I am getting put into Victor Meldrew mode on a regular basis by increasingly being lumped into a new age group, the "over 50s". A age range that is presumably based on some pc consensus that all former descriptions of age after 50 are now seen as perjorative, and that the only answer is to create a group that is so big that no-one can accuse it of categorising people as old.
The result is an increasing number of leaflets, newspaper articles and websites with something like this:
"Residents of a market town aged 50 and over are being encouraged to get active and take up a new hobby. Indoor bowls, tai chi, salsa, badminton and exercise classes are being offered as part of a project to encourage Bedale’s over 50s to take up a new sport or physcal activity. The ‘eng-AGE into Sport’ project, funded by Sport England and delivered by Hambleton District Council, has already seen free ‘taster’ sessions held in the town".
According to most of these publications, I should be limiting my expectations to chair-based exercise, walking or feebly waving a remote and nunchuck at a TV.
FFS, I started cycling a few years ago at 49 to lose weight and am now doing the odd 100 mile ride and can hare round a twenty mile circuit at 18mph average without too much effort. I realise this is hardly a typical level of exercise but GordonB here has done exactly the same and most of my peers are into something rather more than indoor bowls or decomposing in an armchair.
.....and then we have this months Cycling Plus, where we find an article on age categories and the cycling we could be doing in each one. There's sections for "I am 21", "I am 33", "I am 45" and, wait for it, wait for it, "I am 50". That doesn't sound so bad until you find there is no older category and all the article's wording is for, yes, the "over 50s". Gits.
Rant over - I'll go off for a nice nap and a werthers.
John
The result is an increasing number of leaflets, newspaper articles and websites with something like this:
"Residents of a market town aged 50 and over are being encouraged to get active and take up a new hobby. Indoor bowls, tai chi, salsa, badminton and exercise classes are being offered as part of a project to encourage Bedale’s over 50s to take up a new sport or physcal activity. The ‘eng-AGE into Sport’ project, funded by Sport England and delivered by Hambleton District Council, has already seen free ‘taster’ sessions held in the town".
According to most of these publications, I should be limiting my expectations to chair-based exercise, walking or feebly waving a remote and nunchuck at a TV.
FFS, I started cycling a few years ago at 49 to lose weight and am now doing the odd 100 mile ride and can hare round a twenty mile circuit at 18mph average without too much effort. I realise this is hardly a typical level of exercise but GordonB here has done exactly the same and most of my peers are into something rather more than indoor bowls or decomposing in an armchair.
.....and then we have this months Cycling Plus, where we find an article on age categories and the cycling we could be doing in each one. There's sections for "I am 21", "I am 33", "I am 45" and, wait for it, wait for it, "I am 50". That doesn't sound so bad until you find there is no older category and all the article's wording is for, yes, the "over 50s". Gits.
Rant over - I'll go off for a nice nap and a werthers.
John
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