You know you are getting old when:

[Trenchfriend]

When these stupid "FILA"-Pullovers are coming back...

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

"...but all they do is sit around playing cards and talking."

And the topics of conversation are usually:

1. Who just died
2. Who just had an operation
3. Ailments
4. Grandchildren (it's almost as if they're living through them)

 

[2jakes]

If you remember when the yellow brick road was a nice way to go see the Wizard.

But now it’s full of weeds, pot holes, faded bricks and more....oh my!

 

[Zombie_61]

And the topics of conversation are usually:

1. Who just died
2. Who just had an operation
3. Ailments
4. Grandchildren (it's almost as if they're living through them)

My wife and I realized we were starting down that road of no return several years ago when we found ourselves and the few friends who were present discussing antacids and laundry detergents while we were eating dinner one night.

While dining at a local restaurant last night we noticed the usual "oldies" music being piped in had shifted forward in time. Over the last few years we had gotten used to hearing music from the 50s and early-60s, but last night we heard music from the late-50s and 60s; a minor shift, but noticeable if you're one of "the regulars". Our server told us that she also works at a local nursing home, and that the occupants had been requesting more music from the 50s and 60s and less from the 30s and 40s lately because most of the older inhabitants had died and younger inhabitants had taken their places. Upon hearing this we mentally projected into the future, and came to the horrific conclusion that one day the oldies stations would be playing "hits" from Britney Spears and Justin Bieber.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's a trend I hate -- fifties music, especially, makes my skin crawl. When I was a teenager, '30s music was all over the place on the radio and it was very easy to avoid the stuff I couldn't stand.

 

[ChiTownScion]

That's a trend I hate -- fifties music, especially, makes my skin crawl. When I was a teenager, '30s music was all over the place on the radio and it was very easy to avoid the stuff I couldn't stand.

Classical music stations have become my refuge. And when all else fails, Edith Piaf CDs.

 

[Stearmen]

And the topics of conversation are usually:

1. Who just died
2. Who just had an operation
3. Ailments
4. Grandchildren (it's almost as if they're living through them)

If I have to hear one more time how someones Grandchildren are the smartest kids ever! Ironically, I had one neighbor that would imitate her teenage Granddaughter by say things like, "she said, gwanmaw, what de ve have to eat?" I thought this kid must have a developmental problem talking at a preschool level in junior high! I couldn't believe when I meant her, she had zero speech impediment, and was well above average in IQ.

 

[Stearmen]

If you remember when the yellow brick road was a nice way to go see the Wizard.

But now it’s full of weeds, pot holes, faded bricks and more....oh my!

Remember, the road to happiness, is paved in low grade asphalt!

 

[2jakes]

You know you are getting old when you post about things that are
irritating but have forgotten that you already posted the same thing
several times before since this thread started.

 

[GHT]

You know you are getting old when you post about things that are
irritating but have forgotten that you already posted the same thing
several times before since this thread started.

Since one has forgotten, how would one know?

 

[2jakes]

Since one has forgotten, how would one know?

Since one has forgotten, one would never know!

 

[Edward]

Our pre-decimal penny was a huge coin that covered the entire surface of the track. If the train that thundered over it happened to be a heavy goods train, it would take a Herculean effort to prise the penny from the track, once it had been squashed.
As a young boy, I played out in all weathers. We used to make a winter warmer from an old tin can, the golden syrup cans were best. A small hole is punched either side then a long piece of strong wire threaded through the holes to create a handle. A small fire made from kindling sticks and then coal, we all burned coal back then. If you held the handle of your winter warmer, first making sure that it's firmly secure, spinning the fire round and round got a brilliant glow and although the heat was meagre, the placebo effect of thinking that you were warm was enough to keep you out a while longer.

I remember in Cub Scouts in the early eighties, we used to make a pancake cooker from a Golden Syrup tin and a candle..

My wife and I realized we were starting down that road of no return several years ago when we found ourselves and the few friends who were present discussing antacids and laundry detergents while we were eating dinner one night.

While dining at a local restaurant last night we noticed the usual "oldies" music being piped in had shifted forward in time. Over the last few years we had gotten used to hearing music from the 50s and early-60s, but last night we heard music from the late-50s and 60s; a minor shift, but noticeable if you're one of "the regulars". Our server told us that she also works at a local nursing home, and that the occupants had been requesting more music from the 50s and 60s and less from the 30s and 40s lately because most of the older inhabitants had died and younger inhabitants had taken their places. Upon hearing this we mentally projected into the future, and came to the horrific conclusion that one day the oldies stations would be playing "hits" from Britney Spears and Justin Bieber.

My undergrad kids now listen to Britpop and Grunge from the nineties with the mindset we did back then listening to the Stones' sixties work, or the Doors. Same difference to most of them. Kurt Cobain's death preceded their birth by about the same time as Jim Morrison's or Jimi Hendrix's did mine.

Recently, at my local cinema in the lobby we heard Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and then Disco 2000 on the pa. It occurred to me that to the kid playing them, these songs were both "oldies", and they were hearing them with totally different ears than me!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

While dining at a local restaurant last night we noticed the usual "oldies" music being piped in had shifted forward in time. Over the last few years we had gotten used to hearing music from the 50s and early-60s, but last night we heard music from the late-50s and 60s; a minor shift, but noticeable if you're one of "the regulars". Our server told us that she also works at a local nursing home, and that the occupants had been requesting more music from the 50s and 60s and less from the 30s and 40s lately because most of the older inhabitants had died and younger inhabitants had taken their places.

Though I have also noticed that quite a few older people do seem to gravitate to swing and big band even though they were teens and young adults in the '50s and early '60s.

 

[tonyb]

I knew I wasn't a kid when I came to appreciate, 30 or more years ago, that most popular entertainment from all eras and of all genres is forgettable, formulaic junk. All the substance of cotton candy.

Sometimes you want cotton candy, I suppose. But I recall conversing, about 20 years ago, with a young man about 20 years my junior, in whose view the only kind of music worth one's while was what he called "classic rock," which I took to mean the stuff made popular when I was his age. I offered that he was exposed to only the music of that era that people still liked enough to continue listening to a couple of decades later. I told him that people did a whole lot of irritated radio-button pushing in their cars back when his parents were his age.

 

[2jakes]

I grew up listening to what the grownups
enjoyed. It was a large house that included uncles, aunts and cousins.
I listened to all kinds of music from
different eras.
Today, depending on the mood. I
will listen to music regardless of the
time period or style.
If I love the sound or beat, I will
listen and dance to it.

Someone once asked me how was
I able to play tennis and listen to
music at the same time and also to
the sound of the ball as it hits the court.

I mentioned that it was only during the
warmup time which I played the music.
The beat of the song made me feel really
great and helped me to have a positive
frame of mind once the match started.

I kinda feel sorry for those who limit
themselves to one genre.
But that's their choice after all.

 

[Trenchfriend]

My C64 is 25 years old, now.

Um...

 

[2jakes]

“What’s a C64?”

“Not sure, but Trenchfriend has one and it’s 25 years old now!”

 

[LizzieMaine]

Though I have also noticed that quite a few older people do seem to gravitate to swing and big band even though they were teens and young adults in the '50s and early '60s.

It's interesting to actually listen to airchecks of radio programming from that period -- not reminiscences of that radio, filtered thru nostalgia, but actual recordings of what was being broadcast. I have hours worth of original reels of airchecks of WMGM in New York from 1959 and 1960, a station considered one of the hotbeds of screaming top-fortyism at that time. But when you actually listen to the broadcasts, you'll be just as likely to hear Tony Bennett or Sinatra as you will some baying pharyngitic rock-n-roller. And that was a station with a very heavy youth audience.

I play '30s music from my own collection exclusively on the walk-in music system at the theatre -- except for those unfortunate occasions when the marketing people hijack it for a couple of weeks to plug some upcoming concert -- and I often get comments from younger people appreciating it. A lot of kids seem to have an appreciation for Fats Waller, Mildred Bailey, and the like, and don't have any awareness of it being eighty-odd years old. They just like a good tune well performed and don't care when it was recorded.

 

[vitanola]

I grew up listening to what the grownups
enjoyed. It was a large house that included uncles, aunts and cousins.
I listened to all kinds of music from
different eras.
Today, depending on the mood. I
will listen to music regardless of the
time period or style.
If I love the sound or beat, I will
listen and dance to it.

Someone once asked me how was
I able to play tennis and listen to
music at the same time and also to
the sound of the ball as it hits the court.

I mentioned that it was only during the
warmup time which I played the music.
The beat of the song made me feel really
great and helped me to have a positive
frame of mind once the match started.

I kinda feel sorry for those who limit
themselves to one genre.
But that's their choice after all.

Even today, as an overweight and somewhat arthritic man in very late middle age I find it very difficult to resist the urge to shake a leg when one of my favorite songs of my youth comes up in rotation on the Radiola. This is, alas, not necessarily a safe activity, given the tempi of some of these dance sides.

Then again, some of the "cool" stuff simply makes me happy whenever I hear it:

 

[2jakes]

Even today, as an overweight and somewhat arthritic man in very late middle age I find it very difficult to resist the urge to shake a leg when one of my favorite songs of my youth comes up in rotation on the Radiola. This is, alas, not necessarily a safe activity, given the tempi of some of these dance sides.

Then again, some of the "cool" stuff simply makes me happy whenever I hear it:

My congratulations!
Even if it’s only a toe tap, don’t ever stop.

I have been fortunate not to have arthritic issues. I believe tennis/cycling
has also made it possible for me to still “shake a leg” when I hear the sounds
and the beat of the music which I enjoy. Even in my late middle age.