Being There

This site is dedicated to anyone over 60 years of age.

I remember when I was in my teens, I just wanted to grow older faster so I could get all the perks that the older people seemed to get. Each year that passed left me wishing that I was just a year older because that was where all the fun was. This lasted just about all my teen years and probably ended when I went into the Army for National Service. After the basic training I suddenly realised that I was having fun and wanted the years to slow down. I have been trying to slow them down ever since.

When I think back about the “Good Old Days” I remember people working hard until they retired at 65 and most people seemed to dread retirement perhaps because to many it seemed to herald the numbering of the remainder of their days. The amount of people who retired and I mean, retired, they did nothing in particular or if they did it was just doing more of the things they used to do in their spare time, an extended weekend.

Before you could turn round they were dead and everyone said how they had deteriorated since they had finished work. Nothing to live for, thrown on the scrap heap etc etc.

The one good thing about life is that it is full of changes bur some of the change is greeted with distrust, if instead, we are prepared to change with it, we can take advantage of the new things on offer. People’s attitudes have changed and perhaps because most people at retirement age have more money than previous generations the thought of having some free time isn’t so foreboding.

One thing that I seem to have noticed is that nearly everybody knows what a woman can expect to go through as she gets older but I have never been aware of the same information for men. Perhaps this is something to do with the fact that men will not ask or discuss themselves with other people. At the same time there doesn’t seem to be the same attitude towards men within the medical world as there is with women. I say this with tongue in cheek at the moment because within the last year or so more is being said, but still not enough.

I have approached my senior years just doing and being the same as I always have and casually noticing that certain things are not quite the same as they used to be. I have tried to work and exercise to my maximum just like before but noticed that I have reached certain limits earlier than I used to and muscles and joints don’t seem to work in the same old way. I have made adjustments but not stopped trying.

I have been blessed with good health and perhaps I am lucky in that way but is this because of, or in spite of my exercising over the years. We hear of the damage you can do to your body by excessive exercise, the joints begin to wear, the spine is affected and the way that we were taught to push ourselves just that bit further eventually has an effect on the heart giving us problems in later years.

So I would like to set up this site to give encouragement and information to all those who are now becoming wise (This is an assumption that wisdom comes with age). I would like to collate informative articles about health and find good contacts where we can access sites that are of help to people.

I would like to help by offering the right kind of attitude to adopt as we tread that unknown pathway and have fun at the same time.

I hope that this is not considered presumptuous of me because there will no doubt be those that are older and fitter than me who have a different slant on things. Well Fine! that’s just the job because I am not setting myself up as a guru, just a collating machine but perhaps just sticking my neb in now and again. It would be good to hear from others who have something to say that is of benefit to anyone that wants to listen, or read.

I hope this site will grow by gathering lots of useful and interesting information

And help us to “Keep on Keeping on.”

Tony Francis