FB Posts

[Zema Bus]

Flopps posted this on FB today:

Unless my powers of perception are failing me I just spotted a huge spider - probably a tarantula - in the communal dustbin room where I live. i had just dumped my rubbish and was walking towards the entrance door when it shot out from beneath a bin, up the wall, to settle behind a loose wall poster.
I wanted to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me so lifted the poster. Mr furry brown eight legs scuttled out headed towards the rear of the room, probably more frightened than me.
Well I never.

[Grogan]

Shit... probably somebody's silly pet that got loose. I don't think tarantulas are native

[Zema Bus]

Another one of his posts, this is one of his longer ones. He's in his 70's now and talks about aging in this post.

I am travelling a journey undertaken by billions of my ancestors before me, a journey taken by human beings ever since they learned to walk upright.
It is a journey that in my earlier years I had no idea about, no understanding of and to be brutally honest, no sympathy for whatsoever.
This journey is called old age, senility, senior years, our autumn years.
I wonder why it is when we’re (most of us) young that we assume everybody we interact with, if they give no obvious outward physical signs, are on a level pegging on all tiers with ourselves? It’s not so much arrogance of youth so much as ignorance of youth I suppose.
I wonder at which age we start to, well – decay? The answer is probably it’s different for everybody, it likely being a genetic thing. What will fail – eyes, ears, bone joints, locomotion, mental well-being?
Some will be lucky enough to progress to death’s door without suffering any of those indignities and inconveniences but I suspect that’s not many.
By the time we reach the start of our gradual slide towards oblivion all of us will have experienced enduring the death of loved ones and people we know but from here on in other factors in death will raise their ugly heads and become fairly commonplace such as cancer, heart disease, organ failure and alzheimers. I sometimes wonder if these are a subtle hint telling us our time is done now would you please bugger off.
But despite all the afflictions that seem to befall us on a fairly regular basis from a certain age I’d still like to stick it out as long as possible as I still think there’s more worth staying alive for than rolling over and giving up.
Talking of which, if I had to reflect on my years and name the best thing that I’d ever taken part in/contributed to it would be my three daughters. I have a lot of music I love to listen to; I can still walk, see and hear and as I age I actually become quite amazed at how wonderful this planet is.
I never noticed it much in former times but all those trees, mountains, fields, animals, sunsets – the whole thing is fabulous. I’m not at all religious but I do sometimes wonder if a third party had a hand in shaping all this stuff just to please us people. If so then thank you.
As I’ve aged I have come to understand the human psyche a great deal more and sometimes I wish I hadn’t. There are a lot of damaged people out there and I sometimes wonder why as most of us don’t come into this world with an attitude. Is the key solely child-abuse? Abused children frequently become abusive parents? I have no idea.
Having said that I still hold the view that most people existing on this planet are good people. I’d like to think that most individuals, on seeing another individual in distress, would help them. Perhaps I’m being naive.
Getting back to the relationship between old and young folk my own attitude towards senior citizens when I was young was indifference. I did hold the view that lots of them were grumpy and an annoying number would insist that their generation was somehow better and I vowed I would never become like that – I’ve possibly partly succeeded. Astonishingly (to me) many of my own peers have now adopted the same point of view, bemoaning today’s generation and insisting their time(their time presumably being their youth) was better. I can only say – dinosaurs.
I’m currently suffering a trapped nerve and all this typing has made my left arm hurt so I will sign off. I’ve also had a nasty virus since last Saturday – fun and games eh?
I wish you all well.

[Grogan]

It sounds like he's doing well, and taking care of his health. He can have more good years. It doesn't sound like he's in mental decline... pensive as always

[Dark Angel]

I'll copy and paste my own post to save people the trouble.

Screenshot_2024-03-02_20-20-06.png (352.77 KiB) Viewed 333 times

I tracked down and finally met my biological father last February. He died of lung cancer on the first of March last year. We had four days to get to know each other. I also gained three half sisters, and three half brothers (two of which were killed by a drunk driver), three uncles, and a raft of cousins. I'm the eldest, my youngest sister is the same age as my eldest son and has kids in the same age range.

[Grogan]

I'm sorry it was so short, but that's good to hear that you met him while you could. I'll bet it made his passing more peaceful.

Thanks for posting this stuff, I'm the only guy not on Facebook. I just can't stomach that platform. (had bad experiences)

[Zema Bus]

That was a very short time you had with him but glad you were able to meet with him before his passing.