60 today - a milestone or a gravestone?

[parsleydiva 10]

As has already been said, it's only a number. Enjoy every day there's lots of advantages to being a senior! Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY and have a good one.

[soft ayperth 11]

Many more of them, hillsboro. Don't worry about being 60. In little over a week, I'll be 65. Never felt better. Retired Jan 1 and already wondering how I used to get done all the things I used to. My days are pretty full now. Go to a Fitness Centre regularly. Keeping fit is a key. Like yourself, I too enjoy gardening, though in Canada, one has to down tools in October and pick them up the following June. We still have a fair bit of snow kicking around. I golf, badly, but who cares? You have grandkids. You'll find them fun. We had our first granddaughter this past Jan. I was just as excited as when I became a father. You have some nice spots over there to go walking which is one of your hobbies. Try golf. You don't have to be any good at it, take it from me. Enjoy a (one) glass of wine or a beer every day too. All the best.

[hillsbro 32]

Thanks again, folks, for all the good wishes and useful suggestions. You have cheered me up no end. We've just cracked open a bottle of delicious Gewurztraminer (vin d'Alsace - a snip at £6.95 from the Hillsborough Co-Op) and that's cheered me up even more. Fitness centre - a good idea, rogG; I'll look into it. Marion is (despite being quite trim) trying to lose a little weight; maybe we'll get a discount as we are now both 60+. Our next-door neighbour in Sheffield (where we spend about a third of our time) is a keen golfer and has been trying to get me to give it a try; maybe I should. And I'll be getting a bit more exercise in the garden in the coming weeks, despite today's wintry weather, complete with snow - the first time it's snowed on my birthday!

 

I just realised I've never had chicken pox. Measles - yes; mumps - yes; tonsils - removed, appendix - likewise. So all clear on that score, but am I too old to get chicken pox?

[Harleyman 12]

Look at it this way. Sixty is nothing to celebrate but it's a lot better than turning seventy.

[Minimo 59]

I loved reaching 60. My family gave me a wonderful party and lots of gorgeous presents. I am much better off, with pension, fuel allowance, bus pass, free prescriptions. And I don`t feel any different in myself, ie I still think I`m 30

Life is what you make it regardless of age.

[hillsbro 32]

I'm going to town tomorrow to get my bus pass. But I'm b*ggered if I'm paying £1.70 to get to town when I'm old enough to travel for nowt, so being a hale and hearty 60 I'm going to walk to town and get the bus back.

 

So much for that idea. I got to the office at the Interchange, waited in a queue of grey-haired people, produced my birth certificate, gas bill and mugshot ... and was told that I couldn't have a pass; it will be posted to me. I had been told earlier that I couldn't apply before my birthday, but apparently, if I had turned 60 a week earlier I would have been given a pass immediately. Goodness knows when I'll start travelling for free - the fact is that I'm 60 and I still CAN'T!

[hillsbro 32]

*beams, happily* as she realises that this must mean that 40 is the new 20...

 

Belated congratulations on your birthday, Plain Talker! I see your birthday is the day before mine. I only wish I had been born in the same year as you - but then, I suppose, I would still be working full time, and wouldn't be married to the wonderful Mrs hillsbro.... Yep - life gets better, and I shouldn't grumble like a curmudgeonly sexagenarian...

[soft ayperth 11]

Free bus passes? You've got it made. We don't even have buses in the town where I live. One city on the island has buses, single deckers of course, and they were brought in recently on a trial basis. We do have one London double decker bus but that's just for the tourists. Enjoy your bus rides. I used to like sitting upstairs at the front when I was a kid. Don't know how I managed to breathe as back then it was full of smoke upstairs. I expect things have changed for the better now.

[hillsbro 32]

Well, another five years have passed (where did they go?) and I'm 65 today. So I'm an O.A.P. - bloomin' heck!! But as they say "every cloud has a silver lining" and having paid taxes all my life I'll begin to receive a pension. As one of the kind contibutors to this thread in 2008 remarked "it's just a number" and that's the best way to look at it. I hope I'm mellowing and not getting grumpier as I get older - but that's for others to judge. Maybe I'll be like the Forum, and improve with age..

 

I don't feel any different. Another milestone may have been passed but I'm blessed with good health and the gravestone seems just as far away. And despite having "retired" I get busier - I just published a little book on a very abstruse subject (the Trans-Siberian postal route to [/size][/color][/size][/color][/size][/size][/size][/size][/color][/size][/color][/size]<br /> "]China in the early 1900s - honest!). As far as the Forum is concerned I still contribute snippets of information on the history of Hillsborough, Rivelin etc. In fact Marion (Mrs hillsbro) and I have just had a few days at our "holiday home" in Wadsley - it was too cold for picnicking but we had some bus rides in Derbyshire. Marion - bless her - gave me a lovely card and a big kiss this morning, and we're going to our favourite watering-hole for a pub lunch, then a walk in the grounds of Normanby Hall where we were married in 2007.

 

I feel better already....

 

P.S. Belated birthday greetings for yesterday, PT!.

[Kidorry 189]

I am 75 and still try to be as daft as I was at 20 and most of the time it works.Just try to keep fit and s@d the numbers.

[hillsbro 32]

Thanks, Kidorry - you're absolutely right, the numbers don't count and if anything I get dafter. I promised myself a couple of pints in the Butcher's Arms and I'll drink one to all us pensioners!.

[Kidorry 189]

Thanks, Kidorry - you're absolutely right, the numbers don't count and if anything I get dafter. I promised myself a couple of pints in the Butcher's Arms and I'll drink one to all us pensioners!.

 

Cheers............