To wonder how you recognise you're getting older

[clearlyaplasticgnome]

I hate having to go out in the evenings
I love listening to Radio 4
I dream of retirement and moving to a nice village beside the sea (never going to happen!)

When you contemplate buying a Volvo.

Half my eyebrows have suddenly grown long, grey and sparse .

Im sneezing and coughing like a retching dirty old man! never used to.

I get those warty dark things too on my neck. theyre disgusting and i wish i knew the proper name for them and see if theres anything i can put on them to make them go!

neck looks like Nora Batty's tights.

DH's friends having heart attacks/strokes He's only 5 yrs older than me, my lot will be next.

God this thread is depressing me.

Bits of you falling off/not working as well as before.

Aches and pains.

I think hands are a dead give away for age.

Looking at all the professionals (teachers, doctors, police, etc) and thinking they all look 15. Not understanding current slang. Your body needing time to 'loosen up' in the morning. Odd thick grey hairs in disturbing places.

Feeling that even Radio 2 is 'too trendy' and 'for kids'.

When you let out an involuntary grunt on getting up/bending down...
When you can't get up after bending down.

falling off ???

Yup I've lost a leg in the Thames

Feeling that even Radio 2 is 'too trendy' and 'for kids'.

Now, I don't think that –does that mean I'm not that old?
6Music all the way here, anyway. Seems to have a demographic defined more by its musical tastes than just its age. A lot of the DJs are much older than me. Suits me very well.

Oh yes, that hand-dryer thing when you get wind-tunnel effect on the backs of your hands. I try not to look.

chockbic

Have you been at the cooking sherry?

Not yet

A previous poster said that people didn't register surprise that she had a 16 year old DD.

People would look stunned if I said that, and not in a good way.

Which reminds me.

When you start to really like sherry.

When you get very excited about the opportunity for a snooze on the sofa.

(I've just woken up )

When the nice young men offer you a seat on the tube / bus and you are very genuine in your thanks because you could do with taking the weight off your feet.....

Seeing the Betterware catalogue on the mat when you get home and thinking, oh good, I'll make a cuppa and have a flick through.

Seeing old hands on the steering wheel.

Realising that there are some things you are never going to do now, and not caring at all.

Hearing a song on the radio and turning it up and singing along and then realising that its 20 or more years old.
Catching sight of myself in the mirror and realising I look at least 10 years older than the image of myself I have in my head.
Young guys not giving me a second glance.
Having arthritis in my foot.
My skin being drier, less elastic, more wrinkly.
Getting my hair highlighted to not only make it blonder, but to cover the emerging greys.
Caring less what other people think.
Wondering if I can still get away with certain bits of clothing.
People taking me a bit more seriously (I was a busty blonde when I was younger and found it very hard to get anyone to do so!)

When I give in and go up to bed about 9.30 because I physically can't stay awake any longer, and DS1 (aged 14) comes in to tuck ME in...

Also, looking at photos of yourself twenty years ago and remembering the worry and angst you used to have about how you looked, and realizing that actually you looked amazing, and would kill to look like that again.

When nobody looks surprised when you mention you have a sixteen thirty year old.

For those already wearing glasses, get the varifocals ASAP . I got them quite early, at 35. it was time for new glasses and the optician said my near vision deterioration was enough to be measured, therefore was enough to be corrected. The sooner you get them, the less dramatic your needs and the sooner you wont even think about this tiny adjustments needed. My brother resisted and resisted, well past age 50(!) and honestly, fiddling with his glasses and moving the menu or magazine near and far to find the sweet spot that he could squint and make out the letters was far more aging! Ditto my spouse, who can get along fine with the OTC reading glasses, but took some years to admit the need. Finally, I pointed out i could read smaller print WITHOUT my glasses than he could. Therefore, his near vision was officially very bad.

my younger brother has false teeth.
I've a dodgy knee.
I think my good looking brother-in-law "would make a nice son".
I like comfortable shoes.
I've gone off pubs. I prefer good wine at home or in a friend's house/garden.
A father of my daughter's classmate, looks like a child and needs to cut his hair.
It isn't a tragedy anymore when someone I know dies.
My parents are dead and no one is surprised.
I make voluntary contributions to my state pension.
I love history and have realized that a hundred years is no time at all.
If I flirted with a student, he would run away.
I don't care anymore.

Yesterday a twenty-something was talking to me about Tumblr and said "you do know what that is, don't you?". FFS, I'm only 36!

When you go to see a gynaecologist and it turns out to be some young handsome male doctor and you have to restrain yourself from booming: "Don't you say vagina to ME, young man!"

A few years back, I was watching a British soldier speaking from Afghanistan on a news programme. I thought to myself - 'He's very young to be a lieutenant'.

He was actually a general.