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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
Saw an article about Tony Slattery recently, from this last April. He's a few years younger than I am but looks a good ten years older.
I thought it was Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos. Lifestyle, y'know.

Had the feeling he's not expected to be here much after his next birthday in November.
Bumped into him in August, fortunately I had recently seen a picture of him so it was not as much of a shock as it could have been.
 
Saw an article about Tony Slattery recently, from this last April. He's a few years younger than I am but looks a good ten years older.
I thought it was Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos. Lifestyle, y'know.

Had the feeling he's not expected to be here much after his next birthday in November.

I saw that--I had to look twice to recognise him.

I think it said that--not to dress it up--he's lost years to alcoholism and mental health problems.

It's such a shame as he oozed confidence when he was a young man.
 
he oozed confidence when he was a young man.

Yup, that's a polite way of putting it.
He eventually had a breakdown. I s'pose thirteen years of nonstop work on two bottles of vodka and 10g of cocaine a day'll do that.
 
Exactly my way of thinking Yith.

Each evening on my daily drive home from the station, (which is a 19 mile schlep through traffic) I see plenty of overweight and or elderly people out jogging. And even though I can walk faster than what they can jog, I always give them a toot and a thumb’s up sign.

Every Saturday morning I take my son swimming lessons at the local leisure centre. Last Saturday (while he was in the lesson) I took a stroll around the centre and discovered an astro turf pitch where there was a full game of 11 aside football going on, but all the players were old men - when I say old men I really mean old men.

During a period of inactivity in the game (which is 90% of the time I would imagine LOL) I asked one of the goalkeepers what the average age of the players were, and 80 plus was his reply.

The oldest chap was 89 (according to the goalkeeper) - legend, top man.
I played football in the Bath Saturday and Sunday leagues from around 1989 until 2004, when I had both knees operated on. Out on a bike ride last Sunday I stopped off at the local pitches to watch some football – only two matches being played. Turns out that the Bath Saturday league – four divisions when I played – has gone, while the Sunday league has shrunk from six divisions to two. One of the two games was an over-35 game, which made me consider looking into playing 11-a-side again. I presently play an hour's 6-a-side once a week where I'm one of the oldest at the age of 56. I'm not giving up or going to walking football, not yet...

One of my Sunday teams was the fantastically named Moonshine Gladbach.
 
I played football in the Bath Saturday and Sunday leagues from around 1989 until 2004, when I had both knees operated on. Out on a bike ride last Sunday I stopped off at the local pitches to watch some football – only two matches being played. Turns out that the Bath Saturday league – four divisions when I played – has gone, while the Sunday league has shrunk from six divisions to two. One of the two games was an over-35 game, which made me consider looking into playing 11-a-side again. I presently play an hour's 6-a-side once a week where I'm one of the oldest at the age of 56. I'm not giving up or going to walking football, not yet...

One of my Sunday teams was the fantastically named Moonshine Gladbach.

I went hiking last spring. It was the first really nice day of the year and the national park was full of hiking groups (although I was alone).

Out of the hundreds of people I must have seen over the day who were actually out on trails, I'd estimate that only about 10% of them were younger than me and the average age was notably older--perhaps north of 50.

Young people in Korea do not, it seems, like to hike.

Which is very silly as the mountains here are stunning and perfect for non-experts.
 
I played football in the Bath Saturday and Sunday leagues from around 1989 until 2004, when I had both knees operated on. Out on a bike ride last Sunday I stopped off at the local pitches to watch some football – only two matches being played. Turns out that the Bath Saturday league – four divisions when I played – has gone, while the Sunday league has shrunk from six divisions to two. One of the two games was an over-35 game, which made me consider looking into playing 11-a-side again. I presently play an hour's 6-a-side once a week where I'm one of the oldest at the age of 56. I'm not giving up or going to walking football, not yet...

One of my Sunday teams was the fantastically named Moonshine Gladbach.

I haven’t played in years I’m sorry to say. I think it was either 2003 or 2004 but that was at villa park, so at least I hung up my boots in style.
 
I went hiking last spring. It was the first really nice day of the year and the national park was full of hiking groups (although I was alone).

Out of the hundreds of people I must have seen over the day who were actually out on trails, I'd estimate that only about 10% of them were younger than me and the average age was notably older--perhaps north of 50.

Young people in Korea do not, it seems, like to hike.

Which is very silly as the mountains here are stunning and perfect for non-experts.

I’ve never had the pleasure of hiking in foreign lands Yith, but what’s your hike of choice
when you are back in Blighty.?

Mine would be Dartmoor, which is a little far for me to travel on a regular basis, but some of the happiest memories I have is sitting in a Moorside Inn, with a pint of ale , a highlighter pen and an ordnance survey map of Dartmoor.

Perfect.:)
 
I’ve never had the pleasure of hiking in foreign lands Yith, but what’s your hike of choice
when you are back in Blighty.?

Mine would be Dartmoor, which is a little far for me to travel on a regular basis, but some of the happiest memories I have is sitting in a Moorside Inn, with a pint of ale , a highlighter pen and an ordnance survey map of Dartmoor.

Perfect.:)

I've done very little in the UK since I was a teenager, but a few years ago I went up Mt. Snowdon and had a really great time. My usual rambles would be along the North Downs in Kent.

I've never been to Dartmoor, but it looks wild.
 
Still a twinkle toes. Vid at link

Ballet dancer Henry Danton, 100, finally gets his medal
Henry Danton has been dancing since his teens and performed for the Royal Ballet in the 1940s.
And even now at the age of 100, he's still working as a teacher five days a week.
But there is something that has been long overdue, a medal that he was due to receive during World War Two but didn’t because of a metal shortage.
Henry recently received the Genée competition medal he was due to receive back in 1942 and was thrilled to get it after so many years.
  • 21 Oct 2019
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-engl...ancer-henry-danton-100-finally-gets-his-medal
 
Virus? Pah, I remember the war...

Just thirteen days after diagnosis, too. I can imagine an immune system that doesn't take any nonsense.

A 96-year-old woman is now the oldest South Korean to fully recover from the coronavirus

A 96-year-old woman in South Korea has become the oldest patient in the country to fully recover from the novel coronavirus.

The woman, identified by Cheongdo County as Ms. Hwang, was declared completely recovered on Wednesday.

Cheongdo County is close to the southern city of Daegu, where the country's coronavirus cases are most concentrated.

Hwang had been diagnosed with the coronavirus on March 13, and received intensive treatment at the Pohang public clinic, east of Daegu.

She is now under self-quarantine in her home in Cheongdo, where she lives with her son.

Source: CNN--rolling news URL unstable.
 
Virus? Pah, I remember the war...

Just thirteen days after diagnosis, too. I can imagine an immune system that doesn't take any nonsense.

A 96-year-old woman is now the oldest South Korean to fully recover from the coronavirus

A 96-year-old woman in South Korea has become the oldest patient in the country to fully recover from the novel coronavirus.

The woman, identified by Cheongdo County as Ms. Hwang, was declared completely recovered on Wednesday.

Cheongdo County is close to the southern city of Daegu, where the country's coronavirus cases are most concentrated.

Hwang had been diagnosed with the coronavirus on March 13, and received intensive treatment at the Pohang public clinic, east of Daegu.

She is now under self-quarantine in her home in Cheongdo, where she lives with her son.

Source: CNN--rolling news URL unstable.

We have a new champion!

A 101-year-old man has been released from hospital after recovering from the novel coronavirus, Gloria Lisi, the deputy mayor of the Italian city of Rimini, has said.

The man, who has been named only as "Mr P," was admitted to hospital in Rimini, northeast Italy, last week after testing positive for Covid-19 and left the hospital on Thursday.

Lisi said his "truly extraordinary" recovery gave "hope for the future."

"Mr P made it. The family brought him home yesterday evening. To teach us that even at 101 years the future is not written," she said.

Mr. P was born in 1919, during the Spanish flu pandemic, which is
estimated to have killed between 30 million and 50 million people worldwide.

Full Article:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/27/europe/101-year-old-coronavirus-scli-intl/index.html
 
How are these really old people shaking it off and fit young things are dropping dead?
Do these old people have some level of immunity?
 
I think it's because it's not the flu and we don't know enough about it.
Well yes, but there must be some common factors that increase susceptibility.
I expect these will be identified soon (I hope).
 
Read it 'n weep, you young whippersnappers! ... :omr:
Older entrepreneurs as successful as their younger counterparts, study reveals

New study makes the case that entrepreneurship isn't just for the young

From Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg, the stories of prosperous, young innovators drive the American economic narrative. However, the truth is that older business entrepreneurs may be just as well suited to success. And older women are far more successful at launching a business than their younger counterparts.

Those are among the findings reached by Hao Zhao, an associate professor of management at the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in research recently published online in the Journal of Business Venturing. ...

Zhao and his co-authors conducted a meta-analysis based on 102 independent samples and determined that the rate of success for people who launch a business in their 20s is the same as for those who become entrepreneurs in their 50s. ...

For those in their 30s and 40s, the prospects aren't quite as good. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-04/rpi-oea040620.php
 
How are these really old people shaking it off and fit young things are dropping dead?
Do these old people have some level of immunity?
What I've heard (from experts on the radio, not from the obscure and omnipresent "they") is that the immune systems of some fit young things (and older things too) go into "overdrive." This damages not just the virus but the body too. It's called a "cytokine storm."

Here's an official explanation:
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200409/why-is-covid-19-sometimes-severe-in-young-adults#1
 
Talking old people and plague times... we live middle of nowhere. No pavements. Pretty country lane opposite a pond and by the river. (Makes me sound rich but it’s just a council house but one of those nice 1940s ones).

So we’ve been here 18 years nearly and go weeks without a single pedestrian walking past.

Covid means it’s now busier than the average town centre. Endless people going past. Many can’t be local people as here in Royston Vasey they know where the ramblers’ tracks are that run parallel and are more scenic... and they aren’t here.

Thing is.... the vast majority of the passers by are elderly. We don’t recognise any of them. Most of them look like the sort of pensioners with expensive walking poles etc.

They can’t all be coming from the village a couple miles away. They are almost all in their 70s and so are if retired and walkers... where were they previously?

It’s a small mystery but one that’s intriguing us as we normally don’t get anyone walking past. It’s the most excitement round here since 1833.
 
A nice gesture but if they don't give him a knighthood they could at least promote him to major.

The 99-year-old war veteran who has raised £29m for the NHS by walking laps of his garden has been honoured with a special postmark.

Royal Mail will stamp all letters with the message to celebrate Captain Tom Moore's 100th birthday on Thursday. All stamped post up until Friday will be marked with: "Happy 100th Birthday Captain Thomas Moore NHS fundraising hero 30th April 2020."
Royal Mail said it was "honoured" to issue the postmark.

World War Two veteran Capt Tom, from Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire, has extended his challenge to 200 laps after he completed the first 100 laps 14 days ahead of schedule. His initial £1,000 fundraising target was broken in about 24 hours and he has now raised more than £29m for the NHS.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52433007
 
A nice gesture but if they don't give him a knighthood they could at least promote him to major.

The 99-year-old war veteran who has raised £29m for the NHS by walking laps of his garden has been honoured with a special postmark.

Royal Mail will stamp all letters with the message to celebrate Captain Tom Moore's 100th birthday on Thursday. All stamped post up until Friday will be marked with: "Happy 100th Birthday Captain Thomas Moore NHS fundraising hero 30th April 2020."
Royal Mail said it was "honoured" to issue the postmark.

World War Two veteran Capt Tom, from Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire, has extended his challenge to 200 laps after he completed the first 100 laps 14 days ahead of schedule. His initial £1,000 fundraising target was broken in about 24 hours and he has now raised more than £29m for the NHS.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52433007

They've missed the opportunity of making him Major Tom but he's been promoted to Colonel.

Captain Tom Moore, the war veteran who raised millions for the NHS by walking laps of his garden, has been made an honorary colonel on his 100th birthday.

The occasion was also marked with an RAF flypast and birthday greetings from the Queen and prime minister.

Capt Tom said it was "extraordinary" to be turning 100, especially with "this many well-wishers".

With celebrations under way, the total he has raised for NHS Charities Together topped £30m.

Head of the Army General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith called Capt Tom "an inspirational role model".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52472132
 
One of the reasons I drive an old car is it lessens the chance of me losing it - modern cars do look all alike to me, no doubt a sign of old age along with thinking all current pop music is rubbish.

Old cars are best. As long as they're legal to run and don't break down too often you're on a winner with them.
Nobody wants to nick them, you can get parts for repair, the police aren't interested in them, if you write one off it's not the end of the world.
Even if I could afford a posh/new car I wouldn't buy one. I CERTAINLY wouldn't have a lease or HP arrangement.
 
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