My bedside table looks like it belongs to a senior citizen.

[Wherecanitbe]

My once minimalist bedside table now looks like it belongs to a much older person.

It is now taken up with - a box of tissues, allergy eye drops, ibuprofen gel, specs, extra strength hand and foot cream, bottle of water and paracetamol.

It has now become obvious to me , I am no longer "young and hip!"

when and what was the moment you realised you were not so young anymore?

In bed with husband, both of us reading at 9.45pm. He says 'do you fancy a cup of tea, love?' and I said 'no best not, I'll be up going to the loo all night.'

Argggghhhhh

I remember when we'd start thinking about going out at 9.45 and wandering into a club about 11 to 'start the night' 😂

@bellathedarkoverlord I post pictures of trees on Twitter with the hash tag #treeclub.

The hashtag was started (not by me) during lockdown.

Someone got badges made, and I bought one..

I'm actually excited about getting the driveway repaved

I usually read on my kindle, but picked up an old paperback to re-read. I've put it down again because I cannot handle the teeny tiny print.

When I'm out to lunch with my friends and they all whip out glasses to read the menu. Or some of them have their phone set to massive 'old-lady font' (my friend calls it this).

The heave & groan noise when I try to get off the sofa.

Bifocals (lovely ones, I grant you) on a beaded string around my neck.

My medication is all stashed away in my nightstand (blood pressure & opiate pain relief for the win…but I was born wonky so that’s been a staple for a couple of decades now)!

On the top, there is currently a DAB radio (Radio 4Xtra & Radio 5Live), a mug of tea, some Vicks Vapour rub & a Nintendo Switch (with the obligatory Animal Crossing New Horizons installed… can’t do anything fast paced lol). And a lovely wax burner scenting the air with bergamot (oh, the scent filming in Italy 20 years ago, bliss). And covering my oldest dog’s farts if I’m honest. And maybe the odd guff of my own (bending, kneeling, tying up a shoelace, touching my toes; all come with the risk of arse trumpeting to herald my own achievements).

And a skull earring I’ve just taken out of my helix piercing. That might make me hip & trendy, but I doubt it!

I’ve also found I do that snipping thing with my fingers when I’m trying to find the scissors.

Having my son turn 30 this year…bloody hell. My daughter is older than I was when I had her too.

My Dad died last week, so I’m acutely aware of my own mortality. I think that’s the biggest “Oh fucksticks, I’m getting old,” since I’m 50 this year!

There's much less of it as you get older too...

I drive past a nice lawn and said to my self “that’s a nicely manicured lawn”.

I think that’s my most middle aged moment to date.

It doesn't - it all falls out!

Still waiting to grow up, 65 and loving it.

I'm the same at almost 63. My bedside cabinet has a clock, a book and - the only concession to ageing - my glasses!

When my hands started to seize up due to arthritis.
See also:
I started to wear pop socks.
All of my hair lines started to head south.
I realised that boob bounce was actually due to saggy boobs, not their size, in many cases. (When my less than ample chest started to do the same.)
When my chin hairs seemed to multiply exponentially.
When I got white eyelashes and eyebrow hairs. (And I wish my hair would get the fuck on and just go all grey rather than the several hairs I have now, but not enough to change the overall colour.)
I could go on, but won't....
But just need to add - spots. WTF is that about?

Bloody hell @Wherecanitbe , i think we're sleeping in the same bed 😂

I love a wee pensioners nap about 4pm

I felt old when I was in H&M and noticing that the younger customers were dressed like versions of my younger self: baggy flared jeans, hoodies, converses.... or worse: like they'd stumbled into a Tammy time warp! I also felt old when paying for a drink from M&S as I'd neglected to place my card upon the correct part of the card reader. A kindly younger man smiled warmly while showing me what to do.... I'm 35 for ducks sake!

@bippityboppity87

I love them! Might have to get the stand up one. Where do other people find all this cool stuff and I’ve never even heard of it?!

I knew the time had come when doctors started looking 12 - and that was some time ago.

@NealSeal

Maybe we’re spiritual Boy Scouts! Always prepared. I had a mum at ballet a few weeks ago tell her child ‘ask X’s mum, she’ll have it’ when she needed a plaster. Like I was a corner shop! Couldn’t even be annoyed as I did have plasters if various sizes, plus an antiseptic cream and pack of wipes to sort the child out.

My moment was the first time when my knees cracked and my lower back was stiff trying to get up off the floor I was sitting on.

This thread is hilariously accurate! I sing or whistle when I go upstairs so I can't hear the scratchy noises from my right knee (I need to lose some weight too...!)

My chin hair (one).
My white pubes (two of them).
Feeling pleased when the lifeguard flirted with me on holiday, rather than this seeming completely natural.
Foot cream on the bedside locker.

I recently got Kindle unlimited and can read lots of magazines as part of the subscription - now I really look forward to reading each new issue of Woman and Home and Good Housekeeping.

So much for being sexually enlightened by Cosmopolitan!

I bought one of these and clipped it to the bed frame:

www.amazon.co.uk/GRH-Holder-Universal-Bracket-Flexible/dp/B088LLN3JD/ref=sr_1_4?crid=OVY9FS0QOS02&keywords=clip%2Bon%2Bphone%2Bholder%2Bwhite&qid=1654202139&sprefix=clip%2Bon%2Bphone%2Bholder%2Bwhite%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-4&th=1

Just now as am
A fan of Celine Dion an
32

Cashiers barely look up before pressing the “visibly over 25” button on the self checkout (that’s one)

And a youth who’s age I struggled to determine (that’s two) nearly bumped into me in a shop and his mates pissed themselves laughing at him “you nearly bumped into that old lady!!!!”. I am 41

• I have to take my specs OFF so I can read
• I now refer to my glasses as specs
• My bedside table contains my Kindle, handcream, paracetamol, ibuprofen, dry eye drops, nasal spray for random sneezing and a James Herriot novel for comfort reading
• I have a selection of pillows close to my bed just in case
• most of my conversations start with, "I heard this thing on Woman's Hour today..."
• I am happiest whilst listening to The Archers omnibus whilst doing a jigsaw and drinking heroic amounts of tea (decaf of course or I'll never sleep)
• I panic if I discover I've run out of painkillers
• despite carefully checking for chin hairs every morning, by the time I get home of an evening I seem to have sprouted a goatee