Being Old

[Slim]

A thread for general reflections about ageing. It's not all bad. It's definitely not all good, either.

Here's a relatively benign one to start. I just saw an item on the BBC Sports page in which an Arsenal fan, an actual adult, says that Arsenal have just won the league for "the first time in my life". He's 22.

Sorry, what?

But that's right, isn't it? Somehow the same amount of time has elapsed between 2004 and 2026 as between 1960 and 1982, when I was 22 myself.

Even after checking the maths, I can't quite process it.

[Thenop]

Besides the physical aspect, these are indeed things that baffle.

A colleague, a young one (24), said to another colleague that it was a bit like having his father on the floor - he meant me.
It would certainly be possible, if I had children (I do not).
Somehow it makes no sense to me: I feel young enough.

Fun fact: his actual father if younger than I am and works in our company as well (!!)

[captainkurtz]

I've gotten grumpier.
I shy away from any kind of social activity unless it's with a very small select group of friends - who are all geographically distant, so it's a meet up 3/4 times a year.
I do not want to meet new people or make new friends.
I cannot get engaged with new music much - even with bands I like.  I gravitate to stuff I listened to in the 70's-90's.
I really really really appreciate everything my parents did for me and my brother and sister and all the sacrifices they made to ensure we had a decent life.
Everything aches and everything is mostly rubbish and was better in the 90's.
I feel a little sad and introspective most of the time.

[Nickslikk2112]

I've gotten grumpier.
I shy away from any kind of social activity unless it's with a very small select group of friends - who are all geographically distant, so it's a meet up 3/4 times a year.
I do not want to meet new people or make new friends.
I cannot get engaged with new music much - even with bands I like.  I gravitate to stuff I listened to in the 70's-90's.
I really really really appreciate everything my parents did for me and my brother and sister and all the sacrifices they made to ensure we had a decent life.
Everything aches and everything is mostly rubbish and was better in the 90's.
I feel a little sad and introspective most of the time.

Wait until you're my age!!!
It was the 70s when things were better.

Can't say as I feel sad - though I'm never happy - but it depresses me when I think I'm running out of time to not do a lot.

[Slim]

It's Mick Fleetwood's 78th birthday today.

Isn't it odd to think that the time he presented the Brit Awards with Samantha Fox, he was only 41?

[Thenop]

It's Mick Fleetwood's 78th birthday today.

Isn't it odd to think that the time he presented the Brit Awards with Samantha Fox, he was only 41?

I'd like to see a silhouette of them standing next to each other.

[The Picnic Wasp]

It's Mick Fleetwood's 78th birthday today.

Isn't it odd to think that the time he presented the Brit Awards with Samantha Fox, he was only 41?

I know. He seemed older than that to me then. If I could change things in my past one of those changes would be to realise when I turned 40 I was still young. I felt it was such a big deal and began to have those middle aged thoughts.

When I look at photos of me then I was so young. Healthy (brown) hair and plenty of it, with that general better skin tone and a face that hadn't begun to change shape. Around that time I cycled a lot and I lost about 2 stones.

I wish someone in their sixties had taken me aside back then and shown me some comparison pictures of themself and got through to me. I don't think 50 affected me as much as 40, but maybe that's just failing memory.