Feeling My Age

 

I don’t often have a moan on any of my blogs, because I usually feel that I have a lot to be grateful for and know only too well that there is a lot who would happily change places with me tomorrow.

However.......

Last June I turned 80 which is one of those critical birthdays which it is more difficult than usual to ignore.   We moved to Spain in my early 60s, and I remember thinking “60 is the new 50”.   It may not be true, but there is an element of truth in it.   My wife and I were still quite fit and made the most of moving to this lovely part of Spain.   

A month after we arrived a new U3A was formed in our local town, and we were amongst the first members.   This introduced us to hundreds of ex pats who had taken the decision to move to Spain for our retirement.   In 2006 there was a real surge of brits moving to Spain, encouraged by the many TV programmes such as “A life in the Sun” and the free four day visits paid for by local estate agents to encourage the move.   It was a very exciting time and great to be surrounded by like minded people of a similar age.   Everyone was new, so everyone wanted to make friends.

We took full advantage of the many coach trips organised by the U3A for four day trips to Madrid, Granada, Seville, Barcelona and Saragossa – plus many many more.

We also discovered hill walking with a local walking group, a hobby which we have enjoyed ever since.   For ten years or so we walked as part of a group, but as they got older we started our own walking group.    This not only kept us fit, but widened our circle of friends.

Equally important we built our first custom made wargames table.   Our house was bought “off plan”, which meant we had a large say in how the rooms could be adopted.   We were able to expand an underbuild to provide us with a space large enough for a 6x6 foot table, and an adjoining room for shelves to hold the model soldiers and model buildings

A third project was to make a large collection of model houses to populate our wargame tables spreading from north Germany to southern Spain.   And in two scales, one for 28mm and a second for 18mm.    My wife was the artistic one who designed and built the card buildings.   I got to paint them.   This kept us busy for a couple of years.

My 70^th birthday passed by almost unnoticed.   I have never been one to celebrate birthdays or occasions.   Nor do I particularly enjoy eating out, despite the many excellent and relatively cheap restaurants available locally.   I would rather have a favourite meal on our naya (balcony) on a warm June evening with a cold glass of wine followed by brandy and coffee.

However 80 years old demanded my attention.   As it approached I became aware that many of our walking friends had given up hill walking.   Being in the U3A there is always a supply of new arrivals eager to join in new activities, particularly walking which is not only healthy but also a great way to meet new friends, even if your are not a natural mixer.   However the group was remaining the same age (average 70ish) but we had gone from the youngest to be far the oldest.

My wife Jan had had an accident on the mountains, which made her very wary to tackling the harder climbs.   We had always walked together, and I just didn’t enjoy the walks so much without her.   So I decided to start a new walking group, but this time easy 9km valley walks.   We both enjoyed them, and within a few months it was just as popular as our previous more challenging mountain walks.   But it was an admission that we were both finding the walks we previously enjoyed very challenging.

In March last year my optician confirmed that I had cataracts of both eyes which now needed attention.   I was quite shocked to discover that I had lost 20% of the sight in both eyes in just a few months.  I visited our local GP and was referred to the local hospital.   But, as in the UK, there would be a long wait.   With all the elderly Brits living locally there is a lot of call for replacement knees and hips plus of course cataracts.   It would take 9 months to get the hospital appointment, and another 5 months to get a date for the first operation.   Fortunately my sight did not get worse during this long wait – at least until a few weeks ago.

In late May I became aware that I could no longer read paper size print without eye strain.   I managed ok with the computer, until a few weeks later when I found that becoming difficult too.

Then a week ago I caught a bad cold/flu from my wife, causing me to worry that the operation might be cancelled if they realised when I turned up for the operation.   Finally four days ago an early heat wave arrived without warning.   Temperatures rose from a pleasant 24-26c to a very uncomfortable 34-36c.  

So for the past few days I have been feeling very sorry for myself.   Unable to spend so much time on the computer, feeling too ill to either walk or want to wargame and the approaching operation on my eyes which I would rather not think about too much.

Tomorrow is the first cataract operation, and the weather forecast is for lower temperatures next week.  So hopefully when the next blog comes along I will be feeling much more my normal self and not feeling so sorry for myself.

To celebrate the above I have updated my blog photograph.   The earlier one was taken in about 2008, this one was June 2025.   Our walking group surprised me with a birthday cake and a photograph of Jan and I after one of our walks.  I was starting to feel a little dishonest positing the earlier photo and can feel that I am being more honest with this one.