Old Lad
A journey through old age
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Category: Uncategorized
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I’ve been spending a week away in a cottage in North Yorkshire. It’s very relaxing with lots of time to read and muse on life. There’s a good local brewery nearby which also helps! For some reason I have had lots of thoughts about childhood and in particular the local characters that were about. I…
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I have a friend who is of the belief that the UK was on a downward slide since we switched from black and white television to colour television. As evidence for this he points to the fact that when we were in black and white, we won World War Two, The Football World Cup and…
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When I was a GP, I used to often wonder what went on inside people’s heads about their health. Its what academics termed Health Beliefs and used to be taught as part of consultation technique. If I’m honest I think most of the time we had no idea until some bizarre question emerged.. In the…
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I am a regular reader of the Daily Telegraph. Before you label me as a right wing extremist I have to say that there are many of the opinions it promulgates that I disagree with. The history behind it is that when I passed the 11 plus and went to Grammar School, my Dad decided…
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I’ve just been to a funeral. It reminded me of how much rituals play in our lives. And as I get older I find some rituals reassuring and helpful. When you are younger of course rituals can seem exasperating and pointless – its the urgency of youth to get things done. There are long standing…
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Arriving in your seventies has been described as snipers alley. You can be congratulated in having dodged the illnesses that are fatal and if you are extra lucky have also dodged the disabling chronic diseases. A comforting statistic is that the average expected lifespan of a healthy male at 70 is 20 years. But this…
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I used to enjoy doing “the big shop” when the family were growing up. We would all go together and combine it with snacks in the supermarket cafe. But as the family grew and children left home it became more of a necessary chore. And as I have got older its become a much more…
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I’ve never been a fanatic over cars. I was never one of these people who drooled over high performance motors. To me a car was a necessary item to be able to travel from A to B, preferably in comfort and with good load carrying capacity. My favourite car was the Volvo 240 Estate car…
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There seems to be more anxious people about than when I was younger – or perhaps that’s just the rose tinted spectacles of old age! However I do think that now that we have 24 hour rolling news, multi media churning out scare stories, and a type of journalism that does not believe in treating…
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So what do you think about GPs these days. That’s a question I am constantly asked seeing I was in the business for quite a long time. Despite the fact that I have not practised for 10 years I still get stopped in the street or the supermarket for a quick ad hoc consultation. In…
Old Lad 