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| In Trelawnyd I think both figures should be standing a little more upright |
Before I lived in Wales, I think I viewed the "older person" with a certain disdain.
I know this sounds a little harsh, but I think it was a product of not really knowing many OAPs in my day to day Yorkshire life, save for the occasional exasperated wait behind a knackered old grey hair in the queue at the supermarket!
This morning I have moved 6 massive bags of sawdust from one part of the field to another, and nearly put my back out doing it. The RFWF* who delivered them to me is way past 70, and without any fuss or fanfare he was able to lob all six from a trailer and over a five bar gate as easily as I could lift a bag of shopping out of the berlingto.
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| Stan and wife Kit ( she of the famous homemade slippers!) |
Every morning when out for a two and a half mile power walk with the dogs, I meet up with Stan (above) who come rain or come shine will be completing the same route. He's in his mid eighties.
Auntie Glad, at 92 ,will be off for her weekly shop in Rhyl on the bus today, and has more energy than the slumped teenage girl in the bus queue next to her would ever possess ...and Pat, my animal helper wouldn't hesitate to wrestle my next heavy piglet to the ground in order to administer some medication....
No, living in a village with a predominantly ageing population, has given me a healthy regard for the capabilities of people who previously I would have dismissed as being frail and invisible.
Interestingly I note that the Russian entry in this year's Eurovision Song Contest comprises of six old babushkas!
and even the UK has dug out veteran crooner Engelbert Humperdinck to front our entry!
You're never too old.........
I will leave you with this thought
*Red Faced Welsh Farmer
I think I might actually watch the Eurovision competition this year. It may go down as the most bizarre yet!
ReplyDeleteSo, you are finally learning some respect for your elders and betters?
ReplyDeletef*ck off tom you old git
ReplyDeleteOne day when you're riding on a crowded bus to some cultural event in Rhyl (ie The Palace Fun Centre or a pub) you may see a child standing up for you. Then you will also have become old. Not long now.
ReplyDeleteWhen you're old(er) you can still do everything you used to be able to do in your youth - it just takes longer to recover...
ReplyDeleteExactly!
ReplyDeleteI think 'country' living has a lot to do with it, too.
Happy Friday to you all John!
I learned to have great respect for "older" people when I played tennis. I played each week with an 82 year old who rode his bicycle 5 miles to the tennis court and beat me every week. He was 40 years older than my out of shape self.
ReplyDelete>Before I lived in Wales, I think I viewed the "older person" with a certain disdain.
ReplyDeleteReally? That's not how I remember things. I always remember you treating older folks (particularly the ladies) rather kindly. Perhaps you felt you needed to exercise your perceived lack of knowledge/anxiety in this way?
Conversely, I always felt that you were a little uncomfortable - no - 'out of kilter' - with the adolescent patients (who at the time were predominant). Of course, memory is a fire in which we all burn, so perhaps you don't remember this in the same way.
Nx
PS. My anger management helpline is still available to use, anytime LOL. I always answer with profound rudeness (a foil for my somewhat bruised caring nature).
Nobody likes the thought of ageing but growing old and living a long life is a condition we all hope to achieve.
ReplyDeleteoh no Nige....Patients were always different!
ReplyDeleteI am referring to old dears OUTSIDE hospital settings....
teenage boys have always been a bit of a mystery to me as patients....
I was looking for a post illustration about soup today... I am still laughing at your "SOUP BORES ME" comment of last night
This past couple of weeks in the hospital with hubby has provided my fare share of exposure to the elderly and frail. The thing I can't stand is the way so many of those charged to care for these people, in their most vulnerable of moments, barely see them as human beings. If I hear one more elderly gentleman being called "love", "hon", or "my friend" instead of Mr. (fill in last name here), I think I may be provoked to violence. Surely it's not too much to just know someone's name?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you have come to this realization John, although I find it difficult to believe you would treat anyone unkindly. Your post is a wake-up call to us all.
We will be one of those "old" person one day ourselves, won't we? I think we are last of a dying generation, as I am worried about the ones after us ... lol. I am sure my antiques will be hauled to the "dump" !
ReplyDeleteHmm. Point taken.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to decide whether my (soon to be made infamous) statement that "Soup is boring" is a sophisticated metaphysical expose, or a profoundly sad indictment of how empty my life and soul has become. Nx
Old age? I am in awe of old people.
ReplyDeleteAnd, my dear John, take heart, there is hope yet: Providing you'll live long enough your time will come.
U
Awww the Eurovision competition, that brings back memories lol...not so good ones I might add, because Austria always gave Germany zero points lol.....no matter what. Kind of miss watching it.
ReplyDeleteLove the cartoon and doesn't it just say it all! We go hurtling through life at an ever increasing pace and suddenly, before we know it, the bones are beginning to creak and the back gets stiff. Not sure about YP's fantasy of the young offering the old a seat on the bus. It just doesn't happen any more, sadly.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Cro - can't remember when I last watched it... the voting is so painful, so nationalistic etc. Also in this day and age surely everyone can just bang in the numbers result comes up on a computer screen and we all go to bed 3 hours earlier! But Humperdink - I did think it was s gag at first! Still maybe given my age I should be applauding this, I might be seen as the youthful entry next year!
ReplyDeleteI'm for the Babushkas! Wouldn't that be great?
ReplyDeleteThere's got to be a connection there that the elderly just keep going and don't know that they've gotten older. When my own mother decided at 70 that she needed to take life easier, that's when he down hill slide started. She only lasted to 77. Now that she's gone my father has realized how old he is and the down hill has begun.
ReplyDeleteDe-Lurking..and saying hello from Australia! Love,love,love your blog :0)
ReplyDeleteThe people on the sign are only stooping to avoid hitting their head on that red beam above them! Silverheads rule ok! x
ReplyDeleteAt twenty I had a different idea of what "old" was. As my age advanced, so did my idea of old age was.
ReplyDeleteI still maintain that one's "warranty" runs out at 50.
Lots of golden oldies around here, too. The joys of rural living! :) And my Mum and I saw Engelbert live in Toronto back in the early 70s. He was less exciting than Tom Jones, at whom the ladies were throwing underwear...
ReplyDeleteold people are phenomenal...and the older I get the more I think so ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat's a really great portrait of Stan and Kit. Quite the advertisement for the healthiness of country living.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if your buddy Vladimir has any relations in the Eurovision contest? He does have a most fascinating family.
You may never see it coming but once it's arrived your senses will be on high alert.
ReplyDeleteI can't quit yet because my friend Lucy is still ten years older than I am and still doing everything. I sure wish she'd slow down!
ReplyDeleteYes John, when you live in a village you see all sorts don't you. I was only thinking this morning of doing a post on how close one gets to all the serious illnesses living in a village. In a town you don't know about your neighbour but here we know everyone.
ReplyDeleteLove Tom's comment.
My Dad is 83.Last time I was in the UK he still insisted on carrying my bags, helping me with things...he put me to shame.
ReplyDeleteJane x
Before I started working with seniors, I thought they were all deaf and grumpy, but I learned that there is a whole lot more too. One of my amazing ladies worked in a factory during the war making plane engines, she was just amazing and I loved her to bits.
ReplyDeleteI love this post.
ReplyDeleteI am over 60, a part time carer for my elderly parents.
I have learnt a lot.....mainly patience and tolerance :)
I garden an acre, landscaped it myself. Garden every day, except for torrential rain and snow.
Walk my dog without fail.....take care of grandchildren when necessary etc etc.
Age is a purely a number. Stength of mind is so very important......
I love this post.
ReplyDeleteI am over 60, a part time carer for my elderly parents.
I have learnt a lot.....mainly patience and tolerance :)
I garden an acre, landscaped it myself. Garden every day, except for torrential rain and snow.
Walk my dog without fail.....take care of grandchildren when necessary etc etc.
Age is a purely a number. Stength of mind is so very important......
The woman who leads our clay group is in her late 80's. She does this 3 days a week, loads and fires the kiln, does her own rain god series, acts locally and makes costumes for the local plays. She lives with no expiration date. I think that makes the difference.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad was hiking for days-long stretches on the Appalachian Trail from North Georgia through North Carolina at least when he was in his 80s. Later, in his mid-80s, he did trail maintenance and hiked on the Florida Trail. Mom was still driving at 95 as well as walking in her neighborhood. Hell, I'm only 68 but have so much arthritis pain I no longer do anything!!!! It just isn't fair!!
ReplyDeleteNancy in Iowa
I love many of these comments, especially Janet's "liv[ing] without an expiration date."
ReplyDeleteMost of my neighbours are older than i am, and whilst some have slowed down, they keep going.
When i was 20 and living in France, i offered my seat on the bus to an older man who looked rather frail. He yelled at me, furious that i would think him the type to take a seat away from a woman. That was a wakeup call for me that i didn't look like a child anymore. And i suppose, he didn't think he looked as frail as he did.
I hope i can be like Auntie Glad when i'm 92, and am doing what i can today to make that possible.
megan
weaver
ReplyDeleteTom should be dressing in purple
Research shows oldies are enormously varied, from excellent health and fitness at one end of the spectrum to quavering frailty on the other. To assume all oldies are senile and decrepit is an ignorant stereotype. I'm a few days off 65 and I'm still extremely healthy and able to climb Slieve Donard (2800 feet) with no difficulty. My 89 year old mum has slowed down a bit but is still able to walk several miles a day. The sign with two hunched-over figures is laughable. Perhaps it should say "Warning. Beware of hunchbacks."
ReplyDeleteWe have a 75 year old volunteer at the charity shop and my 82 year old mother helps with lunches for old people !
ReplyDeleteI just might have to watch Eurovision this year just to see those wherling ladies !
Nice to make it back here. Visiting you feels like putting on a pair of house slippers. The cartoon cracks me up! Thanks, Enjoy ya'lls weekend.
ReplyDeleteMal
Stan and Kit who both look incredibly younger than their years, are from a different era.
ReplyDeleteThere was no moaning about what you didn't have, just grateful for what you DID have, and worked like mules to get it.
I like being around older people, the ones who still have pep in their step, and can run rings around us younger ones...
~Jo
mal
ReplyDeletenice to see you back xxx
M A A B O F
I read that sign as 'Hennaed' - elderly people who've been subject to a Henna attack. WTF. I prefer blonde from my bottle, thank you.
ReplyDelete