Ageing & Growing Old

[BuckeyeJones]

Greetings,

I have not read the entire thread but I like what I have so far.
As far I know for now, we only get one ride on this rock and a lot of people fall off.
Many of us have known the finality of death growing up.
For me the day came when my Dad dropped dead. It was the day his retirement was to start.
Worked all his life so he could take it easy BANG! Dead at 62.
Was a big HELLO! for me.
I look at the constellation Orion and think of my Father.
Life can be good. (only thing that is really ours)

Peace
=^..^=217

Will read entire thread this weekend

 

[escargot]

Oh Buckeye M8, what a terrible blow. 62 is so young. Not fair at all.

Still, as you say, life can be good.

 

[Peripart]

It's just occurred to me that children born in the 1990s will soon be driving cars. Time to try out the train?

 

[Cyclops]

It's just occurred to me that children born in the 1990s will soon be driving cars. Time to try out the train?

AAAAARGH!! No, no - it's OK - if I can weld a cowcatcher to the front of the Civic, and reinforce the doors, and maybe a set of Boudicea - style knives on the hubcaps, I reckon I'll still be able to pop to Tescos for five pounds of spuds and a frozen chicken and make it back alive...

 

[rynner2]

i've been growing old for decades, but only in the last few years has this become especially apparent to me.

this is because i've moved around a lot in my life (for various reasons), and so have not had continuous contact with any given group of people, and i've largely lost contact with most of my family too.

but now i've been living continuously in one area for over 16 years, and during that time i've seen middle-age people grow old, and old people drop off their perch, while at the same time i've seen children become adults (not always succesfully).

suddenly, the progress of human life has come into sharper focus.

 

[rynner2]

Supermarket asks man, 87, for ID

An 87-year-old man was asked to prove he was over 21 when he tried to buy a bottle of sherry in a York supermarket.
The former Lord Mayor of York, Jack Archer, said he was shocked - but flattered - when asked the question by staff at Morrisons in Acomb.

He said: "I don't look my age but I certainly don't look young enough to be in trouble for underage drinking."

Morrisons said staff were required to ask anyone buying alcohol to confirm they were over 21.

Mr Archer said he often had a small glass of sherry at bedtime to help him sleep.

'Best intentions'

He said: "I was taken aback really. Afterwards I thought I should have showed them my bus pass and that would have proved how old I was.

"I must admit the lady wasn't too persistent and I realised she was only doing what she's been told to do."

A Morrisons spokesman said: "This is done with the best of intentions and we would hope it is taken in good humour by those obviously over the age of 21, as we do not wish to cause offence and no disrespect is intended.

"We take our responsibility with regard to selling alcohol very seriously and all our stores operate the Task 21 scheme, which addresses the difficulties staff face in being able to determine if a customer is legally old enough to buy alcohol.

"To further limit any element of doubt, staff at the Acomb store are required to ask anyone buying alcohol to confirm that they are over 21."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nort ... 296637.stm

 

[escargot]

I wonder how you do that then? You'd need something official and universally recognised, that everyone carried all the time and couldn't be tampered with... or maybe, for convenience, implanted in your arm...

 

[rynner2]

Shock as doctors admit to ageism
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
Last Updated: 2:42am GMT 14/02/2007

Doctors in Britain regularly discriminate against older patients by denying them tests and treatments they offer to younger people, research shows today.

GPs, heart specialists and doctors who care for the elderly were all found to be influenced by a patient's age when making their recommendations -and older doctors were more likely to discriminate than younger doctors.

Older patients are less likely to be referred to a cardiologist and given heart treatments than patients under 65

The study in Quality and Safety in Health Care, a specialist publication from the British Medical Journal, found that half of doctors in each of the professional groups treated elderly patients differently.

The researchers compared the responses of doctors to people aged under 65 and over 65. They pointed out that 65 was no longer regarded as being particularly old in British society.

Prof Ann Bowling, of the department of psychology, at University College London, led the study. She said: "Resources are limited and doctors have to make difficult decisions. Maybe they have run out of options and are using age as an excuse.

"When we spoke to the doctors they were quite ready to justify their reasons. They may see older people as less deserving," she said.

In the study 85 doctors agreed to "examine" 72 fictional patients with possible angina, aged between 45 and 92, using a website.

Histories of the patients and their pictures were produced, allowing the doctors to gather information. All the doctors agreed to behave as they would with a real patient.

Results showed that older patients were less likely to be referred to a cardiologist, given an angiogram [artery scan] or given a heart stress test than patients under 65.

Cardiologists were also less likely to recommend operations to open up blocked coronary arteries for older patients, and they were less likely to be prescribed statins to reduce cholesterol.

They were, however, more likely to be offered a follow-up appointment and more likely to have existing drugs reviewed.

Although one doctor said he believed he treated all his patients as individuals, he added. "I don't think by-pass surgery in an 87 year old is in their best interests".

Another said: "If they are in their 90s with chest pain and angina, I might be less likely to refer". A third commented "They wouldn't want an angiogram if they were over 70".

The researchers found that those doctors who were influenced by age were on average five years older than those who were not.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the head of science and ethics at the British Medical Association, said they were in the process of producing their own information for doctors on age discrimination, as they had with race and gender discrimination.

"Research like this is very useful in helping us to inspect our attitudes and the subtle patterns of locked-in behaviour that doctors may not be aware of," she said.

There could be good reasons why a doctor would not subject an elderly person to tests or treatments, she said. "A doctor needs to know that if they do a test and it is positive that they can then do something to help. We would not subject anybody to a test needlessly.

"But to deny a person tests just because of age is unfair and wrong. Decisions should be made for clinical reasons.

"There is research that shows that older people actually do better with some high-risk procedures, and more research now includes people over 65."

Commenting on the finding that older doctors might be more discriminatory, she said that they may be working from the premise that it would be wrong to offer a test or treatment that had not been tested on older people.

Dr Lorna Layward, a research manager for Help the Aged, said: "It is shocking that such blatant age discrimination exists in GP practices today. A person's age should never be used as a factor to determine treatment.

"What a backward system to suggest that people are prioritised solely on the basis of their age, when a 65-year-old may actually be in better health than a 45-year-old. What is far more alarming is the fact that little is actually known about the appropriateness of many treatments for older people.

"Many older people have been paying into the NHS since its inception and believed they would be looked after from cradle to grave, but all this does is help see them into an early grave."

Gordon Lishman, the director-general of Age Concern, said: "This is further shocking evidence that age discrimination in the NHS is still rife.

"It is heart-breaking that even though the NHS acknowledged this problem over five years ago, it has failed to rid itself of ageist attitudes, even in the treatment of serious conditions such as angina.

"Not only are older people denied NHS services because of ageist attitudes, but also because of current blatant ageist policies.

"For example, it is particularly perverse that as the risk of breast cancer increases with age, invitations to breast screening for women stop at 70.

"People are also often denied mental health services on the basis of their age, and one in six over-65s says they have been discriminated against in health care or health insurance because of their age.

"The NHS needs to address ageist attitudes. We call on the Government to adopt a duty on all public services to promote age equality which already exists for race and gender," he said.

http://tinyurl.com/339gav

 

[ElishevaBarsabe]

My sister-in-law's husband caught a cold last week, then died unexpectedly this morning. He was 56. They had just adopted a 2-year-old girl out of China in September. Please keep the family in your thoughts. Thanks, all.

 

[rynner2]

My sister-in-law's husband caught a cold last week, then died unexpectedly this morning. He was 56. They had just adopted a 2-year-old girl out of China in September.

Very sad.

commiserations.

 

[mindalai]

That's tragic. I am sorry.

 

[akaWiintermoon]

Yeah, my thoughts go out to you all ElishevaBarsabe. And to anyone else who's recently lost a family member/friend. :likee:

 

[ElishevaBarsabe]

Thanks, everyone.

 

[rynner2]

Why I will be at my own wake


When you are told you have just months to live what do you do? Andy Fitchett, 56, decided to organise his own wake and is hosting it.
I'm a lucky man and have had a lucky life. Many people don't get a chance to say goodbye to people when they die but I have.

Others never live a life as long and happy as mine when they pass away. Take a 12-year-old killed in a car crash, they don't get a chance to live their life or say goodbye.

When I was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer I was planning a new life in Majorca. I'd bought two bars and was getting everything ready.

No emotion

A week after returning to the UK from a trip over there my chest started hurting and I was rushed into hospital with a suspected heart attack.

After eight-days of tests they told me I had a tumour on my lung and the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes in my neck. I had six months to live.

For days I was numb, I couldn't tell you what I felt because I felt no emotion at all. Then I realised I had two choices, I could sit in a corner and wait to die or I could get my life in order and enjoy what time I had left.

My priority was my two grown-up daughters, they were devastated when I told them. Things were made harder by the fact my wife - their mother - died 10 years ago of liver failure.

I wanted to make it as easy for them as I could, so I've planned everything down to a list of people to call when I die and have paid for my funeral.

Sorting all my stuff out made me start to think about all the people who had come into my life and touched it. You meet loads of people, make lots of friends but sometimes you don't stay in touch, despite having the best of intentions.

I realised I wanted to thank them all for being part of my life and being my friend, that's why I decided to organise and go to my own wake. The next day I also want to ring up those who don't turn up and ask why, as a joke.

Strength

I do consider myself lucky and have had a hell of a life compared to some other people. My wake is not about mourning my loss, it is about celebrating that life. I have a chance to do that and others don't.

My wake is on 17 March, I have been given until May to live. It will be at Swindon Town Football Club. I have always been a supporter so it seemed a fitting place to hold it. I'm selling tickets and will give the money to charity.

There's a disco and a charity auction, but the rest of the evening will be off-the-cuff. I just want it to be a happy night.

I will stand up and say a few words during the evening and I know that's when the emotion will really kick in. I can't imagine looking people in the eye knowing it is the last time I will see many of them.

People's reaction to what I am doing has been superb. My daughters say they have taken strength from my attitude.

Someone I met at the football club the other day asked me if I was "the Andy". When I said yes he showed me his diary, in big letters he had written "inspirational man" under 17 March. He wanted eight tickets for the wake, which made me happy.

I find it all a bit baffling and don't understand what all the fuss is about. I don't see myself as brave, people die everyday. I am grateful for the time I have left and want to make the most of it. I just want to say thank you.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6361683.stm

 

[Kondoru]

Thats brilliant.

I never got the chance to say goodbye to my mother when she died (she was not that old either, 54)

 

[rynner2]

Oldest worker backs Sir Menzies

Britain's oldest worker, 100-year-old van cleaner Buster Martin, has told Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell to ignore jibes about his age.
Sir Menzies, who has faced questions about whether he is too old, at 65, to lead his party, said he drew inspiration from Mr Martin.

He said his story showed how people were living longer, healthier lives.

Mr Martin welcomed Sir Menzies' remarks, saying "age should not be a barrier when it comes to work".

Sir Menzies, who earlier marked his first year as Lib Dem leader, with a speech on law and order at the party's spring conference in Harrrogate, has faced constant questions about his age.

In an interview with the BBC, he said he felt he was being discriminated against and would not be treated this way if he was "black, female or gay".

He also stressed he was in excellent shape physically and mentally. Speaking earlier, he said he drew inspiration from people like Mr Martin.

"There was a guy in the paper who is still working aged 100. I am not necessarily anticipating that, but people live longer, they are healthier, they are intellectually more acute."

He will also draw comfort from a BBC Newsnight poll, which suggested most voters did not see his age as an issue.

The ICM poll said 9% of people who responded thought Sir Menzies' age was an advantage, 22% thought it was a disadvantage and 67% thought it made no difference.

Welcoming Sir Menzies remarks, Mr Martin said: "I don't see myself as special or different, I just know that I have to keep on working as it will be boredom that will be the end of me rather than anything else.

"Age should never be a barrier when it comes to work. I'm sure Sir Menzies at 65 agrees with that."

A former market trader who married in 1920 and has 17 children, Mr Martin began work at Pimlico Plumbers in south London three years ago because he was bored.

Ben Ramm, of The Liberal magazine, who has been a critic of Sir Menzies, said it was not his physical age that was seen as a problem by some in the party but the "lethargic" quality of his leadership.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6413961.stm

 

[rynner2]

Another oldie, from the other end of the social spectrum
(but somehow I feel they'd get on well together):

A LESSON IN HOW TO LIVE YOUR LIFE TO THE FULL

11:00 - 10 March 2007

The grounds of Flete House are bathed in spring sunshine. From the grand, castellated structure glimpses of the River Erme can be seen glittering below, while beyond the church spires of Ugborough and Modbury draw the eye towards the distance.

Lady Milverton's lounge glows in the late morning light; the room a pleasant distillation of her 102 years.

There is a grand piano she gave up playing when a three-month trip abroad interrupted her practising; photographs and mementoes of a previous Colonial life; and paintings - some her own - revealing the hand of a skilled artist who only started art classes in her late seventies.

She rises from her favourite armchair, strategically placed to catch the sun. "I like the sun," she beams, eyes twinkling and arm outstretched for a handshake.

She is dressed casually in cream slacks, blouse and a fuchsia-pink cardigan.

The angle of the light emphasises her sweep of thick white hair, elegantly drawn back with a clasp. And those small emerald-coloured earrings seem to hint at a cheery disposition which is borne out by a face frequently on the brink of a smile or ready laugh.

Lady Milverton has lived at Flete House for 27 years.

Her mother died when she was four, and her life, which divides into very defined chapters, has been a fantastic odyssey beginning at a small Bath boarding school which she left at 17 to join her father in Penang in 1921.

"I was very young to leave school but father didn't think that mattered."

Six years later, against her father's wishes, she married Arthur Richards, 20 years her senior.

"My father kicked me out of the house because I got married, if you please!

"That isn't a very happy thing to happen. My father said: 'It's me or him'. So I said: 'It's him'."

Her husband soared through the Colonial ranks to become Governor of North Borneo (1930), Gambia (1933), Fiji (1936) followed, two years later, by Governor of Jamaica which he left in 1943. In 1944 he was appointed Governor of Nigeria, the most senior of the Colonial Office posts. He was created a peer in the Birthday Honours list of 1947 and retired that year when he and Lady Milverton settled back in England.

Lord Milverton then began a second career in politics and was extremely active in the House of Lords, still visiting it four days a week in his ninetieth year. He died in 1978. Throughout his retirement Lady Milverton was increasingly in demand as a patron of various charities including the YWCA.

At the beginning of their long marriage the Bath school years had done little to prepare her for Colonial protocols, but, through necessity, she became a swift learner.

"I was glad I had a husband that knew the ways of the world, and I would do what he asked. If I was married to a young man I would think that I knew as much as he did and things would not have worked out," she says, the sentence ending in one of her infectious laughs. "I had come from a little school where I was taught to respect one's betters and elders.

"Now, people were all curtsying to me while I was trying to open doors and curtsy them!" says Lady Milverton who derived much amusement from this etiquette impasse.

"Instead of obedience to my elders and betters they were paying obedience to me. It was too ridiculous for words!"

Despite the obligatory entertaining and carefully orchestrated dinner parties that were de rigueur Colonial Service duties, Lady Milverton admits at heart she was really a reserved person.

"I was very shy by nature. I had to overcome it and that isn't as easy as it sounds. But my husband was an uncommonly understanding person. In fact, I can say he was outstanding. I have never met another man equal to him."

In those pre-war days the British Empire was a far-reaching power that drew much reverence from colonial countries.

"My husband was representing His Majesty. He was representing the throne. Even if you went to the cinema in Singapore the band would stop playing and strike up the National Anthem. They revered the English. Oh, yes, there was great respect," she recalls.

"I was thrown from one extreme to another. I had been brought up in a school run by two spinster ladies. You know the type, and you can imagine the upbringing. They demanded very strict respect."

Looking back on a life full of challenges and changes Lady Milverton does not single out a time when she was most happy. There were volatile times. The riots in Jamaica being one of them when Lord Milverton was transferred from Fiji because he was considered strong enough to deal with it.

"There were dangerous undercurrents. I have such a foolish trust in human nature that I didn't even consider the risks. My grandmother was a charming old lady and she said to me: there is good in their worst of us and bad in the best of us. And that rather sums up human nature."

Lady Milverton is a great admirer of good manners.

"If one thing makes me angry it would be if someone was rude to me - and I cannot remember being made angry."

She recalls how, in those distant days abroad, everyone, whatever their social station, had what she calls natural manners.

"Even the lowest fishermen in their little boats had natural manners. They weren't smarmy. Smarmy people are loathsome."

She says her school put manners almost above academics. They invented a manners badge and gave it out at the end of term to the girl with the best manners.

"I cannot remember if I got one but I know I was in the first three so I was pleased with myself. I think if I was first I would have remembered that!"

She is philosophical about coping with things as you go through life. While she and her husband were occupied abroad with the Colonial Service their three children were kept in a succession of boarding schools which they loathed.

"You had to pay for the Empire. We had the biggest Empire of any country and we all paid the price for it. This was the price parents in the Colonial Service paid," she said.

"I have always tried to be happy as far as I can. My husband once said you take your happiness with you. It is not the exterior which creates the happiness, happiness comes from within where ever you are."

Enjoying where she has been and always sad to leave, she has also been equally glad to join a new venture whatever and wherever it was.

Lady Milverton has always tried to live life to the full. She leans forward in her chair, her hair haloed in sunlight as she imparts the secret of her happiness.

"I love life. Living it at the moment. Loving yesterday, looking forward to tomorrow, but living for today. Don't let yesterday or tomorrow interfere with today because you only live now."

http://tinyurl.com/2fxdpy

 

[rynner2]

Of course, you get reprobate oldies:

PENSIONER DROVE AT 127MPH

11:00 - 10 March 2007

Roger Giles, 65, was banned from driving for four months and ordered to pay more than £1,000 in fines and court costs after he was "clocked" breaking the 70mph speed limit between Deep Lane and Marsh Mills on the afternoon of February 2 last year.

Giles, of Courtyard Cottages, Ivybridge, South Devon, was later summoned by police but denied charges of speeding and, as a vehicle keeper, failing to supply the identity of a driver.

Giles, a former electronics technician at Plymouth University, did not attend Plymouth Magistrates Court yesterday for the hearing but was represented by barrister Matthew Hodson.

When finding Giles guilty on both counts in his absence, chairman of the magistrates bench, Brian Bailey, said the speed Giles had driven at was "manifestly too high".

They had been shown pictures from the speed detection camera, showing the driver of the Volkswagon Touareg and his female front-seat passenger as it went past at 127mph.

Giles did not respond to summons' posted to him and two police officers went to his address on April 26 and charged him with speeding and failing to supply details as to the vehicle's driver, the court heard.

PC Duncan Russell and PC David Williams said they recognised Giles when they went to his Ivybridge home as being the same person pictured driving the car and that the female passenger was Giles' wife.

They said that Giles was cautioned before he was charged. Mr Hodson claimed the officers did not ask for formal identification of the person they were talking to on the doorstep and could not be sure that the speeding photographs and the man on the doorstep were the same.

PC Russell told the court: "He was identified verbally as Mr Giles and there was no doubt at all that the person in the pictures and Mr Giles were the same.''

Mr Hodson also claimed no official caution was given before the charges were made and that the officers didn't ask the person on the doorstep to sign any comments made in their notebooks. Magistrates told him they believed the police officers had been fair and clear in their questioning and that Giles and the man pictured were the same

Giles was fined £350 for speeding, plus six penalty points on his licence, with a £300 fine for failing to provide details of the driver. He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £400, and was given 28 days to pay the total of £1,050.

Giles was also given a four-month driving ban.

http://tinyurl.com/2nkwlm

 

[Kondoru]

Why I will be at my own wake


When you are told you have just months to live what do you do? Andy Fitchett, 56, decided to organise his own wake and is hosting it.
I'm a lucky man and have had a lucky life. Many people don't get a chance to say goodbye to people when they die but I have.

Hes passed on. We remembered him at the football ground yesterday, as he would have wanted; not by a minutes silence, but by the loudest cheering possible.

 

[rynner2]

Hes passed on. We remembered him at the football ground yesterday, as he would have wanted; not by a minutes silence, but by the loudest cheering possible.

Hurrah! Hurrah! (Throws hat in air, etc.) 8)

 

[rynner2]

Geriatrics required: bomb disposal, asbestos removal etc
Matthew Parris: My Week

I missed the Oldie of the Year awards this week, and may not be invited next year, as the following proposal may put some wrinkled noses out of joint. It came to me on reading a recent Times report. Headlined “Old and foolish”, it quoted Foreign Office research showing that “the over50s are huge risk-takers on overseas trips. One in four is prepared to consider swimming with sharks on their holidays . . . Not enough over-50s are protecting themselves against medical disaster, yet they are more adventurous than ever. Other activities in which respondents expressed interest included bungee jumping, abseiling and skydiving . . .”

When the Foreign Office has finished huffing and puffing about this, may I quietly point out that such behaviour is entirely logical? The older you get, the less reason there is to worry about risk to life or limb, because less of your natural life remains. Assuming our natural span to be (say) 84, a youngster of 14 has five sixths of his life left to live. At 56 I am at least two thirds of the way there (and maybe closer, given that my father and his father both had massive heart attacks at 58 ).

Why take out fully comp insurance on a clapped-out old banger with 150,000 miles on the clock? Dad survived his heart attack (just) and was in his seventies when Chernobyl blew up and brave young Ukrainian firefighters went in, risking the after-effects of radiation. “Why send young people?” Dad asked. “Why not old men like me, with less time left to contract cancer?” Dad suggested that an employment agency be set up, with only geriatrics on its books — available for hire for cleaning up chemical spills or removing the asbestos from buildings.

I agree. On the same principle, the elderly ought to be up for laboratory testing, or mine clearing, bomb disposal, testing new designs of parachutes or exploring caves. I am. I tried my first freefall parachute jump over Hawaii a few years ago, and went paragliding in Switzerland only last year. I’ve just asked my friend Tom (28 ) on what odds of perishing he’d accept a free flight to Mars and back. “One in a hundred,” he says.

I’d accept it at one in ten. Honestly. Hell, life is sweet, but what a way to go!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 517297.ece

I seem to recall that a few years ago a group of aged nuclear experts did volunteer to form an investigation team for nuclear accidents, but for some reason TPTB turned them down. (Probably was around the time of Chernobyl, 1984)

(Edited twice to correct the effect of having an '8' next to a 'close bracket' sign in the original text - it brings up 8) on here!

 

[escargot]

Sounds like the plot of 'Space Cowboys'! :lol:

 

[rynner2]

Lots to buy if you watched with mother
Ben Hoyle, Arts Reporter

From Bill and Ben to Muffin the Mule, Andy Pandy and a treasure trove of Dan Dare memorabilia, Mike Williams’s toy collection is enough to moisten the eyes of many baby-boomers.

But on Monday it will all go under the hammer at Christie’s in South Kensington, the latest evidence of a golden age for vintage toy sales. Split into 250 lots, many of them very rare, the collection is expected to raise up to £60,000.

Mr Williams, 64, a retired company director, said that he had always collected for love, not money, but was selling now because his adult children were not interested in the toys of his childhood.

“They would probably pat me on the head and say thanks very much but they wouldn’t really want them.”

For men and women of a certain age though, his toys can unleash a flurry of happy memories. “They evoke a period of time much slower and more pleasant. There’s a lot of feeling that goes with them.”

Hugo Marsh, head of Chris-tie’s toy department, described the collection as “a time capsule”, redolent of a vanished era of British toy manufacturing before the industry was undercut by imports.

“It’s rather like recreating a 1950s or 1960s nursery. To see all of these toys displayed together is really very moving.” The Flowerpot men, Muffin the Mule and Andy Pandy are in Lot 119, which also includes a Looby Lou, a Teddy and a Billy Bean.

Other star attractions include a rare boxed set of lead figures to tie in with Walt Disney’s 1938 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and board games from the early 1900s.

Christie’s has taken more than £5 million in toy sales since 2000, with the vast majority of items sold dating from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Toy story . . .


— The BBC began broadcasting television programmes for children in 1946

— Watch with Mother was the idea of Freda Lingstrom, the corporation’s former head of children’s programming. It ran from 1953 to 1973

— The classic lineup included Andy Pandy, Muffin the Mule and The Flower Pot Men

— Andy Pandy, a puppet in a clown outfit, was made by an old man in Lingstrom's village

— Muffin the Mule started the postwar industry in character merchandise with games, toys, and books linked to the series becoming bestsellers

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 555762.ece

 

[lupinwick]

I kind of like these stories....

LOS ANGELES - Until two weeks ago, Ruth Ebert never had the slightest interest in the video games favored by her one and only granddaughter.

"I'm 82 years old, so I missed that part of our culture. Soap operas, yes. Video games, no," chirped Ebert, who recently started playing a tennis game on Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s new Wii video game console at the Virginia retirement community she calls home.

"It was funny, because normally I would not be someone who would do that," said Ebert, who picked up the console's motion-sensing Wiimote and challenged the machine to a match.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17753137/

 

[rynner2]

25-year mortgage for a man aged 102
By David Harrison, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:00am GMT 25/03/2007

A 102-year-old has been granted a 25-year, £200,000 mortgage. It will run until he is 127.

The pensioner, from East Sussex, is believed to be the oldest person in the UK to be granted a mortgage. The revelation was greeted with alarm by debt advisors.

He faces repayments of £958 a month on the interest-only loan and intends to pay them from rental income and make money from the property's increase in value over time.

He is said to want "to get into buy-to-let" and to become a late-in-life property entrepreneur. :shock:

The man, who has not been named, is one of thousands of pensioners, including many in their seventies and eighties, now borrowing huge sums of money to buy property.

Most lenders will now give mortgages to over-65s who fulfil the lending criteria but impose an age limit of 75. A handful, however - Bristol & West, Woolwich, Preferred and Mortgage Trust - have no age limit. "It's a new phenomenon," said Jonathan Moore, of Kent-based Mortgages for Business, the broker that arranged the loan for the 102-year-old and has given mortgages to hundreds of pensioners.

"Even five years ago anybody over 65 would have been hard-pushed to get any kind of mortgage. But lenders have eased their restrictions to keep in step with the market."

Pensioners' charities warned that the trend for giving 25-year mortgages to over-65s could lead to debt problems that would cause stress and damage the borrowers' health.

Gordon Lishman, the director-general of Age Concern, said: "It's crucial that people think through the long-term implications of taking out a mortgage in or near retirement. Changes in circumstances, such as retirement, illness and disability, divorce and bereavement can all -contribute to debt problems in later life.

"Anyone who is considering taking out a mortgage in later life should fully explore the other options, speak to an independent financial adviser, and contact their local Age Concern to ensure they are not missing out on any money benefits."

A spokesman for the Citizen's Advice Bureau said: "Taking out huge loans later in life can lead to serious problems. Borrowers must be extremely cautious and lenders must not be irresponsible or the consequences could be horrendous."

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said it had relaxed its lending criteria because many pensioners were able to afford the repayments through rental or other income.

Mr Moore said: "Many over-65s take out mortgages to invest in buy-to-let because the pensions crisis has left them with insufficient income. Obviously there is an element of risk if property prices and rental income suddenly fall but there is no sign of that at the moment."

He said many pensioners took out loans and invested in partnership with their children who would take on or sell the properties when their parents died.

Richard Shone, 75, from north London, has taken out a 25-year interest-only mortgage of £120,000 - due to be paid off when he reaches 100 - to buy property in his area.

He and his wife, Janet, 73, plan to add the property to their portfolio of 10 "buy-to-let" homes which they have built up since they retired.

Mr Shone, a retired maths teacher, insists he does not lie awake at night worrying about his loans, which total hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"It's like playing Monopoly, but with real houses," he said. "It can be quite stressful. But I enjoy it."

There are also tax advantages. Many pensioners will remortgage to give money to their children or grandchildren. This will also lower the value of the estate and perhaps put it below the threshold for inheritance tax which was raised to £350,000 from 2010 in last week's Budget.

http://tinyurl.com/3bgwcq

 

[Timble2]

25-year mortgage for a man aged 102
By David Harrison, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:00am GMT 25/03/2007

A 102-year-old has been granted a 25-year, £200,000 mortgage. It will run until he is 127.

The pensioner, from East Sussex, is believed to be the oldest person in the UK to be granted a mortgage. The revelation was greeted with alarm by debt advisors.

He faces repayments of £958 a month on the interest-only loan and intends to pay them from rental income and make money from the property's increase in value over time.

He is said to want "to get into buy-to-let" and to become a late-in-life property entrepreneur. :shock: .....

This chap deserves some sort of award for being the most optimistic person on the planet...

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

25-year mortgage for a man aged 102
By David Harrison, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:00am GMT 25/03/2007

...

He is said to want "to get into buy-to-let" and to become a late-in-life property entrepreneur. :shock: .....

This chap deserves some sort of award for being the most optimistic person on the planet...

Or possibly, for being the most persuasive!

 

[rynner2]

Weather list enters the computer age
By Philip Eden
Last Updated: 2:24am BST 03/04/2007

The compiling of the list of weather reports from around Britain is moving into the 21st century.

The temperature, rainfall and sunshine will, from now on, be measured electronically, transmitted by computer, and put together automatically, although humans will still be involved in the quality control process.

The Met Office, which until now had compiled the daily list of reports by hand, as it had done for more than 100 years, has withdrawn from supplying newspapers with weather information. "for economic reasons".

advertisementThe Daily Telegraph's supplier of weather information for the past 10 years, MeteoGroup UK, will now compile its own weather reports from the network of automated weather-recording sites around the country.

Many towns and cities in the old list of reports will remain, but there will be some changes, with rather fewer coastal resorts and a larger number of inland locations.

Weather recording at British resorts has been in decline for many years: local authorities have found it difficult to justify the costs and have had problems getting staff to read the thermometers on Saturdays and Sundays.

Around 30 of these sites have been closed down over the past two decades.

Long gone from the reports are Whitstable, Whitby and Worthing, and the last few years have also witnessed the passing of Morecambe, Penzance, Poole and Llandudno.

The new network of recording sites will be more robust, with fewer errors and fewer missed reports.

http://tinyurl.com/3479hc

So another part of my life slips quietly away into the history books.
When I was in the Coastguard, in the years up to about 1980 we were paid a little extra by the Met Office for making regular weather reports, including things like max and min temperatures, wind speed and direction, rainfall, etc. At night we had a vertically aimed spotlight, and we could measure the cloud height from the angle we saw the spot on the cloud base.

Since we kept 24 hour watch, we were always there, and we only missed making weather reports in cases of intensive emergency work. We sent our data, encoded, on a teletype machine. One time I sent the regular report, in a time of storm force winds, and I added in plain text on the end that we were getting reports of structural damage in the region, and got tku as reply.

That was the last report we sent for several hours, because a ship got into trouble shortly after, and was eventually wrecked on our patch!

 

[filcee]

...I added in plain text on the end that we were getting reports of structural damage in the region, and got tku as reply...

TKU?

Also, my eldest nephew turns 25 this week. He has two lads of his own, and still calls me 'Uncle Phil'. That makes me feel old...

 

[Pete Younger]

Also, my eldest nephew turns 25 this week. He has two lads of his own, and still calls me 'Uncle Phil'. That makes me feel old...

Presumably his lads call you great uncle Phil?