Be honest. Do you dislike old people?

[richinspain]

I had my 60th birthday in June. I had my first tattoo in the Easter of 1981, a heart with Mam and Dad (I wanted the Ram but was too scared as it was a bit hairy at away matches at the time). I had my second tattoo in July 2016, my daughter's name and date of birth (she was born in 2000 but took great delight in watching it being done). I've always liked tattoos and would have liked more but without being excessive. At the same time I've always said that if I could go back I wouldn't have had one at all, even though they are a part of me.

Anyway, old people. I like some old people more than some young people, and I like some young people more than some old people. Basically, I like some people and don't like others. I try not to let appearances influence me, although first contact they can't be helped. I like to think that I have friends of all ages.

[Day]

7 minutes ago, ketteringram said:

@David

 

Great post, and makes a lot of sense. That's from somebody with a similar history, but also someone who has never understood tattoos. I'm 60s now, but I didn't understand them even when I was 20! I used to think, why would you want something on your arm, for example? It doesn't matter what it is. Date, name , art whatever. 

Surely it can't be there for you to sit and look at . That would be just weird. But it would be even more weird, for me anyway, if it was there because you wanted other people to look at your arm. Why would anyone want that? Then there's the stuff, that's not even visible to yourself, or anyone else for the vast majority of the time, on someone's back for example. 

So, have never understood what they're for. I don't like or dislike them, just don't understand the purpose, but yours is a great explanation, and the dog one is perfect. 

You don't hold an opinion that's unique to old people, I've heard the same from people my own age that just don't get it.

I'll be honest, most days go by without a second thought they are there. Other days, I'll catch myself staring at one and triggering some kind of memory. 

Trying to find an analogy here, but the only thing I can get close to is photo albums, we keep them for memories, largely stored and left to dust over till one night you have a few drinks and pull one out.

These are photo albums I have with me all the time, Never Forget on my hand for example, that's not to put the bin out but the last dance song at our wedding, during a car journey I glimpse, put it on and we'll have a wedding conversation that can go many ways.

You would be amazed how many conversations are started through them when you meet new people.

Again this is just me, others will have their own reasons and stories as to why. 

All I would say is try not to judge people for them that's all, it's ok to not understand and think they are s***, they don't define us in how we behave or our work ethics.

Thankfully they are pretty much accepted now and as we all reach the care homes, rocking away on our chairs, be interesting to see if they still trigger memories or largely blurred blobs of ink that we regret as dance music is blasting away in the background.

[Normanton Lad]

David, your post about anxiety was very interesting. You are like Bradbury's Illustrated Man.

At 41 you are still a young man. You might be surprised by how things can change in a few years. One of my friends was living at home with his mother at your age but at 50 he was married with about half a dozen kids.

I don't know if this will be a comfort to you but social anxiety, in my experience, doesn't affect many people my age. When I was younger I would never talk to strangers in queues, but now I will initiate conversations with anyone in any circumstance. I don't care what they think of me. Most people my age have said the same thing happened to them. 

My views on most topics are very unconventional and when I express them I don't worry that others think I am stupid or mad. Young people worry too much about what others think of them. 

The only person I know who had anxiety problems was a man who got shell shock in the Malaya War. He couldn't leave his house unless he had a hat or an umbrella. He's got dementia now and his anxiety has gone away. He is always trying to leave the house and he doesn't bother with the hat or the umbrella.

[bcnram]

2 hours ago, sage said:

Well I'm 54, loved Parky, my favourite film is Kes and I spoke to Dickie Bird 5 days ago.

Does that make you feel better

I said 

DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER

 

No need to shout you young whippersnapper! 

[Normanton Lad]

38 minutes ago, sage said:

How much of their culture are you ignorant of?

Nearly all of it. The only legacy media I look at is an online paper which I glance at to find out what lies they are saying today.  I don't watch TV or listen to radio stations. I have not listened to any pop music since the Beatles. I only listen to classic music and a bit of folk or jazz. The other day someone asked me what I thought of Adele and I said I have never heard any of her music and all I know about her comes from a photo of a fat girl I saw in an online newspaper.

[Day]

22 minutes ago, Normanton Lad said:

David, your post about anxiety was very interesting. You are like Bradbury's Illustrated Man.

At 41 you are still a young man. You might be surprised by how things can change in a few years. One of my friends was living at home with his mother at your age but at 50 he was married with about half a dozen kids.

I don't know if this will be a comfort to you but social anxiety, in my experience, doesn't affect many people my age. When I was younger I would never talk to strangers in queues, but now I will initiate conversations with anyone in any circumstance. I don't care what they think of me. Most people my age have said the same thing happened to them. 

My views on most topics are very unconventional and when I express them I don't worry that others think I am stupid or mad. Young people worry too much about what others think of them. 

The only person I know who had anxiety problems was a man who got shell shock in the Malaya War. He couldn't leave his house unless he had a hat or an umbrella. He's got dementia now and his anxiety has gone away. He is always trying to leave the house and he doesn't bother with the hat or the umbrella.

If your opinions are completely legal and not offensive, wouldn't worry what others think to them, in fact they could make a topic more interesting. 

Unconventional opinions make for more interesting conversations I find, I will often follow people/pages that I either disagree with or don't believe just to hear them out. 

An age gap is even better as you've lived through days I haven't, seen and experienced different things, things I couldn't possibly relate to yet that's what makes it interesting. 

Receiving the likes on posts such as on this forum are great and everything, at the same time it's kinda boring as it doesn't develop into a conversation. Just a bunch of people basically saying yeah I agree.

I just can't be doing with people like Katie Hopkins for example where you sense she's just trying to be controversial for the publicity/attention and doubt she holds many of the opinions she actually spouts. So many out there like that, TalkSport has made a business out of it. 

[Grumpy Git]

1 hour ago, David said:

.......................... till one night you have a few drinks and pull one out.

[Van der MoodHoover]

7 hours ago, David said:

Wouldn't say I dislike them, but I do think they should be banned from supermarkets at a weekend.

And from driving between 7am and 9 pm.....

[sage]

5 hours ago, Normanton Lad said:

David, your post about anxiety was very interesting. You are like Bradbury's Illustrated Man.

At 41 you are still a young man. You might be surprised by how things can change in a few years. One of my friends was living at home with his mother at your age but at 50 he was married with about half a dozen kids.

I don't know if this will be a comfort to you but social anxiety, in my experience, doesn't affect many people my age. When I was younger I would never talk to strangers in queues, but now I will initiate conversations with anyone in any circumstance. I don't care what they think of me. Most people my age have said the same thing happened to them. 

My views on most topics are very unconventional and when I express them I don't worry that others think I am stupid or mad. Young people worry too much about what others think of them. 

The only person I know who had anxiety problems was a man who got shell shock in the Malaya War. He couldn't leave his house unless he had a hat or an umbrella. He's got dementia now and his anxiety has gone away. He is always trying to leave the house and he doesn't bother with the hat or the umbrella.

Maybe @David should allow a thread for your opinions, one a day. No replies, just reactions.

 

What could go wrong.

[Boycie]

I don’t mind tattoo’s tbh, it’s them ear hole circular things that make me think “why?”

[Day]

9 hours ago, Boycie said:

I don’t mind tattoo’s tbh, it’s them ear hole circular things that make me think “why?”

Ear canal? That's where we hear things through. I love mine, be lost without them 

[Anag Ram]

1 hour ago, Stockport Ram said:

“Old” means different things as you get older. When I was 12 or 13, I remember thinking that when the millennium came I’d be 35.THIRTY FIVE ! How OLD is that? Now, 35 seems not far off my peak.

I have the immense privilege of talking to people of all ages face to face, showing them how to use our banking app amongst other things, and I find that people are generally very interesting - if you open up and share some of yourself with them they will often reciprocate - and some of their life stories are amazing. The trick is knowing just a little bit about a lot of things, usually just enough to empathise and trigger their expansion.

I suppose I just enjoy learning about people - some would say I’m nosey ! - But I love finding out what makes them tick.

If my 1980s university education taught me anything, it’s that I’m no better or worse than a pauper or a King, so I feel able to talk to anyone- and often do ! 

Some of the most wonderful people I have met are 16, some are 80. 

As I get older,  I do think that the sign of a good society is how well they treat and respect their ageing population. Some cultures have it ingrained, we are miles off.

Talking to younger people keeps me young.

 I don’t waste energy judging people or begrudging them what they have.

 I don’t spend enough time helping those who have little.

 I learn stuff and recognise negative aspects of my life every day.

Generally, I’m fairly content and so grateful for my health and family. 

Dementia and ill health in those older than me is very worrying. I’ve heard so many stories of older people being told they need to come back in a few months when they have medical issues that cause them daily discomfort.

They are being triaged out of care and they are not being heard.

 

[Tamworthram]

Can I just clarify what we are defining as “old”? I’m just wondering if I need to be considering imposing a driving curfew on myself and cancel that unicorn tattoo I was considering. 😀

[Van der MoodHoover]

33 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Can I just clarify what we are defining as “old”? I’m just wondering if I need to be considering imposing a driving curfew on myself and cancel that unicorn tattoo I was considering. 😀

The driving thing should be based on a capacity assessment

1. Do you need to sit on 2 or more yellow pages to see over the steering wheel

2. Do you consider 40mph on a motorway....

- an occasional inconvenience

- a moderately balanced speed

- ludicrously and dangerously fast?

[Mucker1884]

3 hours ago, David said:

Ear canal? That's where we hear things through. I love mine, be lost without them 

No mate. Think that’s yer eyes you’re thinking of. 🤷‍♂️

Edited September 10, 2023 by Mucker1884
Damn apostrophe in a plural! Grrr!

[richinspain]

57 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

No mate. Think that’s yer eyes you’re thinking of. 🤷‍♂️

 It without his ears he wouldn't be able to hear those electric scooter thingies that are so dangerous!

[Ram-Alf]

On 09/09/2023 at 11:03, Normanton Lad said:

While chatting about Michael Parkinson I mentioned a few other Barnsley people : Dicky Bird, Brian Glover, etc. A young man aged about 60 said he’d never heard of Brian Glover. A Yorkshire man aged about 85 also said he didn’t know who he was. I said they must have seen Kes. Neither of them had. I could understand the older guy not knowing who he was because he’d spent the 1970s and 1980’s living abroad. But he was such a familiar figure to me – in an age group between the two I’ve just mentioned - that I though everyone must know who he is. 

It’s hard to relate to people outside our age group. All the tattoos, obesity and the other detritus of modern Uk culture is way beyond my understanding. Most of the comments on this part of the site are not germane to anything in my life. It makes me feel like a complete outsider. I don't post much on non-Derby County topics because I know as an older person with old fashioned views these posts would not be welcome.

I often wonder if the dislike of old people is due to their decrepitude or their views. Perhaps it is both.

I'm 67, Brian Glover was Manchester United in Kes as he was the gym school teacher and awarded himself a penalty and scored as he was Bobby Charlton, Also a pro wrestler...Shirley Crabtree I believe and played an old lag in Porridge.

I'm having the best time of my life at this age, Financially secure, Eat when I want, See who I want, Go where I want and do what I want, Only downside...there aint no downside.

Here's to the next 67 years 😁

[richinspain]

9 minutes ago, The Last Post said:

I'm 67, Brian Glover was Manchester United in Kes as he was the gym school teacher and awarded himself a penalty and scored as he was Bobby Charlton, Also a pro wrestler...Shirley Crabtree I believe and played an old lag in Porridge.

I'm having the best time of my life at this age, Financially secure, Eat when I want, See who I want, Go where I want and do what I want, Only downside...there aint no downside.

Here's to the next 67 years 😁

Shirley Crabtree was Big Daddy, although Brian Glover was a wrestler before becoming an actor.

 

[Ram-Alf]

Cheers for that Rich...maybe Old age aint what it's cracked up to be 😉

Edited September 10, 2023 by The Last Post

[Eddie]

On 09/09/2023 at 11:21, sage said:

Well I'm 54, loved Parky, my favourite film is Kes and I spoke to Dickie Bird 5 days ago.

Does that make you feel better

I said 

DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER

 

Dickie looked in very good shape and humour at Scarborough the other day. I just said hello to him, but I was on my way for a slash.