My dad used to get really annoyed when young people started treating him like an 'elderly' person and I remember my gran telling me she still felt like a 16 year old when she was in her 90s. I told her she needed to grow up.
I can't speak for the elderly but the forum is very helpful for us wippersnappers too. Like @Fire said it's hard to find like-mined people locally sometimes. Gardening around here seems to involve finding somewhere flat to lay plastic grass for the hottub.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Age is subjective. Around the village, which does seem to favour people of age (does that work?) I'm considered not old. But out and about my white hair and stiff walking seems to imply retired. Which is funny when out with hubby who they don't see as so old even with a bald top and grey in his beard. We are just short of 60, with birthdays two days apart. Perception is all to the young.😁
I used to think my grandma was elderly at 57 when my grandparents moved in with us. My sister was skydiving out of a plane at that age, and I was diving with sharks. Define "elderly". I tend to think of over 85's as being elderly.
That's easy - elderly is 10 years older than me. Always has been, always will.
I found the transition from 49 to 50 much more gloomy than from 39 to 40. Yet I didn't mind turning 60 at all. Maybe because that meant retirement was in sight!
When you are 20, you cannot envisage being 30. Get to 30 and you look at 40 with some trepidation. Once you have mastered 40, you then wonder why you worried - not so bad after all. Approach 50 and you start to think. 60 is another landmark - then you start counting how many years you have left. Stats would suggest you can expect to keel over in the next 20 years but some of us will continue into our 90's - good or bad is debatable - plenty of 90 plus years old who can , and do, enjoy their lives providing we , slightly younger ones make the effort to help ( doesn't have to be physical ) - a good chat, help with a crossword. showing an interest in various subjects, - all helps and doesn't actually cost anything.
Lovely post. I had a friend who died last year aged 93. Up until 3 years ago she was delivering meals on wheels, in her car, to people 25 years younger. (why have I suddenly got a 'like' button???)
Let's be honest, it can also depend on the luck of the draw. You can be a non smoker, never touch a drop, exercise, and then keel over at a relatively young age. Alternatively you can smoke like a chimney, drink several pints a night (my nan swore by Mackeson, but only a half a night), barely shift from the sofa and go on for years. With regard to the original question, l think websites like this, whether about gardening, books, nuclear physics or whatever will become more important as people age. It is nice to have a type of social interaction that previous generations did not have, in spite of its pitfalls. There are many people on here who have formed friendships (and l count myself among them) . Without this forum and others like it, there could be some very lonely people out there.
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When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
That's easy - elderly is 10 years older than me. Always has been, always will.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
With regard to the original question, l think websites like this, whether about gardening, books, nuclear physics or whatever will become more important as people age. It is nice to have a type of social interaction that previous generations did not have, in spite of its pitfalls. There are many people on here who have formed friendships (and l count myself among them) . Without this forum and others like it, there could be some very lonely people out there.