I went to Billy's funeral last Friday at Bracewell and it was a lovely simple family service. (Billy Parsons) I'm glad I went but funerals have the side effect that they make you think about your own mortality, especially when you are getting on a bit and can see the buffers in the distance!
A friend of mine once told me that the body never lies and I think she was right. I've always taken notice of what mine is telling me and of late it has been on my mind a lot because one of the old war wounds in my back is making life miserable. I always tell my kids that they should never forget that I am still paying for all the hard work I did to support them when they were young. When you are young and strong you used to glory in the fact that you could work harder and longer than some, or at least I did. What I know now is that the ability to lift a 300lbs weight (140 kilogram) sack off the ground, throw it on your shoulder and climb a flight of stairs with it might be great at the time but it wears your back out and I soon found that out!
Things are different these days, it is illegal to expect workers to lift weights anywhere near the ones I handled regularly. One place it shows is in the lack of adverts and products specifically aimed at back pain like Kruschen's Salts, Eno's salts, Carter's Little Liver Pills and a host of others. Magazines used to be full of them. I often criticise modern Heath and Safety regulations but this is an exception, I thoroughly approve!
One thing about getting older is that you learn where your weak points are and work out strategies to avoid getting into trouble. The problem is that occasionally you slip up. (I know that a lot of the older end read these articles and I can see all those heads nodding!) When you do make a mistake you pay for it and getting back to the mortality bit, the older you get, the longer it takes to shake the pain off. I slipped up about ten days ago and what has struck me is that either I did more damage than usual or perhaps I am slower to heal than I used to be. Not a cheerful prospect!
Sorry to be so down-beat but if you are young and dealing with a relation who is older always bear in mind that if they get a bit depressed at times it may be something like my old war wounds rearing its ugly head. It may well be that like me they are paying the price for what they did to bring children into the world and rear them. These things aren't always obvious and they may not be as direct as me and tell you what is wrong and what caused it. A Forgotten Corner....
Grandpa figured in these adverts and the slogan was 'Every Picture Tells a Story'.
