The joy of eccentric elderly parents and their routines.
Discussion
Reading this I think Ive been lucky.
My grandad was doing internet banking probably 15 years ago, before any of the younger members of the family did. 90+ years old and used to log on to check his shares. Amazing. He bought us our first computer too, said he thought they would catch on so we should have one.
The other side were a disaster. The old man did everything for my grandma. When he died she had no idea how to write a cheque, how to look after the bills, or how to do very much at all. Very sad.
My grandad was doing internet banking probably 15 years ago, before any of the younger members of the family did. 90+ years old and used to log on to check his shares. Amazing. He bought us our first computer too, said he thought they would catch on so we should have one.
The other side were a disaster. The old man did everything for my grandma. When he died she had no idea how to write a cheque, how to look after the bills, or how to do very much at all. Very sad.
Condi said:
The other side were a disaster. The old man did everything for my grandma. When he died she had no idea how to write a cheque, how to look after the bills, or how to do very much at all. Very sad.
Same with my Nan, my Mum had to get her weekly spend out for her as she didn't know how to use a cash point or credit card. My favourite tech fail memory of him was when we got them a Freeview box, which my dad set up and explained. About half hour later we got a phone call saying it was broken, went up to find he'd somehow deleted most of the channels and changed the language to German.My Dad on the other hand is obsessed with door locks. Back door has 2 extra deadbolts and the garage has no less than 5 different added padlocks, all of which must be checked multiple times a day. Countless times I've seen him check the locks, always by yanking the door really hard so the sound reverberates through the whole house, walk off, then walk straight back to check it again. An itinerary must be printed off every morning, as must every single email, which is read and then shredded through a machine so loud it would be audible in a vacuum.
Condi said:
Reading this I think Ive been lucky.
I would also count myself lucky thus far.My grandad lived on his own for 20 years as my grandma died in her 60's from cancer. He lived until he was 89 and kept his house and garden spotless. He was very domesticated and his clothes were always immaculate, as was his haircut, which never once looked anything but razor sharp in 89 years.
His army training made a lasting impression apparently. He was absolutely tack sharp mentally, physically very fit, and it was simply a short bout of pneumonia that sadly killed him.
My parents are in their late 60's now, and are just starting to be at that age when you worry about them slightly.
I'm not entirely sure why I worry though. They have a far better social life than me, and are constantly away somewhere visiting friends for raucous weekends absolutely soaked in red wine and enjoying fine dining.
Occasionally I don't even know where they are, phone them, and they will answer and say something like "Oh hello! Me and your mother are just having a glass of champagne while we get changed for dinner. Meeting some friends in Scotts tonight"
Loaded and retired. Must be a hell of a thing.
I'm not jealous or anything...
Roofless Toothless said:
Lord Marylebone said:
It's very strange when you suddenly realise that you now worry about your parents.
You spend several decades of your life being worried about by your parents, then all of a sudden you realise you are worrying about them.
Similar is true for wiping backsides.You spend several decades of your life being worried about by your parents, then all of a sudden you realise you are worrying about them.
Going back a bit my Grandad was always a bit miserable and cantankerous but his final years were his wonder years. He decided the house needed painting and had a mate down the Working Mans who managed to 'procure' a 40 gallon barrel of industrial aluminium paint - he painted the whole house with it, straight over everything - it looked like the set of Buck Rogers.
He wore Long Johns all the time and had two sets - one for summer, one for winter.
He used to cut his lawn with shears as his push-along mower from 1840-sixpence was broken, it was like the Forth Road Bridge as it took him a week to do it and after a few days he'd decide to start it again.
He was a life-long horse betting man, specifically moved to a house 20 metres from Worcester race course - then watched it exclusively on the telly - while reading the form in the paper.
He treated himself for shingles with horse liniment, was rushed to hospital with chemical burns and when the doctor said it probably wasn't the best way to treat it said, 'I know, it happened the last time I did it too'.
Every morning for breakfast he'd have a raw egg and a whisky in the same glass and never let anyone clean the glass.
He died of 'natural causes' at 85 - there wasn't anything wrong with him as such - but the week before he'd achieved his life long ambition of getting a triple roll-over [yankee?] on the gee-gees and we all thought he'd just gone as he felt he'd done everything he wanted to do.
My Gran died a year to the day later - not from a broken heart but because she'd discovered the huge pile of money he'd secreted in the wardrobe, she went completely mad spending it all, started to drink heavily and ate to excess foods she'd never touched before like 'pizza' and 'beef-burgers'.
Another relation of mine got on a train last week to go from Edinburgh to Glasgow and spent 4 hours in Carlisle because they 'got on the wrong train', my 18yr old son
He wore Long Johns all the time and had two sets - one for summer, one for winter.
He used to cut his lawn with shears as his push-along mower from 1840-sixpence was broken, it was like the Forth Road Bridge as it took him a week to do it and after a few days he'd decide to start it again.
He was a life-long horse betting man, specifically moved to a house 20 metres from Worcester race course - then watched it exclusively on the telly - while reading the form in the paper.
He treated himself for shingles with horse liniment, was rushed to hospital with chemical burns and when the doctor said it probably wasn't the best way to treat it said, 'I know, it happened the last time I did it too'.
Every morning for breakfast he'd have a raw egg and a whisky in the same glass and never let anyone clean the glass.
He died of 'natural causes' at 85 - there wasn't anything wrong with him as such - but the week before he'd achieved his life long ambition of getting a triple roll-over [yankee?] on the gee-gees and we all thought he'd just gone as he felt he'd done everything he wanted to do.
My Gran died a year to the day later - not from a broken heart but because she'd discovered the huge pile of money he'd secreted in the wardrobe, she went completely mad spending it all, started to drink heavily and ate to excess foods she'd never touched before like 'pizza' and 'beef-burgers'.
Another relation of mine got on a train last week to go from Edinburgh to Glasgow and spent 4 hours in Carlisle because they 'got on the wrong train', my 18yr old son
Edited by andy_s on Sunday 30th September 15:36
StanleyT said:
Turning water, gas and electric off when going away for a weekend or longer.
That was an expensive non insurance covered clean up after the harsh winter in 2010 when heating was turned on after 3 days off during -11C and dumped the circuits water content into the house as ice blockages broke push fit fittings.
That was the sensible thing to do back then, plenty of water tank pipes burst during 2009 & 2010 winters. Not necessary with a combi of course. That was an expensive non insurance covered clean up after the harsh winter in 2010 when heating was turned on after 3 days off during -11C and dumped the circuits water content into the house as ice blockages broke push fit fittings.
When we finally got a Ferguson videostar,
Dad built a wooden contraption to sort slide underneath the tv,
It clipped where the legs are and hid the video completely
He did a great job though,
Not sure why he did it but it looked ok
Not made of wood though,
Always chipboard, with those iron on, edges
We got a dinghy as well when we were kids.
Dad made the oars, rather than buy some, again did a good job, but utterly useless
Dad built a wooden contraption to sort slide underneath the tv,
It clipped where the legs are and hid the video completely
He did a great job though,
Not sure why he did it but it looked ok
Not made of wood though,
Always chipboard, with those iron on, edges
We got a dinghy as well when we were kids.
Dad made the oars, rather than buy some, again did a good job, but utterly useless
markcoznottz said:
StanleyT said:
Turning water, gas and electric off when going away for a weekend or longer.
That was an expensive non insurance covered clean up after the harsh winter in 2010 when heating was turned on after 3 days off during -11C and dumped the circuits water content into the house as ice blockages broke push fit fittings.
That was the sensible thing to do back then, plenty of water tank pipes burst during 2009 & 2010 winters. Not necessary with a combi of course. That was an expensive non insurance covered clean up after the harsh winter in 2010 when heating was turned on after 3 days off during -11C and dumped the circuits water content into the house as ice blockages broke push fit fittings.
Water header tank is in top of a bedroom cupboard (house built into the roof void) adjacent to the neighbours whom still had their heating on.....so the mains water coming in was OK and the CW system in the house was fine as there was "no loft" pipework.
So should they have kept their heating running or not - I always keep min on to keep the house at 12C+ if away (manual guess of how high to leave Aga and combi CHW set to) - is that wrong, should I turn it all off when away in a cold spell - I presume drain down as well as I guess it was the lack of drain down that caused ice to push apart fittings. Anyway, all irrelevant as their Insurance said they should have kept the property above a temperature where pipe freezing could occur (or that was the Ins Co get out).
And as for the respondent above, re printing e-mails! I've sent my Dad an e-mail in the past about organising various dates through the years, which he has printed out. Then marked his comments upon. Then put a copy in the post to me. And replied to my original e-mail to say a copy was in the post with his comments!!!!!!!!! To be fair he does now understand e-mail a bit better, but still rings me up to say "I've just sent you an e-mail.....".
j4ckos mate said:
Not made of wood though,
Always chipboard, with those iron on, edges
Contiboard! My youth was spent with those 3 screw 90 brackets helping my Dad entomb every one of our rooms with Contiboard TV cabinets, shelves, drawers, bedside tables, wardrobes, light shelves etc etc.Always chipboard, with those iron on, edges
M<&D moved last year and Dad tried to take all the Contiboard stuff with him. Mum was having none of it, quite a lot got "damaged" by the removal men and they (i.e. I bunged Mum some money) paid up for some proper Oak furniture instead. But Dad has still managed to build himself some Contiboard worksurfaces and cupboard in the garage - I can't believe how much it has cost - I could have got something similar for the local Oak and Pine Discount warehouse and it would last for ever I didn't even know Contiboard still existed.
Up until my Grandfather died in 1982, my Grandparents would never consider undertaking a drive of any distance without taking a thermos of Gin & Tonic for the journey.
Until my parents sold their flat in London about 4 years ago, my father insisted on answering the phone "Bloomsbury 2028"
Until my parents sold their flat in London about 4 years ago, my father insisted on answering the phone "Bloomsbury 2028"
What was the point of contiboard?
Yes I will a wooden effect unit but the underside must be white,
Oh Andy I’d like grommets at every corner please,
Only with one missing, so you see the screw,
Dad would never ever drive anywhere,
Work, home, Nanas that was it.
We went to Rhyl once in a family convoy,
You could see the effect it was having on dad, it was giving him
PTSD
Old bloke at work used to claim his mileage, he would
Open up the formulated spreadsheet.
Print it off, fill it out by hand and leg it to accounts, with it in his hand
Same bloke.
When a customer paid in cash, you give them a receipt and then give it accounts along with your reference,
His preferred choice was take the cash to the bank and pay it into the company account, and use the customer as a payment reference, because he didn’t trust our accts dept.
Another old bloke would email you,
Then print it off, and bring it over to your desk,
We would drop the email into the job and bin the dozens of pages he gave us.
Yes I will a wooden effect unit but the underside must be white,
Oh Andy I’d like grommets at every corner please,
Only with one missing, so you see the screw,
Dad would never ever drive anywhere,
Work, home, Nanas that was it.
We went to Rhyl once in a family convoy,
You could see the effect it was having on dad, it was giving him
PTSD
Old bloke at work used to claim his mileage, he would
Open up the formulated spreadsheet.
Print it off, fill it out by hand and leg it to accounts, with it in his hand
Same bloke.
When a customer paid in cash, you give them a receipt and then give it accounts along with your reference,
His preferred choice was take the cash to the bank and pay it into the company account, and use the customer as a payment reference, because he didn’t trust our accts dept.
Another old bloke would email you,
Then print it off, and bring it over to your desk,
We would drop the email into the job and bin the dozens of pages he gave us.
My Mum has this thing about having multiple bottles of bathroom products. It absolutely baffles me. At any given time there will be 5 bottles of Shampoo on the go, another 5 in the cupboard, and another 5 empty bottles waiting around for unknown reasons. Conversely when it comes to the kitchen she is ludicrously tight and will keep a bottle of washing up liquid going for months by diluting it with water. Who knows why?
ClaphamGT3 said:
Up until my Grandfather died in 1982, my Grandparents would never consider undertaking a drive of any distance without taking a thermos of Gin & Tonic for the journey.
Until my parents sold their flat in London about 4 years ago, my father insisted on answering the phone "Bloomsbury 2028"
That sounds pretty cool, the G&T thing and the phone. Until my parents sold their flat in London about 4 years ago, my father insisted on answering the phone "Bloomsbury 2028"
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