You know you are getting old when:

tonyb said:

^^^^^
And to the layperson’s eye the build quality isn’t visible. My 47-year-old Red Wing boots don’t *look* sturdier than lesser shoes. But they are.

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Somehow have avoided owning a pair of RedWings.....settled on Danner many decades ago for my boots and never left.

belfastboy said:

One of my all time travel highlights was viewing the Book of Kells at Trinity. Not sure why but it sure struck a cord for me. Went back a week later to view another page.

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Thomas Cahill's How The Irish Saved Civilization is an excellent dovetail to this, with an unusual and quite
insightful prurient depiction of a rascal leprechaun exposing his shamrock.

When you're watching Youtube, beeing suprised, that you had forgotten about the P.....b intro.

Harp said:

Thomas Cahill's How The Irish Saved Civilization is an excellent dovetail to this, with an unusual and quite
insightful prurient depiction of a rascal leprechaun exposing his shamrock.

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Yes, it was a very good read.

I started with Red Wings but they got to be too heavy for me as I got older. Danners are my go-to's most of the time.

belfastboy said:

Somehow have avoided owning a pair of RedWings.....settled on Danner many decades ago for my boots and never left.

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Nokia this, Nokia that.
Pffff, Nokia 6070! With FM-radio!

When you watched for the Blade Runner DVD in the store and it was there! But only the Final Cut.

Cinema Cut is my dope!

…you replace your belts with suspenders.

Turnip said:

…you replace your belts with suspenders.

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Brit/English has a different definition to American/English for suspenders.

GHT said:

Brit/English has a different definition to American/English for suspenders.

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In the U.S. "braces" are something that kids get applied to their teeth to straighten them. I have been told by an English acquaintance that the British are well known for bad teeth. Does the NHS not provide for more than rudimentary dental care?

KILO NOVEMBER said:

In the U.S. "braces" are something that kids get applied to their teeth to straighten them. I have been told by an English acquaintance that the British are well known for bad teeth. Does the NHS not provide for more than rudimentary dental care?

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The bad teeth dates back to a time when sugar was an unknown factor in the cause of tooth decay. Most people today have much better dental care. The NHS, usually picks up the tab from private dental care dentists who will accept NHS patients. Dental care, like opticians, are more often than not, a health service that we tend to pay for rather than expecting the NHS to pick up the tab. Such is the spending power of most Brits today.

GHT said:

The bad teeth dates back to a time when sugar was an unknown factor in the cause of tooth decay. Most people today have much better dental care. The NHS, usually picks up the tab from private dental care dentists who will accept NHS patients. Dental care, like opticians, are more often than not, a health service that we tend to pay for rather than expecting the NHS to pick up the tab. Such is the spending power of most Brits today.

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Well, I hadn't seen that man in, oh, over 40 years. Now there's a getting old sobering thought!

My Dear Old Ma was visiting from her far-away home for four days over the long weekend. She spent two of those days in the hospital. It’s a minor miracle that she was well enough to make her flight back home. If not for her granddaughter accompanying her, that would have been inadvisable.

A picture taken of the two of us at the airport leaves little doubt that she is quite elderly, and that she birthed me when she was quite young.

tonyb said:

My Dear Old Ma was visiting from her far-away home for four days over the long weekend. She spent two of those days in the hospital. It’s a minor miracle that she was well enough to make her flight back home. If not for her granddaughter accompanying her, that would have been inadvisable.

A picture taken of the two of us at the airport leaves little doubt that she is quite elderly, and that she birthed me when she was quite young.

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My mother took me out for a drink on my 60th birthday. On the way home she asked...."Are you really 60?" Yes, I replied....to which she responded...."Crap then I must be really old!"

GHT said:

Brit/English has a different definition to American/English for suspenders.

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I’m sure some out there will combine old and new world in perfect harmony…

GHT said:

Brit/English has a different definition to American/English for suspenders.

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Hey, hey, hey, a little warning next time, please, so I can have some of this at the ready:

KILO NOVEMBER said:

In the U.S. "braces" are something that kids get applied to their teeth to straighten them. I have been told by an English acquaintance that the British are well known for bad teeth. Does the NHS not provide for more than rudimentary dental care?

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Wasn't it George Bernard Shaw who referred to the Brits and the Americans as "two nations, divided by a common language"? (He was Irish, which is another ballgame again!)

The Brits and bad teeth a a stereotype which is still common in the US for whatever reason - I see it slung quite often as a weapon of first resort in internet arguments involving individuals from those places. Part of it is better dental hygiene being common now. The NHS does not provide dentistry entirely free at point of use for adults, though the charge is minimal compared to going private. Basics are covered for children, from memory, as well as those on benefits (disability or job-seekers) and pensioners.

In my day, the biggest difference was the popularity of orthodontics in the US. Whereas here in the UK it wasn't at all common to see braces on kids teeth in the early eighties, it seems that it was vastly more common in the US. Snaggly but otherwise perfectly healthy teeth here in the UK were not perceived as needing correction. I'm from that era myself: I have a tooth out of line on the bottom jaw, but it wasn't considered needing correction - it was assumed that either it would plop into place when my jaw grew, or in any case it wasn't visible. I think it's less pronounced than once it was, but it has never given me any problems. My brother had braces because his canines came through before the milk teeth shifted, and he briefly had a double-row of fangs. He was still a relative oddity in his class for having one in 1989. Over in the US, it seemed to be much more normalised to have a brace to cosmetically align teeth, so I assume that's where (even in relation to Ireland as well as Britain) much of the 'bad teeth' stereotype came from - because being naturally snaggly was normal due to very little cosmetic intervention. From what I hear now, it's much more common for kids to have braces, as much as anything because it's cheaper when they're younger. I briefly looked into getting my bottom teeth aligned, but a brace for an adult would cost me four grand. The minimal cosmetic gain simply isn't worth that to me, let alone the discomfort involved! I'm saving my pennies instead in the hope that when the time comes I can afford titanium implants instead of dentures. A custom design, with fangs, of course.

Edward said:

Wasn't it George Bernard Shaw who referred to the Brits and the Americans as "two nations, divided by a common language"? (He was Irish, which is another ballgame again!)

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Maybe it was GBS, but it seems that no one has found anywhere he wrote it. Come to think of it, the guy who explained the "bad teeth" trope had the surname of McCann. He spoke with an English, not an Irish accent, so even if his people still carried a grievance over English behavior in Ireland, they must have been on the eastern side of the Irish sea for some generations.