When you see someone in a photo and think "he looks familiar" then realise that it is a son of friends who you have known since friends was younger than son is now. Yes he looks very much like his dad but once I had sussed that I could see his mum in him too.
In my defence I was a teenager when I first met his parents and they were not married yet.
I am a driving instructor. I was recently on a lesson with a lady in her 30s. I pointed out the house where Ronnie Corbett lived. Her response was “Who’s Ronnie Corbett?”
I am a driving instructor. I was recently on a lesson with a lady in her 30s. I pointed out the house where Ronnie Corbett lived. Her response was “Who’s Ronnie Corbett?”
After listening to some Goon Shows recently I remembered my parents disapproving of me listening to the early broadcasts. Mid 50s, it must have been, and I still love the Goons. It was my parents' fault - they had given me a second-hand wartime utility 3-valve radio.
I was a teensy bit young for the Goons. But I remember Life with the Lyons, Educating Archie, The Clitheroe Kid and The Navy Lark. Largely because there wasn't a lot else to listen to in the way of comedy. But the ones I really found amusing were Take It From Here and Beyond Our Ken/Round the Horne.
I. remember Forces Family Favourites and the Navy Lark on the radio on a Sunday lunchtime and High Chapparal, The Black and White Minstrel Show and Morecombe and Wise on the Tele
I met up with an old uni friend yesterday, she is 2 years younger than me but doesn't wear glasses and colours her hair. Someone at the station thought I was her mother. I feel VERY old now 😬😆
Obviously one of the signs of getting old is when you make cultural references that you think are broadly contemporary, or at least people will get them. And then someone reminds you that they were decades ago, and that there are people over 18 who will have ni idea.
Eldest Beaky grandchild is in the middle of her GCSE exams.
I so clearly remember her mother doing the same almost 30 years ago.
I don't feel this old but the proof, I fear, is irrefutable!
I just heard someone on the radio say something about working on the Croydon Tramlink “many years ago”. It can’t possibly be many years ago, as the Tramlink only opened in 2000 … oh, hang on a sec
New bus stations have been announced for Bradford and Wakefield. It seems only recently that new ones were opened- but then I did leave Yorkshire 12 years ago and the new ones were built at some point probably long before that.
I remember the exact moment when I realised that my eyes could no longer focus on objects very close up. I was standing on the roof of a helicopter (in the hangar...) trying to look down into a component of the rotating controls of the main rotor (it was a Bell 412). I had always been proud of my ability to focus on anything from distant to a few inches from my nose. It was nearly 40 years ago, but that memory stayed with me.
Yesterday I read that Val McDiarmid has just turned 70. I didn't think she was that old I remarked I thought she was only about ten years older than me. Oh, wait.
We have a new member of staff at work. She's eighteen, so I have to keep mentally translating cultural references from before she was born (like comparing using the shop tannoy to Hi-Di-Hi!)
Thanks that was interesting, not what I imagined at all - I didn’t realise it had anything to do with tennis. It looked to be as if it were played on a smaller court ?
The court is about the size of a badminton court. It's primarily played in doubles other than at the professional level. The port originated in 1965. It's the fastest growing sport in North America. I took it up 3 years ago after 50 years of playing tennis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickleball
A good one dropped on us this morning... Had to renew the travel insurance, a necessity, especially if you have to go to the USA. The annual premium for both of us was almost as much as the fares from Toronto to Glasgow a few weeks ago. That's what you get for both being 75+ and healthy. It's important - we have friends and family in the UK who can no longer afford the insurance for coming to visit us.
I am sure I'm not alone in this, but it's the death of a celebrity who has "been around forever", coupled with the the sinking in of the information that performers that I enjoy are a similar age to my children, or born in that period when I was a young adult before having kids. Urk!
Our church had a youth camp this weekend. I didn't camp but I did join them last night for their campfire and singsong. I've just looked at some video footage and thought, "Gosh, is that really me?".
I remember the exact moment when I realised that my eyes could no longer focus on objects very close up. I was standing on the roof of a helicopter (in the hangar...) trying to look down into a component of the rotating controls of the main rotor (it was a Bell 412). I had always been proud of my ability to focus on anything from distant to a few inches from my nose. It was nearly 40 years ago, but that memory stayed with me.
Same idea, but (much) less glamorous - my head was stuck in a wheel-arch and I was trying to look at a brake calliper. I couldn't get my head far enough from it, to see it. And glasses for that kind of thing are such a pain - getting oily, falling off when your head is upside-down, swarf-scratches and all that - and they only seem to work for me at one distance so I end up with a short pair, a long pair, or (both together) a very short pair(s). It gets me down a bit, and I try to remember Marilynne Robinson's character of the grandfather in Gilead who, when someone comments that he lost an eye in the civil war, replies that he prefers to remember that he kept one.
The passenger seat in our car is stuck full-forwards. It involves looking at something upside-down from very close in, in the dark. I think it's going to stay stuck for a while, and given the car is 20 years old, if the while is long enough I might not need to fix it
I used to help the local vicar (long since departed) with the Followers group, our version of Sunday school. There was a cheeky little boy there - the pleasant sort of cheeky. This morning I saw a picture of him putting up shelves in a local bookshop, all grown up!
This morning, I heard an exchange on the radio. It was a sports-talk show called "Maggie & Perloff." The production staff also chime in every now and then. One of the staff, Manny, is often mentioned for being young. This morning, Maggie was discussing when she was on a sports beat in Washington, DC:
Maggie: That was 20 years ago. I don't want to think about that.
Manny: I turned 28 on Friday.
Maggie (sounding aggrieved): I know, Manny! I know!
Having carelessly lost your wife in the large supermarket you then have to find her and our trolley. You espy her in the distance and creep up behind the old lady with her trolley, wielding your pain au chocalat. You give her a merry, 'H Babe!' and a peck on the top of her head. She turns around. It's not Mrs RR.
This being Waitrose it all ended amicably .... but really!
When "It is probably somewhere upstairs" translates to "I will go and look when I go to bed". Because going up the stairs more than necessary is Not Happening.
A group of us were staying in a lovely old house where the toilet still had its original high level cistern with long chain. Some passing hiking teenagers asked if they could make use of the "facilities". One girl came out and politely asked "how do you flush it?"
A group of us were staying in a lovely old house where the toilet still had its original high level cistern with long chain. Some passing hiking teenagers asked if they could make use of the "facilities". One girl came out and politely asked "how do you flush it?"
My wife still talks about "pulling the plug" even though we have the conventional low-level cisterns. I think it's quite a normal Scottish turn of phrase.
My son's house, built in the mid-1960s. still has a high-level cistern in one "facility".
Yes, my ex-council house was built in 1950 and has an outside loo as well as an inside one. It’s fully functional with a high cistern; I want Mr Heavenly to clear out his building materials from it so I can use it now I have a garden office nearby.
A group of us were staying in a lovely old house where the toilet still had its original high level cistern with long chain. Some passing hiking teenagers asked if they could make use of the "facilities". One girl came out and politely asked "how do you flush it?"
It is also funny when young people try to figure out how use a dial phone.
Not so suddenly, but definitely feeling old and making decisions in accordance with my age, I turned down a last minute invitation to join my son on his canal boat. I had just about psyched myself up to do the journey, but didn’t feel I had the agility to be climbing on and off the boat or walking on the towpath in this heat.
I don’t want to feel old, but sometimes one has to admit one’s limitations.
@Puzzler, So true, I look fine and can walk with ease, but the energy is no longer there, and climbing up a few steps into the higher part of my patio is not something I now do with ease.
I realized last night that, for the sake of my back, it was probably not a good idea to go on the Sea Viper roller-coaster at the amusement park last night. So I didn't.
I realized last night that, for the sake of my back, it was probably not a good idea to go on the Sea Viper roller-coaster at the amusement park last night. So I didn't.
To me it's never a good idea to go on a roller coaster. It has nothing to do with my age; I've been on one once (when I was in my late 20s), and that was once too many.
Comments
In my defence I was a teenager when I first met his parents and they were not married yet.
Maybe she had just overlooked him?
I am as old as the Doctor - a few months older actually. And given that he is over 900, I think that classifies me as old....
Best not, given what the judge said when you were done for it.
Sigh.
Historical walks are not good for historical heels.
What *is* pickle ball, and what does it have to with gherkins ?
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I so clearly remember her mother doing the same almost 30 years ago.
I don't feel this old but the proof, I fear, is irrefutable!
Thanks that was interesting, not what I imagined at all - I didn’t realise it had anything to do with tennis. It looked to be as if it were played on a smaller court ?
Same idea, but (much) less glamorous - my head was stuck in a wheel-arch and I was trying to look at a brake calliper. I couldn't get my head far enough from it, to see it. And glasses for that kind of thing are such a pain - getting oily, falling off when your head is upside-down, swarf-scratches and all that - and they only seem to work for me at one distance so I end up with a short pair, a long pair, or (both together) a very short pair(s). It gets me down a bit, and I try to remember Marilynne Robinson's character of the grandfather in Gilead who, when someone comments that he lost an eye in the civil war, replies that he prefers to remember that he kept one.
The passenger seat in our car is stuck full-forwards. It involves looking at something upside-down from very close in, in the dark. I think it's going to stay stuck for a while, and given the car is 20 years old, if the while is long enough I might not need to fix it
When you are recovering from hip replacement surgery...
Maggie: That was 20 years ago. I don't want to think about that.
Manny: I turned 28 on Friday.
Maggie (sounding aggrieved): I know, Manny! I know!
This being Waitrose it all ended amicably .... but really!
My son's house, built in the mid-1960s. still has a high-level cistern in one "facility".
It is also funny when young people try to figure out how use a dial phone.
Right! If they watch old movies, they know that you click on the hook a couple times while shouting "Operator! Operator!"
I don’t want to feel old, but sometimes one has to admit one’s limitations.