So how do you know when you are getting old?

[Yowie]

16 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

I have to agree Donna, and most of it starts long before you get old!

My life vs my wife’s is much easier on a day to day basis, and I’m not talking about careers or housework!

On another note and in line with many members’ experiences, I recently learned a new term: andropause. It captures changes in men as they age (a lot of it is due to hormonal changes), but again is nowhere near as dramatic as menopause.

As for getting older, there’s a lot we could learn from many other cultures where one reveres their elders. We’re not good at this in western culture (but maybe we are a bit better in this community, because as anglers we know more years = more experience = more wisdom ≈ better fishing!). To a point, getting old, caring for the younger generations, acquiring wisdom and having more leisure time then becomes something to look forward to, rather than something just to be feared.

Sounds about right Mike. So long as you keep learning, all is good. 

If you don't want to learn, then  blow it out of there.   🤣

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

@Yowie those people in the caravans doing 'nothing" are actually looking after their mental health by being out in the fresh air and sunshine, reading, doing puzzles, crafts, socialising with others etc. You will have seen all the persons out there with physical disabilities still enjoying time away. Caravanning isn't about running around touring and exploring gorges. Post knee and hip replacements will rein you in with limited movement. 

We have the van and the tinny and all the setup to enjoy travels. It is coming to the time that we will have to sell it all. It is hard work maintaining and cleaning boat, van, car and preparing to go out again. 

We have both had some health challenges recently and find ourselves going to specialists way too much. My mobility is getting past chronic and I will need knee and a hip replacement at some point. Keep moving!!!

 

Dave, have a ball with the crew and send us a report from there  

Donna, yes the fresh air is good, but some sit there all day. I spose that is what they want to do.

Selling the camping set-up? Not good at all !!!  It is a bit off effort to clean all after a trip, still manage to do it so far.

Hope your health keeps up, just have the surgeon slice and dice 😂 and you will be better off for some time after that.

[big Neil]

23 hours ago, BaitDropper said:

Umm, Big Neil,  Can you please repeat the question.....  😄...

What question?

erm  what's my name again?

[noelm]

I guess as long as you know life is a one way street, you can’t go back, and there is no do overs…….live it as best you can, don’t worry about stuff that you can’t change and will not harm anyone, look forward, what’s in the rear view mirror is gone, cherish your kids and their kids, do your best to be a decent person and treat others as you expect to be treated, help someone less fortunate with carrying something, getting up or similar.

[Blackfish]

A couple of saying stick in my mind.

”Once your over the hill you start picking up speed going down the other side”

and

” It’s always a good start to the day if you wake up without a chalk line around your body”

 

Where I’m living now there is so many over 55’s retirement villages…. You know, the ones for old people.

I don’t consider myself old enough to go into one but the honest truth is I could’ve gone into one ten years ago. Bahaaaaaaaaaas.

I think myself lucky as some of the adventurers I’ve had in my life you can’t have now because these places have become easily accessible and more people are travelling to these spots. One place springs to mind is K’Gari, back in the day they had signs up in Central Station saying to throw your food scraps into the bush and the Dingoes would clean them up. That’s how few people would camp there and the west coast of the Island you would never see anyone. Very few tourists back in those days.

I understand, not complaining as that’s the way we have changed.

I'm still lucky enough to get to one of the most remote spots in Australia that hasn’t changed since the indigenous population was moved into a community more accessible. Up until 12 months ago there wasn’t an introduced pest, no Rats, cats, pigs, foxes etc. Unfortunately Cane toads have finally made it and have taken a heavy toll on the snakes, Northern quolls etc.

So I’ll take these memories to the grave, but grateful I’ve had the opportunity to experience them.

I can still launch the boat by myself so that’s a bonus, my shoulders and knees are dodgy and I don’t believe they will magically get better but it is what it is and I’m so much better than many my age so I feel blessed.

 

 

 

[big Neil]

5 hours ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

You still like to give us posts to make us think Neil.

The body is wearing out. Add the next bubble "chronic disease management" 

As reported by WHO “Between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of the world's population over 60 years will double from about 11% to 22%. The absolute number of people aged 60 years and over is expected to increase from 605 million to 2 billion over the same period.”

We are staying alive longer I spose.

@Yowie those people in the caravans doing 'nothing" are actually looking after their mental health by being out in the fresh air and sunshine, reading, doing puzzles, crafts, socialising with others etc. You will have seen all the persons out there with physical disabilities still enjoying time away. Caravanning isn't about running around touring and exploring gorges. Post knee and hip replacements will rein you in with limited movement. 

We have the van and the tinny and all the setup to enjoy travels. It is coming to the time that we will have to sell it all. It is hard work maintaining and cleaning boat, van, car and preparing to go out again. 

We have both had some health challenges recently and find ourselves going to specialists way too much. My mobility is getting past chronic and I will need knee and a hip replacement at some point. Keep moving!!!

Managing this community keeps me on my toes. I read every single post, personally approve all rego requests and answer peoples pm's and emails. That is before breakfast. It is one of those habits that has developed over 20 years 

I am writing a chapter for a book. I am an admin on a fb group. This is keeping me very busy. I just opened my Sydney Girls High school group and we are having a 50th reunion (ugh). The person organising has handed it to, guess who, yep me and another lady. 

We look after our granddaughter, Miss just turned 4 and she is very curious. Love teaching her stuff. Swordie and I walked around our garden and collected various leaves for an activity (see pic). The next morning she wanted to cook me eggs, so we got stuck in! Later, she played totem tennis and kicked a soccer ball with swordie in the backyard. Exhausting.......

To quote you @big Neil  So, is getting old the time when memories have more significance than day-to-day experiences? Fact: as we age we may lose the most recent memories, they peel off like an onion. 

Do the activities, do the reports, take the pics and keep moving!!!

Dave, have a ball with the crew and send us a report from there  

Thanks for your reply Donna. Some interesting information within your reply.

Firstly, the additional burden on society, both financially and socially, created by the huge increase in elderly people in the short term. Add to that the issues of feeding an ever increasing world population. They are only going to be more difficult in years to come.

Interesting to read your statement about recent memory peeling away like an onion. I have been a little concerned about my more recent memory failing me...temporarily. I keep my mind active every day so what will be will be.

I hope that you and Stewy continue to share the lifestyle that you have enjoyed for years. Do what you can to try to make that happen.

bn

[big Neil]

6 hours ago, frankS said:

Well getting old and knowing it ?

Up till about 12 months ago I wouldn't face the fact that I am indeed getting old.

I am a little over a week older than @big Neil and recently adapted my lifestyle to a mobility scooter. Best think I ever did.

A little over 12 months ago I got a gadget that assists me to put my socks on, yes it has come to this.

I have been very active all my life and not being able to do the things my mind tells me I can do is very frustrating, but with the scooter and gadget to put socks on I am coping.

To go fishing these days I need someone with me that can do all the manual things needed to launch and retrieve a boat.

Walking to the mail box is about as much as I can do without assistance of some kind.

I have recently got a medical bed that motorizes every which way, so I can lay in bed and watch tele ( not that I watch tele ) just things I have taped so I can skip through the adds.

I still enjoy tinkering around with things in the shed and still have contact with a couple of boats that need attention now and again.

Frank

Good to hear from you Frank. It gives me great pleasure to see that your life has improved with the aid of a few "mod cons". Keep going mate.

bn

[Ryder]

Hi Neil, 
For me getting older everything comes around faster, birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas. I think of it a bit like an LP record and I’m the stylus. Collecting a bit of dust along the way, but I know my groove.

I’d like to add  a quote from ‘Lonesome Dove’ epic western. 
“The older the violin, the sweeter the music”  Augustus McCrea.

Edited 21 hours ago by Ryder

[Little_Flatty]

45 minutes ago, Ryder said:

Hi Neil, 
For me getting older everything comes around faster, birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas. I think of it a bit like an LP record and I’m the stylus. Collecting a bit of dust along the way, but I know my groove.

Don't you remember when you were a kid, that half an hour felt like an eternity? These days if you only had half an hour to fish, one might not even bother (but I still will 😎).

[big Neil]

2 hours ago, Ryder said:

Hi Neil, 
For me getting older everything comes around faster, birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas. I think of it a bit like an LP record and I’m the stylus. Collecting a bit of dust along the way, but I know my groove.

I’d like to add  a quote from ‘Lonesome Dove’ epic western. 
“The older the violin, the sweeter the music”  Augustus McCrea.

Great to read your reply Ryder. Absolutely true about the time factor. I remember the weeks dragging by when I was working. 5 days seemed like an eternity, waiting for the weekend.

Nowadays the regular things that I do on a weekly basis whiz by, often leaving me thinking "bloody hell, what happened with that week?" Hence my analogy of whizzing down the hill with no brakes.

There's another similarity between the young and the old that just came back to me. Remember, as a kid, someone would say "You're 4 years old" and you would correct them " I'm nearly 5". Same thing at the other end of the scale. I have a friend who is trying to hang on to get his letter from the King. He corrects people who don't say he is 98 and 9 months.

 

Hoping to catch up with you for some Blackfishing in the next 6 months. Not very mobile these days but hopefully it comes to fruition.   bn

[big Neil]

2 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Don't you remember when you were a kid, that half an hour felt like an eternity? These days if you only had half an hour to fish, one might not even bother (but I still will 😎).

I know you would bother Mike...you're the master of minimum time fishing. I would wait for a window of at least 4-5 hrs before I would consider heading out. LOL  bn

[slowjigger]

5 hours ago, big Neil said:

Great to read your reply Ryder. Absolutely true about the time factor. I remember the weeks dragging by when I was working. 5 days seemed like an eternity, waiting for the weekend.

Nowadays the regular things that I do on a weekly basis whiz by, often leaving me thinking "bloody hell, what happened with that week?" Hence my analogy of whizzing down the hill with no brakes.

There's another similarity between the young and the old that just came back to me. Remember, as a kid, someone would say "You're 4 years old" and you would correct them " I'm nearly 5". Same thing at the other end of the scale. I have a friend who is trying to hang on to get his letter from the King. He corrects people who don't say he is 98 and 9 months.

 

Hoping to catch up with you for some Blackfishing in the next 6 months. Not very mobile these days but hopefully it comes to fruition.   bn

My father will get his second letter from the King in December.

PS: I think you know when you are getting old when tennis isn't fun anymore (especially singles). 

[big Neil]

4 minutes ago, slowjigger said:

My father will get his second letter from the King in December.

PS: I think you know when you are getting old when tennis isn't fun anymore (especially singles). 

Good on him...no easy feat to achieve.

Regarding Tennis. I must have been old all my life. LOL

bn

[Steve0]

1 hour ago, big Neil said:

Regarding Tennis. I must have been old all my life. LOL

bn

Some are hunters by nature, some play with balls.

[Fab1]

I know I’m getting old because….

I use to think what the heck is wrong with you when my dad was asleep in front of the telly at 7pm.Im asleep in front of it at 6pm often.

My back shoulders crunch more than eating a spoonful of coco pops.

I have 6 chins and 3 stomachs now.Where did they come from?

My moobs have moved from my chest to my waist.Blood gravity.

i get home from work and can’t get out of the car.

i mow the lawn and need 3 days rest.

I can’t hear the mrs whinging and whining.Forget the one as I couldn’t hear her always.

I get up for a pee 75534574 times during the night.

i forget things 2.7 seconds after being reminded of them.

Im a terrible fisherman now that I’m old.Yeah, keep kidding myself.😂

[slowjigger]

7 hours ago, Steve0 said:

Some are hunters by nature, some play with balls.

Girls play tennis - it's good watching them run around. There were more than two woodies in the stand when Martina Hingis was playing. 

[noelm]

2 hours ago, slowjigger said:

Girls play tennis - it's good watching them run around. There were more than two woodies in the stand when Martina Hingis was playing. 

I am a big ladies tennis fan (not just for the reason you mention) but as it stands today, there is very little in the way of players I want to watch, the Williams sisters are gone, players like Hingis, Sharapova and the like are all old and retired, it’s just dull now.