You know you are getting old when:

[belfastboy]

Hey! What am I? The straight man (as in “he who tees up the joke”) around here?

Okay, here is another one. But this one is actually available. Eye drops that eliminate the need for reading glasses. That’s a big deal for a lot of people. Heck, I’ll probably give it a try.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vuity-eye-drops-fda-approved-blurred-vision-presbyopia/

I might carry a bottle 'just in case' I lose my glasses but if you do the math over the course of a year it is pretty pricey compared to my $30 reading glasses.

 

[tonyb]

I had cataract surgery something like 20 years ago, which corrected my vision in that eye such that I no longer need spectacles to drive legally, although I almost always wear ’em when I’m out anyway because they correct the distance vision in my other eye and close-up vision in both. And I’m so accustomed to having those little windshields in front of my eyes that I feel unprotected without them.

But in recent years I find it hard to close focus right as I awaken from a night’s sleep.

 

[GHT]

Born on this day, 18th December 1943, at Livingston Hospital, in Dartford, Kent, England. The only child of Doris Maud Lydia and Herbert William Richards. His grandparents, Ernie and Eliza Richards, were both civic leaders, and both were mayors of the Municipal Borough of Walthamstow, now in East London.

After attending Wentworth Primary School he went on to Dartford Technical High School for Boys. He was expelled from Dartford Tech for truancy and told that he would never make anything of his life unless he studied and worked hard, he then transferred to Sidcup Art College,

Whilst at Dartford Tech he was recruited by the choirmaster, R. W. "Jake" Clare, he sang in a trio of boy sopranos at, among other occasions, Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth II, in 1959.

He took the advice to study and work hard, and his expulsion motivated him onto the world stage. He is of course, Keith Richards who turns 79 today. At Wentworth Primary school he met another pupil who would also go on to make the world stage. One Sir Michael Jagger.

Looking at this school photo you might think it is like every other - a row of angelic children looking innocently into the camera at the very start of their education. However, look closer and you will discover something out of the ordinary as two of the world's most iconic musicians stand just yards apart. Mick Jagger (circled left) and Keith Richards (circled right) pictured aged seven at Wentworth Primary School, Dartford.

 

[Harp]

Met Mick at Kingston Mines here in Chicago. A student of the Blues he said he drops by whenever in town.
Great guy.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You find that you are classed as a "non-prime-age worker." Don't worry, I'll be sure to die before I can impede your precious Growth.

 

[Trenchfriend]

There's a thing, going through my mind.
Salvador Dalí had a long life. But wouldn't it be a curious feeling, if you life through the 80s with the rememberance of your maybe best youngster days in the 20s?
Trying to imagine to live in a new tech and pop era, but beeing an old person, that "rocked" in another popping era, 60 years ago.

Maybe a feeling, that all finally repeats.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

There's a thing, going through my mind.
Salvador Dalí had a long life. But wouldn't it be a curious feeling, if you life through the 80s with the rememberance of your maybe best youngster days in the 20s?
Trying to imagine to live in a new tech and pop era, but beeing an old person, that "rocked" in another popping era, 60 years ago.

Maybe a feeling, that all finally repeats.

Hasn't seemed to affect Mick Jagger.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There were still millions of ex-flappers alive in the '80s, and most of them were somebody's disapproving grandmother.

 

[GHT]

There were still millions of ex-flappers alive in the '80s, and most of them were somebody's disapproving grandmother.

There's no self-respecting granny who can't sport the obligatory tattoo. Usually something to either shock or outrage.

 

[M Brown]

You know you're getting old when:

You have to switch to boots because it's too difficult to tie shoelaces anymore.

Then, you have to switch to clogs because it's too difficult to pull on boots anymore.

Then, you have to switch to flip flops because you can't find your clogs that have somehow managed to slide under your easy chair.

And it's winter, so you have to wear socks with your flip flops.

 

[Harp]

There were still millions of ex-flappers alive in the '80s, and most of them were somebody's disapproving grandmother.

Me maternal grandmother whose family illegally immigrated in the mid nineteenth cent,
I fondly recall her proud boast that she was wed wearing a skirt that was above her knee.
Me gram.
---------------

Last night while trapsing around You Tube music reactor videos, feeling like a kid listening
to songs from my generation and kids today whom decry the lack of romance song; especially
young ladies pining the dearth of contemporary male vocalists, the right side showed a non related
selection. Medal of Honor recipient testament, Sam Davis, whom I have met. And of course the
spell cast of youth was broken.

 

[Zombie_61]

You know you're getting old when:

You have to switch to boots because it's too difficult to tie shoelaces anymore.

Then, you have to switch to clogs because it's too difficult to pull on boots anymore.

Then, you have to switch to flip flops because you can't find your clogs that have somehow managed to slide under your easy chair.

And it's winter, so you have to wear socks with your flip flops.

I blew right past boots and clogs, favoring "slip-on" shoes instead. But the flip flops, yeah, I bought three pair in the last year alone. Fortunately, it doesn't regularly get so cold in this part of the world that I'll need the socks to go with 'em.

 

[Tiki Tom]

When I moved to this tropical climate, I fully expected to be wearing nothing but flip flops. About six weeks into the new footwear, my lower back and hip started aching like h$ll. So now I find any excuse to wear sturdy shoes with arch/ankle/heel support. The pain disappeared! Of course, wearing real shoes generally calls for long khaki trousers. Which, in turn calls for a nice Aloha shirt. So, instead of the Hawaii state uniform of shorts and a t-shirt, I’m usually dressed as if I’m a Pearl City car salesman of a Waikiki hotel employee.

 

[Tiki Tom]

There's no self-respecting granny who can't sport the obligatory tattoo. Usually something to either shock or outrage.

My wife and I told our daughters “you can do whatever you want with your hair, but No Tattoos while we are providing financial support to you.” One of the other arguments we made was “sure, they might look cute now, but imagine how silly your tattoos will look when you are sixty.” Now both my girls are in their mid twenties, more-or-less independent and still tattoo free. All their friends seem to be tattooed to high heaven. I may not be out of the woods yet, but I suspect that my daughters are starting to suspect that they are, in fact, the ones who stand out as anti-trend free thinkers. I know, I know. Wishful thinking. (And, for the record, “to each his own”.)

 

[Zombie_61]

When I moved to this tropical climate, I fully expected to be wearing nothing but flip flops...

I've lived in the Los Angeles area of southern California my whole life (so far, anyway) and I've never gotten into the habit of wearing flip flops regularly. I much prefer being bare footed versus wearing anything on my feet, but a lot of local businesses frown on customers entering their shops without shoes so those flip flops come in handy as a work-around for that problem, and it takes so little time to don and remove them.

...About six weeks into the new footwear, my lower back and hip started aching like h$ll. So now I find any excuse to wear sturdy shoes with arch/ankle/heel support. The pain disappeared!

Ever since my back surgery (herniated disc) in 2004 I've become far more sensitive to the soles of my shoes and the occasional need for more support myself. As one of my doctors said, "You're going to have to start spending a little more to get higher quality shoes." There has been some trial and error but, for the most part, I've had good luck with shoes advertised as "walking" shoes--as you wrote, more arch/ankle/heel support.

 

[GHT]

Of course, wearing real shoes generally calls for long khaki trousers. Which, in turn calls for a nice Aloha shirt. So, instead of the Hawaii state uniform of shorts and a t-shirt, I’m usually dressed as if I’m a Pearl City car salesman of a Waikiki hotel employee.

Always said that you had standards, Tom.

 

[Edward]

^^^^^
I suppose it was the far stricter laws regarding sales of smokes to minors that pretty well ended cigarette vending machines.

I should think so. I wouldn't be surprised if it was banned on the basis that it is too easy for kids to use them, but such a ban would probably only be to the benefit of places which previously used them because ensuring kids didn't use them got too hard. Much like the smoking ban in public places in the UK doubtless saved some small business from sooner or later being sued into the ground in a health and safety at work case.

It was a right of passage, I was in my late teens and at college when I took up tobacco, but I knew many a friend who had started smoking much younger. There was even smaller contents cigarette packs, I remember packs of ten and even packs of five. Imperial Tobacco sold a cigarette named: "Wild Woodbines" in packs of five, as did John Player, who sold a cigarette named "Players Weights" in fives. Aimed at children, start them young.

What else was a right of passage was getting into the cinema to see a movie with an 'X' rating. Young boys would be most disappointed in that the only nudity on offer would be a nubile lady swimming in a lake. You might see a distant shot of her buttocks, under water of course, and if you paid close attention, you might just get a glimpse of the side of her breast. Another reason that a film carried an X certificate was the use of profanities. Many a schoolboy blew his pocket money on the entrance charge of a film that had lurid details and women, partly clad, in the photos advertising the details, only to find that it was all eff this and eff that. Nowadays schoolboys can have whatever fetish that they want. Wall to wall pornography all on their phone. Life does come full circle and you know that you are getting old when you have a blocker for what was once the drain on your pocket money.

We were discussing this at home recently. The wife had given up smoking for a few years, then fell off the cigarette-wagon at a point in time when the habit was away of taking her mind off pain that her meds didn't let her take painkillers for. I remember when she was trying to cut back she often bemoaned the banning of ten-packs because it would have been easier to buy ten and not buy a second than to not smoke the other ten in a pack of twenty. I get that they were trying to stick to packs of 20 as a standard in the theory that kids would be less likely to afford to buy them, but....

I remember a newsagents in Carrickfergus train station back in the eighties selling 'singles' they'd break a pack of 20 and sell individual cigarettes. That was popular with the kids, though to be fair I do recall them expecting the customer to be over sixteen whether in school uniform or not.

80's band The Jets participated in a no smoking campaign. As 1 of the sisters recalled, she was there smoking.

View attachment 384178

Reminds me of the 'Just Say No' thing with Grange Hill in the 80s. GH was a BBC kids' drama show set in a North London comprehensive. They did a storyline where one of the kids got into heroin, which birthed an anti-drugs campaign and a pop single under the title 'Just Say No'. Some of them went to do an appearance in the US with Nancy Reagan; a few have since confessed they were high on weed during the event.

Hey! What am I? The straight man (as in “he who tees up the joke”) around here?

Okay, here is another one. But this one is actually available. Eye drops that eliminate the need for reading glasses. That’s a big deal for a lot of people. Heck, I’ll probably give it a try.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vuity-eye-drops-fda-approved-blurred-vision-presbyopia/

Not sure I'd be bothered for reading, though that said, as I stare down the barrel of having to buy my first varifocals very soon, I would be open to such drops if they corrected by long-distance vision... And at the right price, if they stopped me needing to shell out for varifocals....

Met Mick at Kingston Mines here in Chicago. A student of the Blues he said he drops by whenever in town.
Great guy.

Saw him on a recent skit from SNL; I admit, I rather warmed to the old boy with the way he was able to laugh at himself. I'll always be more a Keef man if it comes down to loyalties, though!

I blew right past boots and clogs, favoring "slip-on" shoes instead. But the flip flops, yeah, I bought three pair in the last year alone. Fortunately, it doesn't regularly get so cold in this part of the world that I'll need the socks to go with 'em.

I'd never not wear socks, but oh, my, slip on shoes.... My dad has long been a slipons man. I never cared for them. Until, that was, I picked up a pair about five or six years ago for wearing when flying long haul, as taking shoes off an on at security and off and on on the plane was becoming a pest. I discovered how much I enjoyed those penny loafers, and I've become very pro the convenience of slip-ons since!

My wife and I told our daughters “you can do whatever you want with your hair, but No Tattoos while we are providing financial support to you.” One of the other arguments we made was “sure, they might look cute now, but imagine how silly your tattoos will look when you are sixty.” Now both my girls are in their mid twenties, more-or-less independent and still tattoo free. All their friends seem to be tattooed to high heaven. I may not be out of the woods yet, but I suspect that my daughters are starting to suspect that they are, in fact, the ones who stand out as anti-trend free thinkers. I know, I know. Wishful thinking. (And, for the record, “to each his own”.)

Funny thing about tattoos is that of all the people I've known to regret one, it's never been having a tattoo they've regretted, but having the wrong tattoo, or the placement. I've never much cared for the "how it will look when you're sixty" argument, but certainly there's a lot to be said for thinking about placement and impact upon employment opportunities, even if that is starting to change with time.

 

[belfastboy]

There's a thing, going through my mind.
Salvador Dalí had a long life. But wouldn't it be a curious feeling, if you life through the 80s with the rememberance of your maybe best youngster days in the 20s?
Trying to imagine to live in a new tech and pop era, but beeing an old person, that "rocked" in another popping era, 60 years ago.

Maybe a feeling, that all finally repeats.

I would marvel at my mother who died a few years back...living to 95+ she was born during WW1 into a little shack on the prairies, no indoor plumbing, no running water, uninsulated, dirt poor........Oh, the changes she witnessed in her life. I heard it directly from her in her stories of youth.....so while I have no experience of that life I at least heard it directly from her. Current and future generations will have no idea of the hardships except in the most theoretically, twice or thrice removed from reality anecdotes. It will become but myth, legend, wild imagination but not real life.

 

[Zombie_61]

I would marvel at my mother who died a few years back...living to 95+ she was born during WW1 into a little shack on the prairies, no indoor plumbing, no running water, uninsulated, dirt poor........Oh, the changes she witnessed in her life. I heard it directly from her in her stories of youth.....so while I have no experience of that life I at least heard it directly from her. Current and future generations will have no idea of the hardships except in the most theoretically, twice or thrice removed from reality anecdotes. It will become but myth, legend, wild imagination but not real life.

That's how I felt when I would listen to my father-in-law talk about his younger days. My parents and my wife's parents were all born between 1913 and 1920, so they were from the same generation and shared a very similar perspective and outlook based on their experiences. I think this is why I got on so well with my mother-in-law and father-in-law; unlike most of my wife's former boyfriends I understood them and they knew that. But while my parents and mother-in-law rarely spoke of their younger days, my father-in-law enjoyed discussing history even if it was his own, which he occasionally intertwined with world events. "Oh, yes, I remember when Kennedy got shot. I was over at Gately's because I needed some new undershirts..." I think her father also appreciated the fact that I listened to him when he spoke, and boy did he enjoy talking; another trait that my wife got from him.

 

[belfastboy]

That's how I felt when I would listen to my father-in-law talk about his younger days. My parents and my wife's parents were all born between 1913 and 1920, so they were from the same generation and shared a very similar perspective and outlook based on their experiences. I think this is why I got on so well with my mother-in-law and father-in-law; unlike most of my wife's former boyfriends I understood them and they knew that. But while my parents and mother-in-law rarely spoke of their younger days, my father-in-law enjoyed discussing history even if it was his own, which he occasionally intertwined with world events. "Oh, yes, I remember when Kennedy got shot. I was over at Gately's because I needed some new undershirts..." I think her father also appreciated the fact that I listened to him when he spoke, and boy did he enjoy talking; another trait that my wife got from him.

I never really got to speak with either maternal or paternal grandparents but I was in awe of my maternal grandfather is he emigrated to the Dakotas from Denmark towards the end of the 19th C and claimed to have seen Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show which to me as a 10 year was about as close to heaven as I could imagine.