52 year old Crampton's view on ageing

Age UK's recommendation for healthy ageing includes 'happiness', as discussed by Robert Crampton, a regular contributor to The Times Magazine.

He highlights certain recommendations such as remaining in good health. Sadly, when it's got your name on it, that's it. But no doubt being in good health is a great start. Staying in touch with events, news, people and the shops are also great, whilst finance, marital status and proximity to offspring are less important. For me these are counter-intuitive and makes me worry about Age Uk's findings. As expected, going for a good Bonington-style stiff walk is in there.

Robert Crampton, however, has not reached this exalted age. 'Bonding with the bloke next door, joining a choir or scaling whatever heights Bonington recommends' is not for him, sex and watching football being his priorities. Completely predictable. Overpaid excuses for sportsmen are not my scene, but I will say his other concerns ring bells with me. 'Droning on about the precise date of Easter' for example. During my childhood and youth Mum would say 'It's early this year' or 'It's late this year'. In our house, Easter never happened at the normal time. Delaying the onset of golf is definitely a good idea. I've never been a member of an exclusive club, but if golf clubs are typical of such places, I'll stay an outsider. Cutting down on modern pop music as an unfortunate consequence of not being able to hear the words. Due to lack of pronunciation at high volume? What of deafness and not paying attention?

So ageing is in front of Crampton. He is thinking about it and not doing much. Except avoiding a check-up with his doctor. The 50s are high risk times for men to die suddenly, and well, you don't really need to know in advance do you? So his aim is to remain in good health until 60, when he will  'take it from there'. Perhaps playing football, walking to the shops and being part of a musical ensemble that sings in plain English might help. This from a 70 year old.

And shoot all cyclists that use the pavement instead of the road.

How long is the haircut in the life

This is an audio file, a dip into something new. An audio file is a welcome addition to the blog repertoire and a more attractive way to publish cherished writing which is languishing in a dusty computer file. Like most things, done once it should get easier, but it is far from perfect at the moment. It is stored in dropbox, but adding a few pictures and storing in utube is an option. Whilst I am aware that it is possible to embed audio into blogger, I struggle to understand how to do it.

There are themes in our lives that we return to. The haircut is one.

"The haircut is an intermittent lifelong task. Maths is not a strength, but for the sake of argument, assume we live for 70 years and have 10 haircuts per year, each lasting 30 minutes including the wait. You can only go during the day and not on a Sunday, so multiply by three. That’s 6 weeks out of the life. A long time ... "

Clic to listen to the full article - Haircut in the life


UTube haircut in the life

clic here for original text article

Those exercise guys are at it again

Physical activity guidelines for adults    it only goes to 64, but good guide

Exercise keeps mind sharp in over 50s  if this doesn't strengthen (sorry) your resolve I not sure what can

I only put the pic in because it makes a better post - arguably

Thanks to all those who sent cards and wished me happy birthday

Birthday weekend
Jenson went to see the fat controller
Then we went to Grapollo's for 'the funny hat'
4 stripes went to Manchester. As if he doesn't see enough of it.

Those helpful exercise advisers for the 70 year old


It's at least 2 sessions of weights now, in addition to 150 minutes of exercise. What with recovery, there will be no time left in the week for drugs, sex and rock and roll.

Funny looking bird

I suspect, but cannot prove, this is really two birds. I'll try and get more pics.

Is it documented that one bird flies with another on its back?