The realisation you're getting old

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johnnyb47

Guru
Location
Wales
Hi.
Today i had a trip down memory lane. I very rarely use the car apart for work purposes but today i begrudgingly had to use it. A headlamp bulb had failed, and a drive to the car accessory shop was needed to get a replacement. I could of cycled down there, but access to the bulb is a real pain to get to and often resulting in the new bulb falling out of its holder whilst attaching its retaing clips(and dissappearing forever in the bottom of the bumper) . With the car at the shop it gives me the opportunity to buy another one if it happens. Luckily it went smoothly without any dramas and was on my way in no time.
After that i went on for a leisurely Sunday drive. I haven't done this for age's to be honest, and it was quite enjoyable to just amble along without having to worry about getting somewhere on time.
I ended up driving past my old house were a grew up. Once the quiet lane with big gardens they have now been turned in huge expanses of concrete where multiple cars and caravans gather. The idyllic English rose gardens where now a long lost memory.
At the bottom of the lane i visited the old playing fields where i spent many an hour playing when i was a kid. It was great to see it again. It was full of people sitting around in the warm sunshine watching the local football team playing, just like it was back when i was a kid. I stopped for a bit to watch the football when it suddenly dawned on me im getting old. Of all things it could of been, it was a tree that made me feel this way.
Rewinding the clock back 45 years, i remember vividly a council worker planting this tree. It was obviously a sapling and a group of us kids watched him plant it and put a protective wooden ring around it. I always remember him telling us that one day it would grow into a huge tree and he will be long gone when it does, and that we should look after it and don't damage it. We could never imagine at the time that this was ever going to happen or that we would ever see it come to this, but his words seemed to of had a lasting impression on us, and we kept well away from this tree and respected his wishes. Well 45 years on it was shocking to see this huge tree there now today flourishing with loads of kids sitting underneath it shading from the sun. It struck home how many years have gone past and that while these youngsters are sitting underneath it, i can remember it being planted as a small 3ft sapling. Small things please small minds as they say :=))
 

classic33

Leg End Member
I remember "our playground", open fields, being torn up and assunder to build a park.

Now they've given up on the park, nature is reclaiming it.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
I remember "our playground", open fields, being torn up and assunder to build a park.

Now they've given up on the park, nature is reclaiming it.
Here are the rolling green fields that I played in during my early childhood in Kenilworth ...

Rolling green fields Kenilworth.png


:sad:
 

classic33

Leg End Member
 

Mart44

Über Member
Location
South of England
Hi.
Today i had a trip down memory lane. I very rarely use the car apart for work purposes but today i begrudgingly had to use it. A headlamp bulb had failed, and a drive to the car accessory shop was needed to get a replacement. I could of cycled down there, but access to the bulb is a real pain to get to and often resulting in the new bulb falling out of its holder whilst attaching its retaing clips(and dissappearing forever in the bottom of the bumper) . With the car at the shop it gives me the opportunity to buy another one if it happens. Luckily it went smoothly without any dramas and was on my way in no time.
After that i went on for a leisurely Sunday drive. I haven't done this for age's to be honest, and it was quite enjoyable to just amble along without having to worry about getting somewhere on time.
I ended up driving past my old house were a grew up. Once the quiet lane with big gardens they have now been turned in huge expanses of concrete where multiple cars and caravans gather. The idyllic English rose gardens where now a long lost memory.
At the bottom of the lane i visited the old playing fields where i spent many an hour playing when i was a kid. It was great to see it again. It was full of people sitting around in the warm sunshine watching the local football team playing, just like it was back when i was a kid. I stopped for a bit to watch the football when it suddenly dawned on me im getting old. Of all things it could of been, it was a tree that made me feel this way.
Rewinding the clock back 45 years, i remember vividly a council worker planting this tree. It was obviously a sapling and a group of us kids watched him plant it and put a protective wooden ring around it. I always remember him telling us that one day it would grow into a huge tree and he will be long gone when it does, and that we should look after it and don't damage it. We could never imagine at the time that this was ever going to happen or that we would ever see it come to this, but his words seemed to of had a lasting impression on us, and we kept well away from this tree and respected his wishes. Well 45 years on it was shocking to see this huge tree there now today flourishing with loads of kids sitting underneath it shading from the sun. It struck home how many years have gone past and that while these youngsters are sitting underneath it, i can remember it being planted as a small 3ft sapling. Small things please small minds as they say :=))

I'm glad the tree has survived into maturity. I can see it would make you think back and realise just how many years have passed. The only trouble is that it can lead to a little sadness because the place as you knew it back then has gone never to return.

I haven't moved far from where I was born and raised. When I were't lad :smile:, there were only two or three of the neighbours had cars. Us kids used to draw cricket stumps on the wall outside of our house and be able to play cricket, bowling from the other side of the road. We could play generally out in the road without cars being a worry. Now there are so many cars parked at the sides of road that there is hardly a parking space to be had. Many of the old rural spots we used to gather in have had houses built on them.

It seems a golden era looking back but perhaps the kids of today will be saying that when they are 74.
 

Smudge

Veteran
Location
Somerset
Seeing and hearing my granddad, making argghhh and urgghh noises every time he got out of the chair or bend down to pick something up.... and thinking 'gawd listen to it'.
Now i do the same.
Finding it highly amusing that my parents would struggle to work something as simple as a VCR.
Now i'm the same with certain tech.

Also, i used to be able to walk down the road, or into a bar or club and often get eye contact with an attractive lass, knowing that there possibly could be a chance.
Now i'm invisible.
 
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