I had over the years assumed I was of average age for an Afterworder!
As I reach a slightly cranky 60 tomorrow, am I a youthful but occasional contributor or just too old to rock’n’roll.
Though a fan of the 1970’s Tull, I am listening today to those bangin’ toons from Leftfield’s first album. Who am I trying to kid? Time for a cocoa and a bit of Josh Rouse!
Time for a glass of cheap plonk and a fifth listen to Michael Head’s excellent latest CD…
Happies 🎂
Cheers – are you still painting?
I am despite people begging me to draw a line under it.
I laughed at that – but I don’t know if that was an intentional joke! Cheered me up anyway. 🙂
If I cheered you up Arthur then today is a decidedly good day. ✌️
I used to make stencils for a living. People told me to cut it out.
I just turned 61
66:years young. Old age is overrated.
So the average age of a AWer is now about 62? I think more data is needed!
52 – sorry, bringing the average down.
Appee burfdee and all that
Rigid and I were in the same school year – you were in the Upper Sixth while we were both First Years. It’s not often that, at 53 (last month), I get to feel young.
Mr Fenton
With all your knowledge and experience, I pictured you as an ‘older’ chap!
Dullness can be acquired at any age, and I made an early start.
56 here – so probably one of the youngsters.
Merry Birthday from Singapore
75 *runs away cackling*
How long before you had to stop and have a sit down, Mike?
Oh, about 5m.
I’m impressed – I couldn’t even run one mile without stopping.
M for miles or minutes? Or metres….?
Moments.
Magic Mike Moments, no doubt.
Just like policemen, contributors are looking younger.
Birthness wishes tomorrow youngster.
Happy birthday!
I posted about my sixtieth birthday. It was the best birthday I’ve ever had. Seems like aeons ago:
Happy Birthday, Craig
I turned 60 just before last Christmas. I don’t like it and I didn’t mark or even acknowledge the occasion.
Are we still on GMT? Time stamps appear to be 1 hour out?
Snap!
Have a great day, Craig – I’ll be doing my best to also have a good one – if the sun comes out & the aches & pains are minimal, I’ll consider it a bonus.
Many happy returns on the day.
Zum Geburtstag viel Glueck!
I like the Afterword because it lies to me in letting me think I am underage. Until I see all the 40somethings with their clever modern ways, not old enough to have properly lived through the 80s.
Time is a Jet Plane, it moves too fast.
Happy birthday! I’m not far away from that milestone meself.
Turned 67 last September. The first of many, many years my Dad could and should
have enjoyed but sadly never lived to see.
As a sixty six year old who was able to retire at sixty I’ve noticed that as someone who walks a lot that I’m inevitably slowing down now.people walk past me and very soon they are way way ahead of me a short while later.while I think I’m generally quite healthy age has been working away at me.arthritis in both knees which usually isn’t too bad as yesterday I walked about ,,8 miles or so but sometimes when it’s bad it’s a major task to get across the living room but fortunately that happens very rarely.energy levels are a lot lower.sometimes bending down to retrieve something requires a bit of furniture to help with getting back up.sleeping and much deeper and more prolonged than when I was working and also going to bed earlier.bot on the whole as long as I can be mobile and get around I’m quite content on the whole.
For me, one of the worst things about aging is how it fucks up your sleep patterns.
Used to running on Hong Kong time (worked there for 25+ years and still keep a few clients) i routinely wake up at 5 am.
Knackered by 12 noon, I end up having to catnap – a practice I used to abhor and have now come to enjoy.
As someone who worked eight hour and then twelve hour shifts for over thirty two years I found that once I was no longer doing them I slept a lot better.likewise midday seems to require a bit of closed eye contemplation.
Happy Birthday! I’m 60 next month.
Yo, dudes. Young master Cowslip here, still a sprightly lad in his forties… for two more weeks! I turn 50 on 11 May.
Age is a funny thing. I don’t really mind turning 50 actually, and I didn’t mind turning 40 for that matter. I think I was more concerned about my actual age when I was younger, funnily enough. I remember being a bit distraught turning 30 as it seemed my youth was finally over!
But as I get older I’m more worried and anxious about time passing in a more general sense. I don’t mind being middle-aged/old/whatever (although I haven’t reached that yet!), and I’ve long come to terms with the fact that no one ever truly grows old and wise (apart from Gandalf in Lord of the Rings) and everyone just feels like a teenager bluffing it in an grown-up world (so no point waiting to get past that “phase”); but the speed at which the months and years are flying by just terrifies me and makes me feel like an underachiever just drifting pointlessly through life. A bit morbid, but I think everyone gets that feeling occasionally… don’t they?
Same – 30 was the one that got me. Am I supposed to be sensible and grown up now. 40 and 50 just happened (although 50 was in lockdown so I avoided the surprise party that I didn’t really want anyway)
When I turned 30, my pal took me for a pub lunch to cheer me up. “I’m 30, married and mortgaged” I moaned.
“You’ve always been 40-something though, since you were about 15.”
He had a point.
I had a joint!
I’m wishing you a birthday
You never will forget,
A day packed full of pleasure,
Your very best birthday yet.
(© Joanna Fuchs)
I’m too 60 for this shyte. So 60 it hurts.
Happy birthday. “Old age is no place for sissies.” (Bette Davis)
Thanks all.
Today is a short walk to the Post Office, a bus into town, a browse in the excellent https://www.actionrecords.co.uk/ a rare posh coffee and cake and later a family meal at our favourite Italian.
Sounds like the perfect birthday – many happy returns.
And, for the purposes of our survey, I’ll be 62 in June this year – and I don’t feel a day over 70!
I turned 60 last November, didn’t mark the occasion in any way other than having a couple of sausages at a small BBQ thrown in my honour. A simple pleasure forbidden me due to yet another health issue that has arisen lately. Celiac disease this time, that means no bread, no nothing really. Gluten free bread is the worst thing I have ever eaten on purpose.
Like a lot of things, Leonard summed up ageing best when he said, “I ache in the places that I used to play.”
I’m fairly well past my 60s. If I’d known being a pensioner was going to be like this, I’d have got old sooner.
Turned 63 yesterday – the public holiday always goes down well.
Spooked me a bit to realise I’m now the age dear ol’ Dad was when I bought this place – almost 30 years ago, but still….
Sixty three earlier this year and to celebrate, with the blessing of Mrs attackdog, I bought myself the best acoustic guitar I’ve ever played in my life,
Aging is not all bad.
Happy birthday too.
Happy Birthday & Congratulations. I hit 60 on Christmas Eve – Christmas birthdays always tend to get missed due to other celebrations – and it’s really not been a big change. My big health problems emerged a decade ago (advanced glaucoma & lots of surgery to maintain my sight) with a diabetes diagnosis as a 50th birthday present from my doctor.
With careful health management & trying to avoid too many bad things, I’m now in much better shape & look to the next ten years with confidence & optimism.
Check out what offers & concessions are available to you – a senior rail card for ÂŁ30 gets you a third off fares (you can use Tesco clubcard points to get it cheaper) Iceland do a “10% Tuesday” offer which gets 10% off, no minimum spend, just get a bonus card & show proof of age.
Here in London, there’s the 60+ Oyster card giving free bus, tube & London train travel.
Some cinemas give a “senior discount” but it’s only selected shows, also exhibitions etc.
Hungry Horse pubs offer a senior menu, but it’s a bit limited (& doesn’t seem to require teeth)
Boots Advantage Card has a 60+ version giving extra points.
I’ve not found a good single site that shows & updates all the offers – friends have said “I don’t know of any, but let me know if you find something” – but ignore any “senior” or “older” jibes & enjoy saving some money.
Some top tips there Tim, ta!
I’m just coming up to 67 and five sixths. Age has never really bothered me – still think I’m in my twenties (still living in the 70s), though my mirror tells me otherwise. Spend most of my time being amazed at how old younger people look, and kidding myself that I look younger. Retired at 58 and haven’t regretted it for a minute.
I am 93. I dimly recall reaching thirty. It was the big one when I finally accepted I wasn’t going to play alongside Denis Law in the 7-0 thrashing of the Auld Enemy, I wasn’t going to write the Next Major Novel and quite possibly Dylan was going to say ” I’d like to invite my friend to join us for the last number. Without him I would be nothing ..”
On the bright side, you have a brand new knee. Presumably made of something that, unlike the rest of your flesh, will never rot away or be eaten by savages.
Titanium and plastic. I have a thousand year guarantee.
It might get used as tupperware by future generations. That’d be nice.
Edit: On second thoughts, could I have it? After you’re gone, like?
“Hardly used, mint condition”…. make an offer
Ta, but if there’s a cost involved, I’ll stick with my current ashtray. It’s made out of coconut shell. I invented it.
@Gary
Ed sheeran has just invented one uncannily like it.
@Gary
You should probably also brace yourself for the arrival of a cease and desist order from the law firm retained by the late-of-this- parish HP Saucecraft.
Also dread to think what will happen when Donovan hears of your “invention”
mint condition? Is there a hole in it?
@henpetsgi
Well you were right to tell him “Bob Nothing” was never going to work as a name so he may yet send out the stairlift for you to get up on stage
I am multitudes
My 60th was during the first lockdown. Celebration limited to an Indian takeaway and a bottle of Cava with the Mrs.
Many happy returns. I’ll be 48 next week, so bringing the average down a bit (I think there’s a few younger than me).
So from 21 entries I make the average age around 60.5. Many of us (a third) between 59 and 62.
51 here. After 50 years of flawless vision, my body marked the occasion by making me long sighted, literally within 2 weeks of my birthday. I have a pair of glasses somewhere but have worn them only a few times in the past year.
58. I’ve slowed down noticeably in the last year or so although I’m wondering if I’ve just got a bit, not exactly lazy, but don’t push myself like I used to as I don’t need to. I got quite fit during lockdown and while I do some exercise, it’s been difficult to maintain enthusiasm over winter. Summer should be better I hope. Arthritis seems to be setting in to my hands, having had it in my knees for over a decade. Could be worse.
Only Lodey seems older than Keef. Or even Willie Nelson. I’m younger than all 3 and that’ll do me, being at the age of 2 Lp records.
Truth time – a mere stripling I am, I is 74 (going on 93)
66 and couldn’t care less. None of the ‘big birthdays’ bothered me, although I remember being terrified at turning 18. As I got closer to 60, I couldn’t wait for the years to pass so I could retire.
Now? Knackered knees are becoming a problem but life is really good.
Grattis på födelsedagen!
I’m 56 – or am I turning 56 this August? Either way I’m old and confused!
Wish I was older, so I could retire…
56 last month. Having a mid March holiday means I usually have some leave to use up and will go on holiday. I remember that I spent my 50th in Venice, my 40th in Rome, and my 30th alone a depressed in a bedsit wondering when my life was going to start. That may well have been the spur for me to make some big changes and get on with it rather than just waiting.
Turned 60 last November, for my 61st birthday I’m hoping for knee replacement surgery.
I’m bringing the average age up – will be 69 in a weeks time. Spend a lot of time counting ie remembering things from seemingly a short while ago but then realising it was over 10 yrs. Then I project forward 10 yrs and realise I’ll be nearly 80. But I find the mind adapts wonderfully – I can no longer do and importantly desire to do, the things I can’t (I’ll leave that open to interpretation). I do make a lot more involuntary noises (from all orifices) as I go about my day to day but that’s all part of the joy of getting old.
Later today, 260 something years of Afterworder are meeting for a some soup and a natter, probably down ear trumpets. Lock up yer grannies!
“It’s windy” “No, it’s Thursday” Me, too, your round” etc etc etc.
Must pack my hearing aids, thanks for the reminder. ” I’d forgot my own head” etc.
Soup, at least I don’t need to pack mi teeth
“Teeth, teeth, give us teeth…”
Happy Birthday! Hope that you have a top day celebrating.
As the comedian Demetri Martin says. ‘Age is nothing but a number…..but it’s also a helpful indication of how old someone is’
I think I am one of the younger posters. I turned 40 in March & have seemingly gone grey in the intervening 5 weeks!
Happy birthday!
Turned 54 in February if anyones interested.
Belated Birthday greetings – I hope you had a great day. Welcome to the club (;
Turned sixty in January. It seems like the knee replacement queue will be a long one. Oh well, while I can still hobble around!
I turned 60 in March & am retiring on 30th June. I had given myself a target of retiring at 62, just so that I would go and not trundle on to 67. However, I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse, a voluntary leaver’s package of 1 year’s salary , tax free. If you had asked me a couple of years ago I would have said “retire, no way” but a switch in my brain flicked and I am ready to stop. Whether due to living through Covid or just a natural change in my outlook due to age (or the company being run by a bunch of arseholes), I don’t know. I will have done 2 weeks short of 43 years with the one company. Enough is enough.
The offer was made on 2nd February & not confirmed until 10th March, which was a form of torture.
Then, I’ve had to endure the longest goodbye, when I just want to go. I’ve got a week in Skiathos at the end of May, which will help, but I’ll need to do another 4 weeks when I return.
My wee dog Alfie (see my avatar) died a couple of weeks ago so I now have a decision to make, whether to get a new dog now or wait until we’ve had some independence for holidays etc. I think I’ll wait until at least next year, but you never know.
My sister swore she wouldn’t get another dog after her Westie, Angel, had to be euthanised due to old age & decrepitude.
She now has another two dogs, a Golden Labrador Bitch, Luna, and an old almost-blind little terrier cross called Millie. They came as a pair, having lived together since Luna was a pup.
My father had 5 dogs over the years, not always straight after each other. After the last one died he used to walk several other people’s dogs until his health deteriorated too much.
65 last month, and against all the odds I’m fit as a butcher’s dog, ish. Retired in February. I try to walk every day and track the old heart point on Google Fit, and against the family history Big C hasn’t come calling yet. Despite a lifelong affection for the barley and the grape I’ve kept the weight down, and I actually like vegetables which probably helps. I’m not complacent though, and shit happening worries me though I should just let that go. If it happens, it happens.
Today I heard a dear friend of mine since I was 15 has 2 months left so Carpe Diem people. That Gretch resonator guitar I’ve been stalking on eBay is looking good.