GROWING OLD!

[Thomo]

It is quite some time now since I last posted on here, this is not because I had lost interest, rather more to do with what has happened in my life since my last post. Most of which has been good, and the remainder, not so good.
Early in 2016 I was asked online by a good friend: "How do you know when you are getting old?" I recall that my answer was "When you are asked daft questions that may not be answered to your satisfaction online".
It is not easy to determine old age, and when it comes to questions like the one above, depends on the age of who is asking. The generally accepted norm used to be mid 60s or above, this has all changed.
To most of us who have managed to achieve Old Age status, the present day attitude towards us can be challenging if not abrasive. We are sometimes labelled as a burden on such things as the NHS, this is the more common label we are frequently tagged with. This can feel like a slap in the face, given that some of us predate the birth and well intentioned arrival of this much discussed organisation, and in respect of which we were not born free, unless Granny was a Midwife, and throughout our lives have contributed to it.
Those of us who are elderly probably have much to be thankful for, we are still here! One thing that most of us have is experience, in whatever form it comes, this I still believe is far more useful to not only ourselves, but the current generation, if they care to ask.
Change is inevitable if life is go to on, it is a part of evolution, but should not come about without due consideration to the effect it may have on those of us who have been here a long time.
Fortunately there are still some aspects of change that can be amusing, or simply downright crazy, depending on ones sense of humour, or lack of it. One of my favourites comes under the heading of "Job Description", this occurs quite often in TV game shows, for example "The Chase" when such titles as Environmental Recycling Operative replaces dustbin man, or Customer Experience Manager, AKA checkout person.
So, What are your favourite gripes, or simply the thoughts of a more mature inhabitant of this land?

[Gloria]

One of my favourite gripes are people who walk straight at you, see you coming, and make no effort to move aside. its as though we are invisible.

[plaques]

Some time ago I read that the aboriginei people of Australia didn't measure age in the standard chronological way but the physical and mental attributes that a person displayed. This gave rise to the apparent anomalies that a young person could be classified as old and an old person as young. In today's wolrd its common to hear an older person profess to know nothing about computers and the latest whiz bang technology yet they will happily use a mobile phone, surf the net for the latest bargains and buy their groceries online. Go into any library and 90% of the customers appear to be over retirement age. Ask them to assess the relative merits of different savings rates and they will usually be spot on. Credit cards? yes, but pay it off immediately, why? bloody obvious is the reply. Ask Theresa May's crowd why they thought they could pull the wool over the old folks eyes. Because we are young and they are old. Which all goes to show there's some pretty lively dead wood out there I can tell you.
Nice to hear from you again Thomo.

[Tripps]

Hello again Thomo - welcome back. We need some new blood, even if recycled, and a new topic is welcome.. I guess this one will suit the site demographic, and could be a rich seam.

I think I qualified this afternoon when I set off the security alarm on exiting Tesco. This is the second such happening in just a few weeks. The security man said - 'maybe there is a security tag which hasn't been taken off?' 'I doubt it' said I and showed him the three bananas, a cucumber, a bag of liquorice allsorts, two small cheese cakes, and a bunch of flowers I'd bought.

He then decided I must have some metal about my person - I pleaded 'not guilty'.
He then asked if I'd had surgery, and had perhaps a new knee joint. I said that was on the right lines there, but how would metal set off the alarm, and what would happen if I bought something made of metal. He didn't seem to understand such a subtle argument, and since I was rapidly turning into Victor Meldrew, I thanked him for his time and left.

[Stanley]

I don't really have any problems apart from the fact that the various 'experts' we have to deal with seem to forget that you probably know more about the subject they recently did a training course on than they do. I remember in particular a young lady from British Gas giving me a lecture on the placement of a master thermostat for the CH which was totally wrong and being very angry when I told her why. I have no doubt she classed me as 'difficult'. I don't think it helped when I told her the last gas boilers I had dealt with weighed 40 tons.... I suspect I was quite unkind to her, I should have made allowances..... Mind you, when they see the shed and my books they generally go quiet.

[chinatyke]

Welcome back, Thomo. Nice to hear from you. Hope everything is going well for you.

Old age? My hero character is Compo Simmonite in Last of the Summer Wine. I think if you act old you get old very quickly. There are fifty and sixty year old people who seem to be old relics and then there are fools like me and Compo with an age of around 12. I don't regard myself as old (others might!). Keep young and active and enjoy our golden time, we've earned it. I guess good health has a lot to do with how we cope at any age. Anyway, I'm not ready to hang up my clogs just yet. When I was in Hong Kong last week the sole of one shoe came loose. My daughter advised buying another pair. I told her "I'll glue it when I get back home, these shoes have to last me through."
"Through what?" she asked.
"Life" I replied.
I better make a good job of the repair!

[Cathy]

Many years ago I had a neighbour who had retired (60-65ish), she kept herself busy and involved with people and family. When I started volunteering 4 years ago she recognised me and we have been on the same lunch table for most of that time. Very recently she retired from volunteering but often pops in for lunch.Today she was talking about her birthday. She is 80yrs old. We were all so suprized. She doesn't look it , is very healthy, and said that she just needs to slow down 'a bit'.

[Moh]

Much of the trouble is the mind thinks you are younger than you are but the body lets you down.

[Thomo]

Many thanks to you all for you kind remarks and comments. There is much more to follow and I hope that it will be of general interest, if slightly tongue in cheek, and maybe not always politically correct.
Stanley's remark about Experts is very close to my own feelings. It would appear that to define that word accurately possibly requires a degree in psychology, I like this old one which only needs the changing of one letter and the addition of another. "Expert" then becomes "Exspurt" sic, An Ex is an "Has been" and a "spurt" is a drip under pressure.

[plaques]

THERE'S NO ONE WITH ENDURANCE (LIKE THE MAN WHO SELLS INSURANCE). As we all know insurance is covering the possible risk that an event may or may not take place. Fair enough, you assess the odds and possibly for some peace of mind you may buy into it. Simple endowment insurance with a lump some at the end of a fixed period is slightly different and more predictable. Salesmen /women who come along tap their calculator and then with an expression of amazement declare you will get £XX on maturity. The last time this happened I kept a dead pan face, asked for the calculator, tapped in the current interest rate over the period and said "Yes but at the bank I would get £XXX". This brought the consultation to an end. Old folk aren't supposed to know about these things.

[Tripps]

If it was an endowment policy - comparing it to a bank deposit is not the full story. If you died after making the first payment, the endowment policy would pay the sum assured. The bank would just give you your first payment back. the difference has to be funded - hence the apparent shortfall. At least that's how I understood it. I have been well served by two endowment mortgage policies, though the sums involved sound laughable now.

[plaques]

Yes I know. But I wasn't thinking of dying and the probability proved me right. Some endowments are complicated with 'with profits' which may or may not become available to your account. All very iffy. Its back to the 'experts' theme where lurking in the background is the old commission bogey which tends to act against you. I only know one person who profited from a mortgage insurance, His wife died. Please don't take that the wrong way.

[Tripps]

But I wasn't thinking of dying

No one is - and Stanley told us recently he's not going to.

You don't trust anyone do you? And I thought I was sceptical. You don't have to die to profit from an endowment policy, I'm an example of that - so now you know two people who profited. The 'with profits' element was assigned to the policy every year, and once assigned couldn't be taken away. So you knew what progress you were making, on an annual basis.

Another benefit was that the mortgage was 'interest only', and when rates soared, they didn't increase the payments, just extended the term.

[Stanley]

Trouble is David that modern Life Insurance is just that, they only pay out on death and the policy never has a surrender value. Also if you miss more than a minimum of payments the policy is extinguished. Like the old funeral policies.... One of the things I learned about the textile industry is that many of the manufacturers didn't pay engine and loss of profits insurance. They put the premiums into a contingency fund and for instance at Bishop House in Burnley when the engine went boggart and destroyed itself they just set Brown and Pickles on immediately to start the repairs and told them the price was immaterial. They trusted the firm and had the contingency fund that had accumulated over the years.....

[plaques]

You don't trust anyone do you? And I thought I was sceptical.

My scepticism started when I was very young. I've already mentioned the kids food parcels of WW2 ' Shirley Temple '3' Quasimodo '0'. Sunday school/ Boys Brigade sports day was another nail in the coffin. Being a reasonably athlete even at nine years old I expected a number of wins for my age group. It turned out slightly different, I didn't win anything, I had been put into the 13 year old group. Later when Dad arrived he asked "Why"? "Well he would have won all of his races". was the reply. It didn't seem to register with them that the lad who beat me won all his races.
But being born ugly does have its advantages. As you get older you don't deteriorate quite as visibly as the good looking ones do. I know my place!

[Thomo]

Growing Old is when suntan lotions etc. are replaced by E45, and Its when your idea of a good reality TV programme is Call the Midwife. It is also when you can look around you and wonder just how far some things will be pushed before major disaster occurs. My blood begins to boil a little when "Driverless Cars" are mentioned, it conjures up images of someone getting into their car to go shopping, and said car decides to go for a run in the countryside instead. There could of course be a positive side here, ie. the car takes its owners to a country pub, and when its time to go home again decides that they are over the limit and goes home without them.

[Tizer]

Great to hear from you again, Thomo, you've triggered a very active thread here! One thing I find as I grow older is that I re-read good books. In the library a few days ago I went to the counter to check out the books I'd chosen and it was not the usual librarian. She stopped part way through stamping them, picked out a book and said "You've already had that one" as if I was breaking a strict rule. Apparently the wonderful computer system now flags up any `already-read books'. I pointed out that I do read many good books more than once; she smiled and admitted to the same transgression, so we parted on good terms.

[Thomo]

Hi Tiz, upwards and onwards as always! For most of us who are fortunate to have achieved "Old Age" the downsides are not just obvious, but expected, these are usually physical and we have to deal with them, with a little help, the best way we can. Apart from the early morning aches and pains, my long range vision is as good as ever, but I need glasses for the short range stuff, oh yes, and a magnifying glass for the ever smaller telephone directories etc. My hearing is not quite so good, but not yet requiring an hearing aid. I am getting a bit tired of constantly having to say:- Pardon, could you repeat that, say again please or just "what" to they who know that I have a problem, but do not speak clearly, or even worse do so with their backs to me. On top of this my tolerance levels towards some things that are a common part of modern life have depreciated somewhat, communication probably being the main offender. I am not technophobic by any means, but I do believe that there a serious level of misuse of what is now readily available and frequently is a must have item. Top of this list is the mobile phone and all of the other similar devices, and it really gets up my nose when on the rare occasions that we have visitors, they cannot leave them alone. Recently we had two people here, sat side by side, and constantly using smart phones, both were texting to same person, all conversation between us and them was interrupted constantly. One of them developed a problem with their phone, I said "I can fix that for you", left the room and returned with a four pound lump hammer, neither could see the funny side of this!! When you know that two people in the same house are texting each other, it is sad, when they are both in the same room, it is just plain bloody ludicrous.

[Tizer]

My hearing is not quite so good, but not yet requiring an hearing aid. I am getting a bit tired of constantly having to say:- Pardon, could you repeat that, say again please or just "what" to they who know that I have a problem, but do not speak clearly, or even worse do so with their backs to me.

My father wouldn't accept that his hearing was failing and he kept thinking we were talking about him behind his back. He was always accusing us of mumbling and would have the TV blasting out on full volume all the time. When he finally got hearing aids he complained about all the noise. In fact the noise was normal, he'd just got used to being partly deaf. I wanted to avoid getting into that situation and so I've already got hearing aids. I don't wear them all the time but I need them for radio and TV, for when we socialise and when I'm out and about. It makes an amazing difference. The trouble is that we adapt to poorer hearing and so don't realise what we're missing. They're free on the NHS. Don't leave it too long Thomo!

[Tripps]

I triggered the alarm at Tesco again today. Having watched 'The Detectorists' we quickly did some research, passing various things including me across the sensor. Shopping cleared immediately. I failed. New security guard said 'try your wallet'. This was found to be the culprit. I'll leave them at home, selectively, to test - especially the prime suspect - the most recently acquired one.

[Wendyf]

Time to shop elsewhere Tripps, or perhaps you could develop some sort of protective shield for your dangerous new wallet.

[Tripps]

Sorry - I didn't express that too well. It's not the wallet itself, but one of the bank cards.

[Stanley]

If that happened to me David I'd be asking the firm to refund the cost of my shopping cart as compensation for being publicly humiliated! I once triggered the alarm at MSP and got into an interesting discussion with the security man about braces v suspenders. Two nations divided by a common language.....

[Thomo]

Which were you wearing Stanley?? With your love of books, I have several here that may interest you, two were given to me by Newton Pickles in the late 50s, and another is a 1930 copy of "General Engineering Workshop Practice". I will dig them all out and post a list on here. If any are of interest to you, just let me know which, and you can have them as I would wish them to have a good home.

In regard to this topic, there is still much to come, the difficulty is not remembering the content, it has more to do with breaking it down into "bite sized" pieces so that it does not become boring. Tomorrow will be another milestone for me in regard to age "Sunset Strip!" and in the afternoon I will have to face something that needs to be done soon. Last November my Sister died having recently turned 90, her Husband, my Brother in Law, already suffering from dementia and prostrate cancer, was taken into Cravenside Care Home, he is still there. The last time I saw him was at my Sisters funeral on the 8th of December. Here was the man who first came into my life 72 years ago when he was courting my Sister, and has been a valuable part of it ever since. Due to my own mobility and other problems, I have not had the opportunity to go and visit him, tomorrow may be my last chance. This will not be an easy thing to do as he may not remember me and there are many others there who are known to me.
This another of the down sides of Old Age.

[PanBiker]

Peter, do you need a lift? I have no problem in picking you up and running you home again if this would be a help. You have my number so just give me a ring.