

Buy the old boy a pint from me...that's just too sad (in the correct meaning of the word!) for me today.
 
It was sad (and more) for me too.

Today I had a meeting with a council official about getting rehoused.
Increasing mobility problems mean that I'm finding the stairs here in Rynner Towers more and more of a problem.

When I first moved here, the next-door neighbour was fairly poorly - sometimes I'd pass him on the stairs going down, visit the local shop, and pass him on the stairs again before he reached the ground floor.

As time went on he was seen less frequently, and nurses and carers were seen instead. I've had a new neighbour for years now, and old Ken is just a memorial in the churchyard.


And now it's me having trouble with the stairs....

I think my heroic yomps across the Cornish countryside are going to become much shorter and more infrequent in future, barring medical miracles...


But having outlived so many people already only strengthens the wicked urge to see off a few more...! :twisted:
 
Surely, for a man of your accomplishments, the council could put in the poshest stanner lift yet made? Failing that, a quad of dusky maidens to bear you by shield to your door (and further :D )....Perhaps the could arrange for a chav skin rug for your hearth too...and a statue to yourself made from the remains of minibikes :D See, my view of the world is far better...Vote GD.... :lol:
 
This evening in the pub, the landlord's daughter (12) was talking to a friend, a young woman at the bar.

Apparently at school she had been having a Sex Education class, and was shown a video...

..."and it was HORRIBLE!"


Well, everybody in the bar laughed (much to the girl's surprise!), but I was in mid-swig when she said that, and I got beer up my nose and nearly sprayed it over the bar!


When the girl asked why everyone laughed, the young woman said
"You'll understand when your'e older.."

Ain't that the truth! 8)
 
More looking back:
Look back for anger
By Sean Coughlan
BBC News Magazine

This week's number one single by Sandi Thom paints a wistful, nostalgic picture of the late-1960s and late-1970s. But what do today's twenty-somethings really know about these eras?

"Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair, In '77 and '69 revolution was in the air," sings Sandi Thom in her nostalgic chart-topper - extolling the virtues of the rebellious days of punk rock and the psychedelic Sixties.

In her musical history lesson, these glorious days were before pop music became an accountancy exercise and youth culture became an extension of corporate branding.

But what do today's young people really know about these years? And what is it that gives them such an appeal? Is it just viewing the past through Che-tinted glasses?

Love, peace and three TV channels

In 1969, Britain's most high-profile example of student radicalism was the London School of Economics - with the university being shut down for three weeks after demonstrations and dozens of arrests.


Natalie Black says London in the 1960s would have been her ideal

Serious young men with beards the size of hedgerows and women who listened to Joan Baez albums talked of occupations, sit-ins and revolution.

But what about the leaders of today's students at the LSE? Would they like to join in Sandi Thom's hankering after the rebel years?

Yes, says 23-year-old Natalie Black, very much so, there is a real sense of nostalgia for what's seen as less cynical, less work-obsessed times.

"I imagine that in the Sixties people would have been sitting on the grass, talking to each other, someone playing a guitar. Everyone loved each other. It was more relaxed, there were more opportunities and the clothes looked fantastic," says the student union officer.

And her image of the late-1970s is of creativity and conflict. "It would be have been a lot of fun. People shouting through megaphones, organising sit-ins. People could live for the day."

There are still protests and campaigns, she says, but now they have been "professionalised". Instead of something spontaneous, she says that even rebellion has become something to organise and image-manage.

"We've grown up in the era of spin, people have become much more cynical," she says. Even organising a protest can be something to add to a CV.

Soul memories

Instead of leafleting and megaphones, now she says that the way that most of her peer group share information is through a website called Facebook.

And never underestimate the transforming power of nostalgia.

Only having three television channels was better, she says, because individual programmes could have much more impact. And Ms Black sees the second-hand clothes culture as being more imaginative than a designer-clothes addiction.

In terms of music from the 1960s, she likes Motown soul and Bob Dylan, and she has fond childhood memories of her parents' vinyl record collection.

"There was something more precious about having these records that could be damaged so easily." With iPods and digital downloads, everything is immediately available all the time - and she feels that it loses that sense of being something special.

She is also aware of the benefits of being about to leave university now. Unemployment is a non-issue for these young people - and she acknowledges that her generation has more spending power than its predecessors.

And cheap international flights have made a huge difference. The Isle of Wight still counted as overseas travel for teenagers in the 1960s and 1970s.

But globetrotting is now a budget activity - and Natalie, as a random example, has been to countries including China, South Africa, Mozambique, India, Lebanon and Mauritius.

'Grotty' Seventies

Another of the current crop of the LSE's sabbatical officers, 20-year-old Chris Heathcote, has a less nostalgic view - saying that people looking back tend to "only remember the best and forget how much rubbish there was as well".


Chris Heathcote says people are going to 1980s yuppie parties

While he admits that the 1960s has a certain style-appeal, he is unconvinced by the charms of the late-1970s. "It just seems grotty and run-down, seedy people with scruffy beards. There was a three-day week, unemployment and shortages."

The decade that has more attractions, he says, are the 1980s. "There are Eighties parties now where people dress up as yuppies in double-breasted suits and with big mobile phones."

And he likes the thrusting style of 1980s architecture, such as around Canary Wharf in London's Docklands.

But Mr Heathcote is curious about how his predecessors worked in the pre-computer age.

Large parts of his day are now spent in front of a computer screen - leading him to wonder how union officers, without an e-mail mountain to scale each day, used to fill their time.

Digital generation

As part of the digital generation, he keeps all his music on portable players, and has no hankering after shelves of CDs or scratchy seven-inch singles.


The Clash, west London's finest in 1977

In political terms, he says that the radical legacy of the LSE is still remembered - but that student politics are less ideologically-divided.

The Greens are the largest political grouping, but under the environmental umbrella he says there are shades of every opinion from the far left to the more recent phenomenon of "Green Conservatives".

While aware that there are people always harking back to "golden ages", he says that the present generation has the best life - more spending money, better job prospects, better technology, more travel.

Mr Heathcote's already visited Turkey, Russia, the United States and large parts of Europe - and says he has no enthusiasm for going back to the years of students living in freezing flats.

Although maybe when looking at the recent past, the biggest differences are sometimes harder to see.

For instance, it's easy to forget how there was once so much less of so much. The punk music Sandi Thom sings about was played on a handful of radio programmes and often could only be bought in a limited number of record shops.

There was less television, less radio, no internet, no fancy coffee, less spending power, less travel, less eating out, fewer cars, no mobile phones, shorter shopping hours.

"You couldn't even Google something. I think we'd miss that," he says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5060640.stm
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rynner said:
More looking back:
...

For instance, it's easy to forget how there was once so much less of so much. The punk music Sandi Thom sings about was played on a handful of radio programmes and often could only be bought in a limited number of record shops.

There was less television, less radio, no internet, no fancy coffee, less spending power, less travel, less eating out, fewer cars, no mobile phones, shorter shopping hours.

"You couldn't even Google something. I think we'd miss that," he says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5060640.stm
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Sometimes, less is more. ;)

And who the F**K! really needs Starbucks? :furious:
 
Another famous oldie:
Prince Philip at 85
By Natasha Grüneberg
BBC News Profiles Unit

In the year the Queen has celebrated her 80th birthday with fanfare and celebrations, her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is turning 85 in a much quieter fashion.

At his wife's side throughout her reign spanning more than half a century, Prince Philip has carved out a role for himself while supporting her.

He was born on the Greek island of Corfu on 10 June 1921, a member of the royal family of Greece, despite having no Greek blood. His family tree includes members of the royal families of Denmark, Germany, Russia and Britain.

He went to Gordonstoun school in Scotland, where he later sent his sons. On leaving, he became a naval cadet at Dartmouth because, as he put it, "the war was coming up and you might as well get started right".

During World War II, Prince Philip saw action as a Midshipman on the battleship HMS Valiant. When the Italian fleet was trapped off the southern tip of Greece in 1941, Philip manned a searchlight to illuminate the enemy ships and was mentioned in despatches.

Prince Philip's naval career continued after he married Princess Elizabeth in 1947, but the poor health of the King, George VI, meant that the young couple had to take on more public duties.

In later life, Prince Philip said he was sorry that he had been unable to continue his career in the navy.

The Duke of Edinburgh was someone who might have reached the highest levels in the Royal Navy, and contemporaries have said that he could, on his own merit, have risen to be First Sea Lord. But he had to abandon his own ambitions to support the Queen.

Outspoken

In his own right, though, Philip has pursued his own interests in three main fields: science and industry, the welfare of young people and the environment.

To many people, especially readers of the tabloid press, the first thing that springs to mind about Prince Philip is a caricature of a gaffe-prone prince.

PRINCE PHILIP'S WIT & WISDOM
"Where did you get that hat?" (1953) To the Queen, after her Coronation
"French cooking's all very well, but they can't do a decent English breakfast." (2002)
"If you see a man opening a car door for a woman, it means one of two things: it's either a new woman or a new car!" (attrib)

He has been taken to task by the press for comments but they have rarely caused genuine offence and over more than half a decade of public service, that could be seen as remarkable in itself.

The prince has spoken his mind on many occasions, which has sometimes got him into trouble, but often he has merely been articulating what many people have been thinking.

In 1961, he was blunt about British industry, telling industrialists "Gentlemen, it's time we pulled our fingers out." [ 8) ]

Award success

In an interview in November 2004, Prince Philip's grandson, Prince William, said he had a close relationship with the Duke, and he admired his occasional bluntness. "He will tell me something I don't want to hear and doesn't care if I get upset about it. He knows it's the right thing to say."

One of Prince Philip's most popular legacies is the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, which he launched in 1956 to encourage a spirit of initiative, adventure and self-discipline among young people.

Since then, more than three million youngsters in the UK have taken up the challenge, and the scheme has become one of the most successful youth programmes in the world.

He was closely involved in developing the scheme to include skills, hobbies, physical recreation and service to the community. All the things which he believed the average well-adjusted adult must have in their armoury to face life.

Carriage champion

Prince Philip has also lent his support to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), following his own fascination with the natural world. He is particularly interested in the preservation of species and brought drive and determination to his role as the charity's president.

He wrote his own speeches, not even wanting the charity to draft them for him.

From his earliest years, the Duke of Edinburgh has been a keen and talented sportsman. He excelled at cricket, sailing, polo and carriage-driving. He took up carriage driving, as a "geriatric sport", after retiring from polo in 1971. [ 8) ]

He says he thought it would be "a nice weekend activity, rather like a golfing weekend. Which it was, until some idiot asked me to be a member of the British team."

Arthritis prevented him from carriage driving for a while, but now he is back behind the horses and still competing.

Although Prince Philip has spent his public life two paces behind his wife, the Queen defers to him in private. A member of his private staff who has worked with him for more than a decade says "The Queen wears the crown but he wears the trousers."

Throughout the travails of the royal family he has remained a steadfast support to the Queen while remaining very much his own man.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5055596.stm
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Anybody here got a DoE award?
 
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