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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
Mungoman said:
Now that is spooky Stormkahn.

My Dad pierced my Mums ears when She was carrying my sister. At full term, Sister was delivered with a freckle on each lobe exactly where He made the punctures...

Maybe this deserves it's own thread..?

It reminds me of 'My Mum got scared by a monkey when she was carrying me, and I was born with a tail!'...or summat like that.
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Reminds me of the premise for the Elephant Man.
 
Floyd1 said:
What seems not too long ago, was when you got talking to an old person you knew that they'd fought in, or at least been around during WW2, but now of course, you can be talking to a 78 year old who wasn't born until after.

Along with coppers and politicians getting younger (especially younger than us) it really is another way of making you feel old.
In fact, I think once the Prime Minister is younger than you, that's it.
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When I first started work, if I visited a house with elderly occupants I would always try and find out about their WW2 experience. One regular customer one day showed me the Military medal he had won in WW2. The school caretaker, who must have been in his 70s then at my junior school had actually served in the RN at Jutland in 1916.
 
Giant R said:
When I first started work, if I visited a house with elderly occupants I would always try and find out about their WW2 experience. One regular customer one day showed me the Military medal he had won in WW2. The school caretaker, who must have been in his 70s then at my junior school had actually served in the RN at Jutland in 1916.
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Yes - I wish I'd asked people more about the war, especially my Granddad. According to my Gran though, the only thing he ever sunk was a toy boat in the bath, but he did tell me a few good stories about his time in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

My Great Granddad died when I was four, so of course I didn't get to hear any stories from him, although being at the Somme I don't suppose he would have wanted to talk about them anyway.
 
Floyd1 said:
Yes - I wish I'd asked people more about the war, especially my Granddad. According to my Gran though, the only thing he ever sunk was a toy boat in the bath, but he did tell me a few good stories about his time in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

My Great Granddad died when I was four, so of course I didn't get to hear any stories from him, although being at the Somme I don't suppose he would have wanted to talk about them anyway.
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None of my grandparents fought in WWII. Both grandads had reserved occupations that were already dangerous.
One of my Mum's uncles served aboard a ship that went down. He never liked to talk about it, because it was traumatic.
Mostly peaceniks in my family.
 
Mythopoeika said:
None of my grandparents fought in WWII. Both grandads had reserved occupations that were already dangerous.
One of my Mum's uncles served aboard a ship that went down. He never liked to talk about it, because it was traumatic.
Mostly peaceniks in my family.
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My Granddad worked in a quarry at the time (the same one where they filmed the train crash in the latest Mission Impossible film) and could have got out of enlisting as it was considered a reserved occupation.
 
Steev(still) said:
Just recently I put my back out, resulting in three days of agony and multiple medications, due to the stupid and violent act of... pointing at something on the floor of the lounge.
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You pointed at something on the floor?!

You must be some kind of athelete/adventurer type.
Are you Ranulph Fiennes?

I can only dream of reaching your heights of fitness.
 
I've returned to doing easy yoga, after giving it a miss due to terrible back ache (moved my 5'wide bed to clean underneath!
Won't be in a hurry to do that again.)
I really resent what I now find it difficult to do.
 
Stormkhan said:
I've woken up from a (for once) good sleep with my elbow feeling like I've hit it against a hard surface such as a wall or desk.
No bruising, no cause.
*sigh*
Back to the Ibuprofen.
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At some point while asleep, your arm may have hung out from the side of the bed/couch unsupported. It's one of the reasons why I stopped sleeping in a single bed - it used to happen so often.
 
Floyd1 said:
Yes - I wish I'd asked people more about the war, especially my Granddad. According to my Gran though, the only thing he ever sunk was a toy boat in the bath, but he did tell me a few good stories about his time in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

My Great Granddad died when I was four, so of course I didn't get to hear any stories from him, although being at the Somme I don't suppose he would have wanted to talk about them anyway.
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I had a customer called Air Commodore Aidan MacCarthy. I was his postman for nine years from ‘86 to ‘95.What I didn’t know about him at the time was that he survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki while he was a P.O.W. and had a very interesting military career.
I only found out about him roughly 10 years ago when I happened to search for him online. There was also book written about him called A Doctor’s War which I have a copy of. I just wished I’d known at the time, I would have loved to have chats with him.
 
Mythopoeika said:
None of my grandparents fought in WWII. Both grandads had reserved occupations that were already dangerous.
One of my Mum's uncles served aboard a ship that went down. He never liked to talk about it, because it was traumatic.
Mostly peaceniks in my family.
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My dad was in the RAF in WWII. He was in the secret bunch that created dummy airfields across Britain, propped with dummy planes, trucks etc. They decoyed the Nazi bombs to drop onto empty fields away from the main targets.
He never said much about it except to say he drove George Formby about the field once. And he had a Canadian airman come up to him at about 150 yards from the ’planes’ and say ‘Wait. Are those real?’.

Not a shot fired. I’d say he had a pretty good war.
 
Memories of zeppelins bombing London

Mobile phones are a menace to the young, 109-year-old says​


BBC Marjorie Hodnett
BBC
Mrs Hodnett said life had taught her that people "can be very kind, but they can also be very cruel"

One of Britain's oldest women has advised young people to seize the day and avoid the "menace" of mobiles.

Marjorie Hodnett, who lives in Formby on Merseyside, turns 110 on 1 April.

Speaking ahead of her birthday, she said mobile phones were the biggest development in her lifetime, but added that she did not think "anybody under the age of 16 should have one".

"They've got to get to know people as human beings, not things on a phone," she said.

Mrs Hodnett was born in Harlesden in London just under four months before the outbreak of World War One and said that while she only had a vague memory of her father leaving to fight, the airships used by Germany in bombing raids over the capital were clearer in her mind.

"I can remember I kept hearing zeppelin, zeppelin, zeppelin," she told BBC North West Tonight. "I thought 'that's a nice word', and that's the first word I learned to say."

Pete Aylward Marjorie Hodnett
Pete Aylward

Mrs Hodnett was born in Harlesden in London just under four months before the outbreak of World War One

She said the conflict and its aftermath showed how people "have gone through so much for us" and pointed to the fight for women's suffrage, which saw campaigners face heavy consequences for their actions before the law was changed in 1918 to grant some women voting rights, as another example.

"When the women were trying to get votes, I think they were actually tortured sometimes," she said. "Women had a rotten time. People can be very kind, but they can also be very cruel."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-68581272
 
I turned 60 last September, and its the one decade milestone thats really hit me. Two months later I was diagnosed with heart failure/arrythmia and my daily tablet has gone from one to eight.

One bright spot was when I was told I was entitled to a free bus pass, but it turns out only in Scotland, Wales, NI and London(???) can you get one at 60 the english have to wait till they hit 66.

So yeah get off my lawn.
 
Analogue Boy said:
My dad was in the RAF in WWII. He was in the secret bunch that created dummy airfields across Britain, propped with dummy planes, trucks etc. They decoyed the Nazi bombs to drop onto empty fields away from the main targets.
He never said much about it except to say he drove George Formby about the field once. And he had a Canadian airman come up to him at about 150 yards from the ’planes’ and say ‘Wait. Are those real?’.

Not a shot fired. I’d say he had a pretty good war.
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I remember reading an account of a pilot in Coastal Command in WW2. He was in a Sunderland Flying boat and they used to do anti-sub patrols lasting 12-13 hours at a time in the North Atlantic. He said it was a pretty tedious job and they never saw anything. One day on patrol he was desperate for the toilet, which was down the far end of the plane. They were very big aircraft with a crew of 10 or so. He made his way to the far end and while he was in there the co pilot spotted a U boat periscope and gave the call to dive and drop depth charges. They dropped two depth charges and the sub dived. By the time he got back from the toilet the whole action was over and he never saw any further enemy action for the duration!
 
Giant R said:
I remember reading an account of a pilot in Coastal Command in WW2. He was in a Sunderland Flying boat and they used to do anti-sub patrols lasting 12-13 hours at a time in the North Atlantic. He said it was a pretty tedious job and they never saw anything. One day on patrol he was desperate for the toilet, which was down the far end of the plane. They were very big aircraft with a crew of 10 or so. He made his way to the far end and while he was in there the co pilot spotted a U boat periscope and gave the call to dive and drop depth charges. They dropped two depth charges and the sub dived. By the time he got back from the toilet the whole action was over and he never saw any further enemy action for the duration!
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Thought we were about to hear a tale of another kind of depth charge.
 
TangletwigsDeux said:
I turned 60 last September, and its the one decade milestone thats really hit me. Two months later I was diagnosed with heart failure/arrythmia and my daily tablet has gone from one to eight.

One bright spot was when I was told I was entitled to a free bus pass, but it turns out only in Scotland, Wales, NI and London(???) can you get one at 60 the english have to wait till they hit 66.

So yeah get off my lawn.
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I just turned 60. I wasn't sure how I would deal with it but I lived :) .

I don't believe that I'm that old. I don't think like I'm old. But the daily achiness certainly is with me.

Just in reference to what I think is old, I have always thought that 30 is old. I still have not changed that viewpoint. It is. It is 30 years! A lot happens in that amount of time.

So these many 30 years more is an ancient amount of time for me.
 
brownmane said:
I just turned 60. I wasn't sure how I would deal with it but I lived :) .

I don't believe that I'm that old. I don't think like I'm old. But the daily achiness certainly is with me.

Just in reference to what I think is old, I have always thought that 30 is old. I still have not changed that viewpoint. It is. It is 30 years! A lot happens in that amount of time.

So these many 30 years more is an ancient amount of time for me.
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Two Saturn Returns. :nods:
 
brownmane said:
I just turned 60. I wasn't sure how I would deal with it but I lived :) .

I don't believe that I'm that old. I don't think like I'm old. But the daily achiness certainly is with me.

Just in reference to what I think is old, I have always thought that 30 is old. I still have not changed that viewpoint. It is. It is 30 years! A lot happens in that amount of time.

So these many 30 years more is an ancient amount of time for me.
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An idle question Brownmane...do you have plans to visit your place of birth?
 
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