Unexpected consequences of aging

I thought I might post an update here as this is the time of year when folks look in the mirror and think “crikey, you look rough”. I’ve been through the grey hair thing and grey beard and the annoying white hairs in eyebrows that are twice as coarse as normal hair, the hair from around my ears is still marching up the sides of my head even though I’ve still got all my normal hair. The strange phenomenon that I have noticed though is that a lot of my beard is beginning to turn black, it started with two streaks from the corners of my mouth that run at diagonals and give me a look of a pirate (in my head). If I don’t shave now for a couple of days my facial hair is peppered with black and I look even more “swarthy”. What is going on, my hair has never been black? Is it my body’s way of rewarding me for eschewing alcohol or is it the final flutter of wings before my imminent demise?

Three hours on, and the difference is already all I could wish for, and now I can finally stop fannying around trying to put contact lenses in at stupid o’clock in the morning, and only needing reading glasses for close-up work.

A heads up  for you @CountZero that if you experience any fuzziness of vision around the edges have it checked as that can be the start of macular degeneration. MIL ignored hers (didn’t want to make a fuss, bless her) and spent her last years functionally blind.

Unexpected consequences of aging:

One reaches 60+ and becomes obsessed with ones bowels 🙂

You say something really witty and incisive but nobody laughs because they’ve all heard you say it over and over in the past but you’ve forgotten who you’ve told it to.

On behalf of the UK (long)shoehorn manufacturers ,I would like to thank this thread ,as we believe it has played a major part in saving jobs.

I’ve been through the grey hair thing and grey beard and the annoying white hairs in eyebrows that are twice as coarse as normal hair, the hair from around my ears is still marching up the sides of my head even though I’ve still got all my normal hair. The strange phenomenon that I have noticed though is that a lot of my beard is beginning to turn black, it started with two streaks from the corners of my mouth that run at diagonals and give me a look of a pirate (in my head). If I don’t shave now for a couple of days my facial hair is peppered with black and I look even more “swarthy”. What is going on, my hair has never been black? Is it my body’s way of rewarding me for eschewing alcohol or is it the final flutter of wings before my imminent demise?

Badger, is that you?

My girlfriend has started plucking the odd hair from the edge of my ear rather than the ear hole.

Caught one the other week that was over an inch long and blended into my actual head hair…

Still not bald or grey.

You say something really witty and incisive but nobody laughs because they’ve all heard you say it over and over in the past but you’ve forgotten who you’ve told it to.

I’ve been doing that for 30 years.

Still not bald or grey.

I’m fairly confident that I won’t go bald, which is nice. My dad had a full head of hair all his life, and his dad (the one time I met him) had the same. The “salt and pepper” colouring is tending towards salt at an increasing rate of knots though. I look at pictures from a handful of years ago and think “christ, look how grey I wasn’t!”

You say something really witty and incisive but nobody laughs because you’re listening to Any Questions on your own while your wife is out at the WI Christmas do

Ftfy

It’s an odd one but confidence in myself and my ability to learn and do new things and an increased level of self assuredness.

I’m not “old” (late 40s) but in the last 3 years I have done things that in my 20s through to my early 40s I constantly questioned whether I could ever do or that scared the **** out of me and become comfortable with them.

At 45 I rode drops that couldn’t be rolled for the first time in 40 years of riding bikes and 30 of riding mountain bikes.  I can ride stuff now in my comfort zone that would have terrified me or had me pushing in my 20s.

This year I took a big career step in terms of responsibilities and risk. I’d had the qualifications and necessary experience and skills for 8 years but never quite made the leap.

I’m pushing hard on fitness and strength in the gym and I’m learning to steer a new boat that’s faster and less forgiving than anything I’ve ever helmed before.

I think the realisation that I maybe have probably 15 years of proper off road riding and wilder sailing ahead, 20 years of work and wanting a decade of good health in retirement has finally overwhelmed my natural cautious streak.

You say something really witty and incisive but nobody laughs because they’ve all heard you say it over and over in the past but you’ve forgotten who you’ve told it to.

I’ve been doing that for 30 years.

Not on here you haven’t.

(Wink emoji)

Sneaking thinning hair. Doesn’t help when you’re blonde and have fine hair. Got called a “bald cnt” the other day.

But also, being treated like I’m 18….In a restaurant for our works do on Friday. Asked for a large whiskey and ice.

Nope.

“We can’t do doubles of shots”

Huh? Who shots whiskey?

I was allowed: a large whiskey, in a pint glass, topped up with mixer. Or, I could have a single with ice, and when I’ve drunk that I can order another. I didn’t point out we had 12+ bottles of wine on the table, or that the girls were smashing 2 for 1 cocktails. But as a nearly 50 year old man I’m not allowed a large whiskey and ice..  bahahaha

Starting to need my specs more and more these days, but I have already forgotten where I put them..have’nt seen them for weeks

At 40, people have finally stopped telling me I’ll change my mind about not wanting kids.

I’m on the varifocals now, with chat about some sort of cataract operation in about a years time.

Kind of annoying as I’ve always been prudent on eye examinations with a reputable optician.

Grey ? My beards near white, and im only 56.

Got called a “bald cnt” the other day.

Oi!  Less of the bald!

You say something really witty and incisive but nobody laughs because they’ve all heard you say it over and over in the past but you’ve forgotten who you’ve told it to.

Insert ‘you thought’ appropriately.

To those in their 40s who worry that you might have to wind back your technical riding by the time you reach 60, I would just like to say that I rode and thoroughly enjoyed the Bike Village AlpPacker south in September. Sure, it was hard work at times but I wasn’t even the oldest fart there.

What hasn’t been great for me in this last year has been the need for repair work on a torn retina; sods law that it would also be in my one eye that actually works.

I used to be able to place my chin on my shins and now I struggle to put socks on without having to sit down. The speed at which my flexibility has vanished is, quite frankly, insane! I’m only 47 FFS. I also appear to have developed permanent bags under my eyes and have joined the varifocal club. Oh yeah and I’m fat for the first time in my life.

Mrs S has just picked up an empty mug with one hand and said “the tea’s all gone” then picked up another mug from her lap and “oh, no, there it is”. We laughed a bit and I have been told to “shut my face”.

You say something really witty and incisive but nobody laughs because they’ve all heard you say it over and over in the past but you’ve forgotten who you’ve told it to.

The speed at which my flexibility has vanished is, quite frankly, insane! I’m only 47 FFS

The one positive from getting Ankylosing Spondylitis at 41 has been that since i now have to do daily yoga, i am now more flexible at 45 than I have ever been since the age of about 8. It’s not too late!

When you’re thinking of something which seemed like it was just the other year, then you realise it was 30 years ago and you have no idea how 30 years just went by.

When you’re thinking of something which seemed like it was just the other year, then you realise it was 30 years ago and you have no idea how 30 years just went by.

Yeah, kinda like how this recent XKCD animation suddenly doesn’t seem so recent.
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1190:_Time