Being There

When I was at school one of the lessons that I hated was sports. I was bored out of my mind playing football mainly because I was hopeless at it. I could kick a ball anywhere but where I wanted it to go and on top of that, if I had the ball and everyone’s eyes were upon me I just went to pieces and seldom made contact with that piece of leather with a pig’s bladder in it.

I developed a pretence that I was a long distance runner, anything rather than have to go onto that pitch. I wasn’t that good at running either but at least it got me out of the grounds and away from school. I did get to like it a bit but wasn’t going to make it a career.

I had jobs when I left school that were pretty physical so had no great need for sports.

It was when I first went into the army that I began to get interested in keeping fit, if you weren’t prepare to do your bit it wasn’t long before you lagged behind the others in the gymnasium.

I guess I must have looked pretty fit, well at least I was lean. I was waiting to go for an interview with the company sergeant major when the commanding officer of the unit came out of his office and on his return stopped and looked at me. ”you look fit young man” said he, “Yes sir” I replied, “Come into my office I have just the job for you”. Before I knew where I was I had been given the details of the PT Instructors course that I was attending in 4 days time. As the post was for lance corporals only, it meant that I had instant promotion and instant dislike from some of the chaps that I was serving with but everything has it’s price. Read the rest of this entry »

I saw an elderly man laughing until he could no longer see through his tear filled eyes.

I looked around but could not see anything to laugh at. He was among a few friends and they too were laughing as much as the man. It became obvious that he was reliving some hilarious moment and sharing it with these people.

I often think back to the times that relations of mine were going through similar experiences and although we children were laughing it wasn’t at the stories so much as seeing the adults laughing in the way that they were.

The funny thing about this is that it was usually at a funeral and many of the stories were about the person whose funeral we were at. What a shame that this person who had gone had been such an interesting person and yet we didn’t know it whilst they were here.

One of my Uncles was the cause of many laughs for the things that he did when he was young. He was a farm labourer and full of energy and devilment. It was other relations that told us what he got up to and strangely enough it was in his presence. He never contradicted or prompted them but he enjoyed the re-telling of his exploits as much as everybody else.

The story of when he was leading a young bull to another farm and the trek took him past his front door. He decided that he would take advantage of the situation and tied the bull to a lamp post whilst he popped in and Gran made him a cup of tea. Just as he was about to leave a knock came at the door and a neighbour told him that the bull had got away and was last seen heading down the street. Uncle went in hot pursuit and eventually came upon the runaway in the side street. Just as he was about to grab the rope that hung from the bulls nose ring, a lady came out of her house and (as they did in those days) shook a tablecloth to get rid of the crumbs. Away went bull with Uncle again in hot pursuit. Visions of Benny Hills end of programme now come to mind because, during the chase more and more people joined in until there were about a dozen pursuers. Uncle was shouting to go around the animal to cut it off but who was going to face this bovine battering ram? Apparently, no-one. As far as I remember the story, the police eventually cornered the runaway with a borrowed tractor. End of sneaked tea breaks for uncle and peace for the neighbourhood.

Sometimes I believe that we only do comical things in our younger life so that we can reminisce when we get older and cheer ourselves up.

I think one of the greatest sounds ever heard is the sound of good honest laughter.

The good old “Belly Laugh”. It’s infectious too. It is almost impossible to stay grim when you are amongst people having such a good laugh. It’s good for you too so they say and I know, I always feel good afterwards.

I often wonder if there are statistics for the degrees of laughter at various ages throughout our lives. They say we get grumpy when we get older but that is a generalisation and we all know generalisations are a lie. I haven’t had a good “Belly Laugh” for a while now but I certainly won’t give in to the Grumpy theory. When I find something funny or if I get talked about for the comical things I did when I was younger, I want to be there to share it, just like good old uncle.

OLDER PEOPLE STRATEGY

If you want to build a house to live in do you trust the builder to design and build one without asking you what kind of house would suit you and what layout would be best for you. I wonder how close that house would be to your liking and to your needs.

Chances are that you would get some things that you agree with and many that you would not.

I remember working in a Chemical factory and seeing all the alterations that were being planned by the team of experts. I am not decrying the expertise of the team nor the dedication to make improvements.

A lot of time and discussion went into the planning and a lot of input from a wide range of trades and specialists helped to cover all the aspects such as building and safety. Production was the prime criteria because this was the part that made profits.

Read the rest of this entry »

There is one thing that is certain in this life and that is that you can stand still for a time but you cannot make time stand still. We have to go forward, there is no reverse on life’s pathway. Perhaps this is a good thing otherwise we would meet ourselves coming back.

One of the things that would give us a good standing in facing that future is to look at it as a vehicle. If this is the bus of life which would you rather be, the passenger or the driver. Perhaps the worst you can imagine is letting life take you where it wants to go. That way the future is uncertain and scary. Like driving the bus blindfolded and guessing whether you are going in the right direction or not (And it would most probably be not.)

On the other hand if you are the driver you have the essence of control and steer where you want to go. There are certain roads that you have to stick to but you know the destination so you get to choose the route..

O.K. there are other things to consider as well, such as, you are not the only bus on the road and so you have to be aware of where others are going so you don’t crash into them and hope that they are as observant as you are. There are traffic signals that you have to adhere to that are a hindrance when you are in a hurry but disregard them at your peril etc etc. Oh and there is fuel, what about fuel? You can’t go without it.

Sounds a bit like life, we want to get along but have to take other peoples wishes into consideration and we would be O.K. if it weren’t for some of the things that we have to pander to in order to stay within the law. The fuel? Well that comes from us, that is our determination to get somewhere and make sure we have the gusto to get there.

Gusto is great if you have it and it is usually in abundance when we are young but is called stamina as we get older and that changes it somewhat. Even stamina can get in short supply as we age but at least we have no great need for it better perhaps change it for patience or determination.

If we want “Rocket Fuel” we should make sure we have a good sense of humour. What a blessing the person has who can keep a sense of humour throughout their life.

A sense of humour is ageless and spans every facet of life and every age generation.

When I leave this planet I don’t want my breath to be the last thing that goes, I want it to be my sense of humour.

I sometimes sit and contemplate if I have changed much and if I have yet got to the stage of using my age as an excuse to not do things that I have always done or do some of the things that I have never dreamt of doing before. That to me would be handing over the wheel and becoming the passenger.

I applaud the people that have used their time in their senior unemployment to do things that they have always wanted to do but have not had the time or resources to do them. I hear of people taking up educational studies or travelling the world and even starting new businesses and this to me is the inspiration that we should all try to follow. I realise there are those who are unfortunate enough to have ill health and that this takes up all their resources and I applaud them too because that is the passenger telling the driver where to go.

Passenger or driver, whichever is your choice go your journey and travel well but go with good heart.