Fizzelle Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 On 6/26/2018 at 3:28 AM, Gypsy Pilot said: John, you are like the Energizer Bunny, you just keep going on and on and on. You give us youngsters hope. One of the things that I hate most about being 81, and there is a long list, is that everyone that I grew up with has Flown West including both of my wives. Number 1 at 42 years and number 2 at 17 years. I get much comfort from the Old Coots Club because they remind me that I am not alone on this final flight. Dale Well Dale I'm a mere 15 years younger than you but it's nice to see you're not alone as you put it. My wife died from cancer at 70, and I am living with it now but I too, feel much the same as you - sharing memories and comforts with like-minded old codgers. Who'd have thought flight simming could be so beneficial in a mental sense! To mix my metaphors: "Keep on truckin' there's good rockin' tonight.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Notification of a trip. Tomorrow we're up at 4.30 am for breakfast and the taxi to Bridgwater. Then on the coach to London (Hammersmith Broadway) then black cab taxi to Gerrard Street, Chinatown. Meet the children (in their late fifties now) and on to our favourite Chinese Restaraunt to celebrate our 63'rd Wedding Anniversary. If they're true to form the restaraunt will give us free Champagne and a cake and the staff will sing a song. Of course, Dad (me) pays the bill with a generous tip and we're off to the West End (Oxford Street) for Sheila to do some shopping with our son while my daughter and I go for tea in one of the big stores. Then its a taxi back to Hammersmith, coach and taxi back home about 11pm....knackered! I'm getting too old for this! John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teecee Posted July 10, 2018 Share Posted July 10, 2018 Enjoy old mate it's nice to catch up with the kids in RL and not on Skype..Teecee 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddler Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 Sounds like a wonderful time, Happy 63rd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawrence aldrich Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 Am I the only relic here that has logged time in a Link Trainer ????? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triplane Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 This probably won't count but, I got a five minute "ride" in a Link Trainer back in 1949. It was a part of a Naval Air Station exhibit at the Monterey (CA) County Fair. All I can remember is that it was painted blue on the outside and it was really dark on the inside. Great stuff for a six-year old kid...............Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawrence aldrich Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 1 hour ago, Triplane said: This probably won't count but, I got a five minute "ride" in a Link Trainer back in 1949. It was a part of a Naval Air Station exhibit at the Monterey (CA) County Fair. All I can remember is that it was painted blue on the outside and it was really dark on the inside. Great stuff for a six-year old kid...............Doug Five minutes was enough to convince me to forget the whole thing. Unfortunately they wouldn't let me out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triplane Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Thanks for the good wishes teecee and Padler. We're back safe and sound....as I predicted knackered! Still, it was a good get-together. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macca22au Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Someone may have mentioned it, but in good old Australia, all states have a version of the blue sticker for disabled parking, but Fizz bad manners are not restricted to England when it comes to other users. All states have Senior's Cards, where discounts are available in many establishments especially coffee shops, and on public transport etc. Quite valuable. My grandkids call them wrinklies' cards. Also over quite a wide band of income, the federal government has a Seniors Health Card, and that gives among other benefits a really good discount on pharmaceuticals. For regular pills that come our way at this age, it really is a huge saver. Thank the Lord for close run elections and preferential voting....keeps the political offers going. Mind you never withdraw from private health insurance the public system is overburdened and underfunded and staffed by nurses who don't like people! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizzelle Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 Well Ian it sounds like there are a good few benefits to Senior citizenship in the land "down under". A business friend of my father moved to Melbourne back in the 1970s and kept in touch until he died. He often said we should all move out there as everything was incredible and his two teenaged children couldn't get enough of it. And my Geography and Fencing (foil and epee) teacher was Maj. John Laffin who hailed from Canberra, and there's a statue of him there. He was always banging on about how great Oz was, especially in whupping the Poms's ass at cricket. Link here if interested to Wiki..[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Laffin }} I, on the other hand, hate spiders! Do I need to say more? One upside to England is I have yet to meet a grumpy NHS nurse! As to being overstretched and underfunded, yeah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodger Pettichord Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 An added benefit of life in both Australia and New Zealand is that you get to meet all those tourists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Yes, I agree about the nurses, and indeed the doctors. How they work the hours they do and still remain cheerful, especially the nurses who are woefully underpaid. I just can't speak too highly of them. Unfortunately, the health service is underfunded and the administration inadequate. Good private treatment is available without delays but quite expensive and done by the same surgeons and staff that work for the Health Service so in some ways its unfair. On another subject, there are so many places in the world that I would have loved to be able to spend time in. Of course, Australia and new Zealand with some of the American States. A close second would be Hainan Island, the birthplace of my wife, and Shanghai where she lived until the disaster of the war. For choice, I would live in Italy on the shores of Lake Garda, preferably Torbole or Riva. As it is, we now live by the sea and Exmoor and we love it. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Hello John, not wishing to start a discussion on the National Health Service, there are those that believe that it is not underfunded at all, rather that it is constantly being meddled with by uninformed politicians, top heavy with management and that the funding could easily be much more effectively spent. My own experience of it is that the operational staff are without peers in the way they treat the patients. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 That's true Nick. All I know is that Beveridge's wonderful concept while we were still at war has been messed up but not by the medical staff who always are doing their best. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 (edited) Just catching up after being in hospital and rehab. for a bit and wanted to say that flying the Link Trainer was the norm for awhile after WWII and as a Naval Cadet pursuing my Wings of Gold I sat it the spinning tilting blue box a few hours. I prefered the actual aircraft personally. Edited July 29, 2018 by spud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodger Pettichord Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 This thread has been dormant for a while. Just to refresh it, I am putting in this emoji for no other reason that that it makes me laugh and I've always wanted to use it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 7, 2018 Share Posted August 7, 2018 Yes it reminds me of trying to get on a National Health waiting list Rodger! John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olderndirt Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Made the big eight oh on May 22. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodger Pettichord Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 4 hours ago, olderndirt said: Made the big eight oh on May 22. Congratulations. Did you delay the announcement for so long because you wanted to make sure the fact stuck? 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Well done Oldendirt. Only another 5 to go to catch me up! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gypsy Pilot Posted August 11, 2018 Author Share Posted August 11, 2018 On 8/9/2018 at 8:25 PM, olderndirt said: Made the big eight oh on May 22. Welcome to the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 The last post here was on Saturday. It's now Thursday. Is everybody still asleep? Come on fellers I rely on you to keep me entertained when I'm not flying or reading! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodger Pettichord Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 10 hours ago, JohnY said: The last post here was on Saturday. It's now Thursday. Is everybody still asleep? Come on fellers I rely on you to keep me entertained when I'm not flying or reading! John Got to second John's post. Kinda miss everybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc_Z Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Hi, there!! Vacation time in Northern Hemi, which could keep some away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Hm. Let's hope that's the only reason?! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gypsy Pilot Posted August 17, 2018 Author Share Posted August 17, 2018 Don't give up Johnny, it's summertime, things will improve once the rains and cold weather come. Dale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Yeah, that cheers me up no end......not! John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc_Z Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 rain has come here. Got almost an inch so far this month. Then again, I live in the desert southwest and our normal annual rainfall is a tad over 6 inches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodger Pettichord Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Just had a thought (always a fraught occurrence). What if summer is a dormant time for Old Coots? Kind of like dormice or bears or beetles lay over for a season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Hm, for some reason I don't like that idea Rodger. Supposing we don't wake up? I mean, who knows how many of those creatures do actually wake up? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 (edited) You should come and live in the West Country here in England Doc. If it stops raining for more than three days in a row, we're having a heat wave and a dry spell! John Edited August 18, 2018 by JohnY Forgot name Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc_Z Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 No thanks, John. We get 350 or more days of sunshine here, great for golf. Need sunscreen, of course, since we are 4000 ASL. Has enough rain and gloom back East until I retired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodger Pettichord Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 I've been experiencing perfect weather in beautiful surroundings. ...no, wait, that's ORBX. Sorry. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gypsy Pilot Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 30 minutes ago, Rodger Pettichord said: I've been experiencing perfect weather in beautiful surroundings. ...no, wait, that's ORBX. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gypsy Pilot Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 Sounds like Spokane, doesn't it Rodger? Dale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodger Pettichord Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 6 minutes ago, Gypsy Pilot said: Sounds like Spokane, doesn't it Rodger? Dale Cough, cough, sweat. That's all I have to say about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadtom65 Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 Isn’t it about time you oldies went to bed. Ah sorry it’s time i went to bed, you lot have just got up. . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Talking about weather and time. I've been flying in the US lately and certainly in the Western and Northern States you do seem to have been having a lot of rain. I started flying there more in the last month or so because I was fed up with our 'summer' weather in Europe. Once the children go back to school we should get some decent weather for a couple of the autumn months until winter sets in. So, go back to school you little blighters! Oh, and Dadtom65, we lived and worked in Basingstoke for 30 years and still have family there. Hampshire is a pretty nice County. We came to the West Country for the walking though and stayed. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadtom65 Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Hi John. Yes it is nice here or was but after hearing about all the houses they want to build here, this is around a Fareham and Gosport. Mean we get gridlocked here most days, when the schools are in and they want more. Can never understand the local councils. So after being in our bungalow for just 8 years the wife wants to move again. Her thinking is if we move now we can give our kids at least a small deposit for a house is the main reason. So we have been looking west again as the wife is from Devon. So watch out we may be coming your way John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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