You realise that you are getting old when you have to rummage to find your Best Bra in the drawer, you find it at the very back, and you realise that it's been quite a while since you last had an Occasion to wear your Best Bra.
And now that you do have a Best Bra Occasion, it's a routine mammogram in an NHS mobile unit in a car park.
I realised I was getting old when I got called for my first ever mammogram. My second one is on Fri 13th - just hoping that this time they don't have to call me back for an ultrasound! (It turned out to be layers of muscle compressed together in the initial scan).
I seem to remember we had a popular hymn back in those days that included the phrase, 'And in Heaven Felicity'.
We all (well I did) giggled and thought, 'I wish'.
I realised I was getting old when I got called for my first ever mammogram. My second one is on Fri 13th - just hoping that this time they don't have to call me back for an ultrasound! (It turned out to be layers of muscle compressed together in the initial scan).
Ouch! I realised I was getting old when I had to phone the breast screening service to make my own appointment as I’m beyond the catchment age. Now I just have to remember to call them again in 3 years time!
I had my annual wellness checkup today. (I sometimes call it my 'well baby appointment. ) Anyway, I have reached the blessed age of not having to have a pap smear ever again!
My late mother taught at a girls' school in Northwood. The BBC used a brief shot of its exterior in the episode in which Barbara gives a talk at an institution for young offenders. Mother's face was a picture when her workplace appeared on screen in that context, and fifty years on the moment is still a vivid memory.
I have been struck with an attack of the nostalgias this afternoon, watching The Good Life, which was a favourite family watch when I was in primary school. It was very of the period, in my opinion. I wonder if we get more nostalgic as we get older? What do others think?
I think you can only really have nostalgia when there are things that have come and gone and been somewhat forgotten. So as you age, there is more and more of that.
And as more of life drags us down, we look more favourably on the younger times.
And also, Felicity Kendal was "Rear of the year" and always worth a watch. The show was very much in an optimistic vein - the sense of what we could do if we threw off the traditional ideas. Reggie Perrin had a similar concept. The idea of chucking in the wage-slavery and doing something else probably gets more attractive over time. As we either a) realise that we will never retire because we will never be able to afford it or b) see retirement approaching and long for it.
My late mother taught at a girls' school in Northwood. The BBC used a brief shot of its exterior in the episode in which Barbara gives a talk at an institution for young offenders. Mother's face was a picture when her workplace appeared on screen in that context, and fifty years on the moment is still a vivid memory.
Thanks and very interesting. But wasn't the house we see in Harrow?
My school, being close to the ATV Elstree studios, figured in several episodes of "The Avengers". Of course, we boys were kept well away from the action!
(Totally irrelevant to this threat: but the futuristic-looking Magisterium in "His Dark Materials" was in fact the glasshouse at the Botanic Garden of Wales! And "Oxford" was actually Cardiff).
A whole generation of men enjoyed The Good Life. Never have dungarees been worn so sexily!
Interestingly, apparently during shooting Penelope Keith was notably laid back whereas Felicity Kendal was the perfectionist, a reversal of their characters' personas.
Thanks and very interesting. But wasn't the house we see in Harrow?
The houses used for the homes of the Goods and Leadbetters are still standing in Kewferry Road, Northwood, by the corner of Ebury Close. All the locations in the series were in Northwood: the allotments in Chestnut Avenue, the Gate pub in Rickmansworth Road, the Green Door (where Margo didn't go for riding lessons) in Green Lane, and several other spots still recognisable today.
And the outdoor scenes were filmed in Harrow, not Surbiton!
That reminds me of seeing the famous scene in Fawly Towers where Basil's car breaks down and he leaps out and screams, "I've had enough, I'll give you a damned good thrashing!" and whacks it with a fallen tree branch. That was filmed just down the road from where we lived in Kenton, Harrow.
The organ recital... You meet old friends who you haven't seen for a year and within one minute the conversation degenerates into bodily malfunctions, surgery and medications. (I am fine, by the way, though my left knee hurts).
If I were at that Organ concert, this year, I could show you my incisions for the gallbladder removal and my back where they did an ambulation. But, compared to some of my other peers, I am doing pretty well, thank you.
My uncle D died last night. It's a sad, but mostly joyful thing for him! When we would talk on the phone, he always said how much he missed his wife and my dad, his older brother. But now, since he was the last of his generation on that side of my family, that means we're the matriarchs and patriarchs now! I don't think we've grown up enough for that. But it makes me and my cousins feel old now!
I felt the same way for my mother, who, though she had congestive heart failure, was the last of her generation to go--at 96. She also missed her husband, her brothers and sisters too. And now, I am the patriarch of my Dad's side of the family. It was unnerving when I realized that. I do have a brother two years younger, and a cousin ten years younger so I am not completely alone.
Went to the eye doctor today for the annual eye exam. No change in the prescription. He was pleased with my eye pressure readings. He did note some developing cataracts and floaters, but he said they were just part of the aging process. Will continue to monitor them.
Comments
And now that you do have a Best Bra Occasion, it's a routine mammogram in an NHS mobile unit in a car park.
Keeping socks together, on the other hand ...
We all (well I did) giggled and thought, 'I wish'.
It doesn't run out of battery, though.
My late mother taught at a girls' school in Northwood. The BBC used a brief shot of its exterior in the episode in which Barbara gives a talk at an institution for young offenders. Mother's face was a picture when her workplace appeared on screen in that context, and fifty years on the moment is still a vivid memory.
I think you can only really have nostalgia when there are things that have come and gone and been somewhat forgotten. So as you age, there is more and more of that.
And as more of life drags us down, we look more favourably on the younger times.
And also, Felicity Kendal was "Rear of the year" and always worth a watch. The show was very much in an optimistic vein - the sense of what we could do if we threw off the traditional ideas. Reggie Perrin had a similar concept. The idea of chucking in the wage-slavery and doing something else probably gets more attractive over time. As we either a) realise that we will never retire because we will never be able to afford it or b) see retirement approaching and long for it.
Thanks and very interesting. But wasn't the house we see in Harrow?
My school, being close to the ATV Elstree studios, figured in several episodes of "The Avengers". Of course, we boys were kept well away from the action!
(Totally irrelevant to this threat: but the futuristic-looking Magisterium in "His Dark Materials" was in fact the glasshouse at the Botanic Garden of Wales! And "Oxford" was actually Cardiff).
Interestingly, apparently during shooting Penelope Keith was notably laid back whereas Felicity Kendal was the perfectionist, a reversal of their characters' personas.
https://thatsthelocation.co.uk/the-good-life-filming-locations/
That reminds me of seeing the famous scene in Fawly Towers where Basil's car breaks down and he leaps out and screams, "I've had enough, I'll give you a damned good thrashing!" and whacks it with a fallen tree branch. That was filmed just down the road from where we lived in Kenton, Harrow.
So were the outdoor scenes in Fawlty Towers
No, the wildest it gets is when we encounter stray packs of football supporters on their way home from the Cup Final at Wembley!
Sorry for your loss.
I felt the same way for my mother, who, though she had congestive heart failure, was the last of her generation to go--at 96. She also missed her husband, her brothers and sisters too. And now, I am the patriarch of my Dad's side of the family. It was unnerving when I realized that. I do have a brother two years younger, and a cousin ten years younger so I am not completely alone.