Forum Members' 7 Up

[lenfield]

The latest series of '7 Up' has made me wonder what other forum members were doing at seven year intervals in their lives. This is what I was doing:

7 - I was a happy child at a very good school on the Welsh Borders.

14 - I was now at an extremely unpleasant school in the Midlands full of nutters and freaks. The pupils weren't much better. I stopped being rather prim and proper and started to follow the punk movement. It would have a detrimental affect on the rest of my life.

21 - I was an anti-capitalist hanging around with scummy people. I had also developed serious psychological problems as a result of cannabis abuse.

28 - I had been through the higher education system and obtained an Honours and a Master's degree. I was having difficulty finding a decent job because of my unconventional career path and poor A' level grades.

35 - I had quite a well paid job working as a C++ programmer.

42 - I had been made redundant and was struggling to find another job because my programming skills were semi-obsolete. I eventually found a firm that was still using 1980's technology. Unfortunately they were paying the same wage that I had been on 10 years earlier.

49 - I started working from home because my mother had Alzheimer's.

56 - I took early retirement. It came as a shock to my employers, they seemed to think that they were doing me a big favour giving me a job. I was the one who was doing them a big favour working for the extremely low wages that they paid. I was barely on the minimum wage once I had factored in my traveling time and expenses.

 

[Drago]

7 - happy at primary school in Shetland. My grandad had beaten up the father of the lad who'd been bullying me at school, and the bullying had stopped suddenly. Funny that! Was finally enjoying my school years.

14 - less happy at a secondary school in central England after having been removed from prep school for threatening to burn it down. Was fundamentally a good boy but big for my age and teetering on the brink of becoming a bit of a handful.

21 - left the Army on an exemplary discharge, joined Thames Valley Dibble.

28 - married, not terribly happily.

35 - divorced, now engaged to a much younger model, now with Northants plod after having taken 6 months out BGing in the US.

42 - recovering from 2nd round of surgery after being assaulted on duty. On the plus side the lad that did probably wont ever become a father after the way I dropped him.

49 - prematurely retired, a bit rudderless, stressed and depressed. Not a good time for me psychologically and I probably wasnt good company.

56 - had moved house again, had come to terms with being retired, parish councillor and writer of pompous letters to the Guardian.

 

[HLaB]

7 - School was still Fun and Games at a primary School in Rosyth.

14 - School was more serious study, surprisingly I was good at it at that point when I hadn't been at primary, Im now at a secondary in Dunfermline. Serious enough to trigger an epileptic fit a few years later.

21 - I was at Napier Uni and everything was going well until dramatic weight loss (Pancreatitis) and the epilepsy returned (it turned out that I shouldn't have been on epilepsy tablets which after the dramatic weight loss caused me to have a fit.

28 - I was working in Dublin and finally enjoying life again off the tablets (I could have partied there forever but I grew up at 30). In that period my cycling as a mode of transport (commuting) started and a few years later it was leisure too.

35 - I had been working closer to home in Edinburgh (Commuting and leisure cycling got augmented by joining a club. Stable I thought. That was about to change due to the recession and I went back to Uni to do a Masters Degree.

42 - Working further from home again because of that recession previously; driving up the A1 and cycling the last 17-7miles (depending where I parked to Newark on Trent. Unknowingly I was potentially dying of cancer that was diagnosed a year and a bit later.

49 - Had beaten cancer and doing a much more satisfying job and had just moved into a nice new house.

56 - I tell you in 5 years time but things are going ok at the moment 🤞

 

[oxoman]

7yrs old and enjoying school in Ashby De La Zouch.
14yrs crap yr as lost my dad and my way a little bit.
21yrs Met a girl just before I lost my mum, lost the plot and ended up married with a mortgage and baby on the way.
28yrs Separated and was on self destruct. Met someone special started to turn things around. Moved to South Derbyshire.
35yrs Second family started and 1st son born, plus seeing my girls from previous marriage. Good job, happily married.
42yrs Still happily married with good job and now 2 sons, girls went a bit feral due to ex.
49yrs Still married with the 2 sons, girls back on track. Same place, different job.
56yrs 1 son in apprenticeship another growing up fast. Still happily married in same house, different job, no shifts, no mortgage.
63 18 months to go yet. Still on track, however a move is on the cards. Semi retired already.

 

[ColinJ]

7/14/21/28/35/42/49/56/63/70 not so great.

I am hoping for better results at 77 and 84...

I don't fancy facing 91 unless the next 20 years are really good!!

 

[Dogtrousers]

7 Don't remember
14 Raleigh Wayfarer
21 Self built 10 speed
28 Same 10 speed but not cycling much, did a bit of running
35 Still running
42 Doldrums. Not doing much at all
49 Dawes Shadow
56 Spa Steel Audax
63 Spa Steel Audax but with lower gearing

 

[Ming the Merciless]

7 - Raleigh Gresham Flyer. Jealous of the kid with the Raleigh Chipper. Cycle to the local parks and mates houses. Live within a mile of school, and walk there.
14 - Dad had brought back a frame from the dump. Cleaned up and painted dark green with paint out a tin. Turned into a tracker bike with cow horns and single speed. Doing jumps down local woods and riding to Hayfield, Buxton, Glossop, and over Snake Pass on it. Also riding to school on it, which now being secondary is further away.
21 - Have a Raleigh Malborough 10 speed racer that I got for my 18th birthday. Ride it around the Peak District. Rode it at university and will use it for work commute,
28 - Have ”discovered” mountain biking and have a Giant XTC 3. Mostly bridleways, forest tracks, and mountain tracks. Have yet to discover trail centres which are beginning to appear. Use mtn bike for off road commuting to work.
35 - Travelling around the world on a 19 month trip, so not much biking. Did bike from Lhasa to Ksthmandu via Everest base camp. Plus some cycling in India and the Andes in Argentina.
42 - The Raleigh Malborough has been sold. Using the mtn bike to commute to work via some off road trails. Doing some long distance multi day off road trails with mates. Coast to coast, ridgeway, south downs way, Pennine Bridleway etc. Night time off road riding with mates then pub after has become a weekly thing.
49 - Discovered audax a few years back. Now mostly riding a Van Nicholas Yukon titanium road bike. The mtn bike frame died and has been retired. Get Shermer’s neck on a 2,100km audax.
56 - Now ride a recumbent pretty much full time. Just coming out of the pandemic. Fitness has dropped and I am trying to regain it. For the first time I actually start training on the bike. Better late than never.

In summary, riding a bike has been a constant since I learnt to ride. But the type of bike and type of riding has changed over the years.

 

[Drago]

63 - Arrested for indecent exposure.

70 - passed away following a fall from a ladies bedroom window clutching my trousers in my teeth.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

63 - Arrested for indecent exposure.

70 - passed away following a fall from a ladies bedroom window clutching my trousers in my teeth.

77 - Wakes up as a real life Robocop

 

[Alex321]

7 - At my 3rd primary school, at Acomb on the outskirts of York (My dad was in the RAF until I was 12).
14 - At my 2nd grammar school, in Grantham, all boys school, got bullied a bit.
21 - Doing Computing at Swansea University, started Morris dancing and Sealed Knot
28 - Married with 2 kids of my own and a stepson, working as an analyst/programmer for BT now living in Pontypridd
35 - Still working at BT, still in Pontypridd, commuting by bike
42 - Now working as a freelance/contract analyst/programmer, member of the PCG fighting the IR35 legislation, just moved to Merthyr Tydfil
49 - Back to permanent work, at Nelson Thornes in Cheltenham, commuting daily 70 miles from Merthyr. Became a grandfather about this time.
56 - Still living in Merthyr, now working for buy-as-you-view in Bridgend (so still 40 miles each way commute).
63 - Now moved to the Vale of Glamorgan, working for Creditsafe in Cardiff, commuting by bike again. Still married to the same woman I married in 1981. Hobbies now Morris Dancing, Sealed Knot, Cycling, Woodturning.

70 - 2.5 years away yet, intending to retire on or around 70th birthday (currently working 3 days a week "winding down towards retirement".

 

[Brandane]

7 - At school in Kingston, Jamaica. Life was good.

14 - At boarding school in Moffat, Dumfriesshire, which was a bit shite but not terrible, and still visiting Jamaica for school holidays. Bought first bike, a Puch Alpine.

21 - Had joined Strathclyde Police but not liking it much. Had moved on from cycling and found motorbikes.

28 - As 21, but had moved on from motorbikes and found cars.

35 - As 28. Had moved to current address in Ayrshire. Had refound motorbikes.

42 - Had been pensioned out of the Police on health grounds. Minor ish heart issues. Working at various driving jobs.

49 - As 42, but had gained a class 1 HGV licence and was using it. Had refound pedal bikes.

56 - Decided I didn't like driving any more, mortgage was paid, so found a part time job as maintenance person at a local care home.

63 - Last year! Had moved on job wise, twice. Was doing Tesco home deliveries but my back was not liking the hard graft. It wasn't going to last long! Full retirement was round the corner...... The pedal bikes and motorbike still being used but not to the same extent as previously.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

7: A happy, train mad kid, but also already beginning to realise how sh*t life is, or more, the people around me are and also starting to discover that I am different from everyone else. Why? I don't know why, I just am (brain damage).

My Gran died, but that was ok, because I had set the cat amongst the pigeons years before as Grandpa had been my favourite when everyone else had liked Gran.
She hadn't liked that, she expected us all to comply!
It set a repeating pattern in my life of preferring male company, although I was too young to know this at the time.

Realised the world is in fact silent, it doesn't hiss... I just have tinnitus!

Managed to ruin a tent with projectile vomiting from drinking too much hot chocolate whilst on holiday in France.

----

14: Already missed probably one of the greatest chances I'll have in life, although knowing me, I'd probably have mucked it up anyway.

Severely bullied in certain settings, and had had life beaten out of me, I was still, nonetheless waiting for life to somehow improve as I was mentally still quite young.
The die had already been cast though.

Got a brand new Raleigh Max Ogre for Christmas.

----

21: At college, still recovering from the absolute trauma that was school.

Only beginning to realise what my brain damage actually is.

I'd also been diagnosed with Leukaemia at 16, so had, for a while, gone from being the boy hiding in the corner to the boy in the glass case.
I am not sure what was worse, but it had at least given me confidence I wish I'd had years before.

----

28: Working in a special needs school, life is so - so.

Got back into cycling again and then got Severe Ulcerative Colitis, meaning my large intestine needed to be removed in an emergency operation.

Joined this forum.

----

35: After years of growing depression, a botched surgery that has changed my life and not for the better and a mini nervous breakdown, I moved into my current house. Things were looking up.

----

42: Having been through Covid and two more nervous breakdowns, I was done. Also drank far too much, had done for years.

Now... Just existing.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Managed to ruin a tent with projectile vomiting from drinking too much hot chocolate whilst on holiday in France.

You win the thread

 

[T4tomo]

7. Growing up on a hill farm in the North York Moors
14. Had just discover beer with the Young Farmers, still on that farm, Getting quite good Judo.
21. Just left Oxford with a degree and a Blue, about to head off for a year travelling. Definitely the biggest change of the 7 year spans!
28. Married, DINKY, working in London, own a house in commuter land.
35. Have 3 kids under 6, brilliant chaos, Had finally seen Boro lift a proper trophy and start playing in European football. Bought a Brompton.
42. Just moved to a great job, that included a lot of travel to Vietnam, HK & Japan, meeting some great people. Had got just back into cycling for leisure.
49. Recently divorced, had made a badly timed career move which ended up being made redundant, as the company imploded. Dad in process of dying of dementia. On the bright side, Interim mgt career was going well, got back into playing hockey & early days with the future 2nd Mrs T & I own about 10 bikes.
56. Eventually got around to marrying the 2nd Mrs T, working locally for great smallish company, with much more leisure time. All kids grown up moved out & just about off the payroll. Had to sell couple of bikes to make room for Mrs T's bikes in the bike palace. Still playing hockey, oldest player in the team most weeks.
63. Is still 6 years away

 

[Electric_Andy]

7 - Grew up happy on a farm.

14 - started one of the worst periods of my life; school was fine but my mental health was not. No one really understood me or helped me.

21 - Finishing Uni at Luton, working back in Devon during holidays.

28 - just got back from a year in NZ. Got job in NHS and met my ex wife.

35 - married for 5 years, my gorgeous boy is now 4.

42 - having broken from the previous marriage, still in the same job, just bought a new house with my now partner.

47 - not there yet. Hopefully more confident and happier, but I don't long for much else other than my son becoming happy in the forces as is the current plan