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Post by lugg on Mar 2, 2021 19:45:41 GMT
I sometimes reflect back and consider the last time I did something . Often I did not realise it would be the last time at that moment. Some of my thoughts are happy, some sad, some funny and some are absolutely trivial in the greater scheme of things.
Occasionally I do actively recognise this is probably the last time I will do this .
Anyway I will start with a trivial...
A few days ago I bought a new car (well new to me) and this was one occasion when I actually thought , yes this will be the last car I have to buy a car (hopefully) and even if I do need another in the future it will likely be much more climate friendly.
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Post by questa on Mar 2, 2021 23:11:43 GMT
Sold the station wagon : (too big for 1 person)Bought 2 door Daihatsu (heaps of room for grandchildren's baby seating)
Sold 2 door : bought 5 door Daihatsu (more room for grandkids bikes)
Sold 5 door : bought Hyundai 2 door Manual (This will be the last...little red rocket, fantastic to do my final year or so having a thrash.)
Sold manual : bought Hyundai automatic (Doctor doesn't OK licence for over 70's in manuals)
Helping grandkids with driving lessons in automatic...so bland I call it "Vanilla"
All of these have been "my last car". I will never have to haggle again.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 3, 2021 6:16:22 GMT
(Doctor doesn't OK licence for over 70's in manuals) Just your doctor or all of them? Does that mean you don't find any over 70's at all driving manuals then? In this whole subject there are things we don't do any more and things done that happened to involve us where we had no or little part in the decision to stop - e.g. that last time I kicked a ball around with my father, the last time my mother picked me up, the last time some mates came and knocked at the front door to see if I wanted to go out and play, the last time I kissed a certain girl because she dumped me and so on. There are things we made the decision about and things whereby it wasn't up to us - and sometimes, they can be the sadder things. The last time I tried alcohol was when I was about twenty two and decided then and there I'll never like it so why bother from then on.
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Post by questa on Mar 3, 2021 8:05:47 GMT
My GP is known for being on the cautious side. She believes that at the magic age of 70 all drivers lose awareness of which pedal they are using and drive into rivers, light poles and small children, because they have hit GO instead of STOP. Personally I cleaned up a couple of wheelie bins when I hit the wrong pedal. It would not have happened in a manual because I would have had to do an all-of-body series of moves which put the car in the right place before I drove off. My Doctor may even be using her "Rule" to weed out the proportion of older drivers with a history of bingles. Things like driving into his letterbox on 3 separate occasions, running over the kid's bike etc. She didn't make it an order, just a suggestion that I would be better in an auto. Anyway the timing chain was due for replacement (still) so along came Vanilla.
As far as "Last times"go...I have to think that every time I see, hear, touch someone or thing' I am saying goodbye, I say it aware that I won't see it or them again.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 3, 2021 10:01:55 GMT
Questa , I don't like your doctor. 70 is the new 50 don't she know! I'm 77 this year and would be very annoyed if I could not hop in my car and push off to wherever. Our family doctor has just retired but he gave my mum a driving clearance in her 90th year. This allowed her to do all her own shopping and have her hair done. Admittedly all within 1km of her house but so much freedom. To my knowledge my mother was never involved in an accident..
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 3, 2021 11:01:25 GMT
I’ve only driven automatic for the last 30 years. Saves al that tiring boring gear changes.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 3, 2021 11:09:46 GMT
Any car I have in Europe tends to be a manual. Any car I have, except Bosnia where I've brought our German car, other than Europe would be automatic.
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Post by questa on Mar 3, 2021 11:41:23 GMT
I have moved to the Hills which involves some gorgeous roads and I miss the manual. The auto was all right in the stop start traffic down on the Plains. I have also changed doctors to the new address so who knows...a little Honda Jazz might be fun.
PS...Honda named the Jazz and it sold like crazy.Hyundai wanted a model name for the same image and chose a jazzy name...Getz. Pity no-one thought to check Mr Stan Getz's bio. spent most of his life in Rehab or passed out in a bar. Very sad life.
Meanwhile, back to Lugg's thread...
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Post by tod2 on Mar 3, 2021 12:57:41 GMT
Oh Questa I do like all the little tit-bits that go with an explanation. Thanks!
Mick - my mother drove a stick-shift Datsun with no steering assistance - how she did it I can only think she counted the hard manoeuvring as her regular upper body exercise!
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 3, 2021 14:42:34 GMT
When I got a new driving licence with an expiration date in 2031, I immediately thought that it might be my last one, unless we also will need them for those self-driving cars.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 3, 2021 16:02:17 GMT
my mother drove a stick-shift Datsun with no steering assistance The trucks I drove through Africa had none either. You sometimes had to shunt it round tight corners. After a few years me and Atlas has the same upper body. And there is always debate in the 4x4 world as to the merits of a manual over an auto box and vice versa. For me, I go for automatic every time - because you can lock the gears to make it manual whereas in a manual you can't make it into an automatic.
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Post by whatagain on Mar 3, 2021 17:23:53 GMT
Actually i have never bought a car. My Dad bought my first, my second, my third (which i gave to my wife) then my wife bought the next 2 for me, then my boss has been doing so for the last 15 years... (I have zero interewt for cars).
I have always thought only pantsies drove automatic. I have had an automatic for the last 4 cars...
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 3, 2021 18:39:52 GMT
I don't drive. After 10 lessons I decided that some people should never be alowed to drive and that I was one of them.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 3, 2021 18:52:57 GMT
Going back to the theme of this thread...
Jeff says that we won't be getting any more pets after Django. He said that we wouldn't be getting another cat after Mabel (we got Priya the next year) or any more dogs after we lost Kipper...
This time tho, as we are much older...he's probably right.
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Post by htmb on Mar 3, 2021 19:19:45 GMT
I can say, with no regret in any way at all, that I will never go white water rafting on a class III/IV river again, nor will I ever again downhill ski. The rafting (on the river where they made the film Deliverance) was both terrifying and exhilarating. Glad I did it. Won’t do it again. As for the skiing, I’m of the opinion people should learn to ski when they’re very young. I wasn’t. I learned I could “snow plow” for three miles, all the while cussing like a drunken sailor on leave. Plus, I get altitude sickness easily and it’s never fun. I admire those of you are successful downhill skiers and enjoy the sport. Unfortunately, it wasn’t something I had the opportunity to experience as a kid growing up in Florida.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 3, 2021 23:21:23 GMT
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't skiing have to take place in (horrors) snow?
That right there is the big clue that it is to be avoided. I was taken to both Aspen and Vail when I was @18. This was obviously a big treat, but I hated every minute of it. It involved being outside in the snow and doing something athletic that meant potentially making a fool of myself &/or hurting myself. Also on that trip I got a terrible barfy flu after eating a nice big breakfast of strawberry pancakes. To this day I don't really like anything strawberry flavored.
So that definitely was a conscious "never, ever again" revelation.
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Post by htmb on Mar 3, 2021 23:59:47 GMT
Flu? Sure it wasn’t from the altitude? Happens to me almost every time I go directly to a higher altitude rather than working up to it gradually. Snow isn’t a favorite of mine, either. I just don’t know what to do in it. I’m a tiny bit embarrassed to admit I spent most of a week inside during a family trip to Big Sky, Montana. However, the view out the condo windows was absolutely fabulous, and the temps were so cold they closed the ski lifts most days anyway. I spent my time looking at the mountains while also watching the Clinton impeachment hearings on TV.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 4, 2021 0:14:44 GMT
A girl after my own heart! I have the same attitude to snow, along with the conviction that I need have nothing to do with it. Yes, inside with the warmth, snow-covered mountains are gorgeous.
Honestly, I have a similar attitude to the beach and all that sand. After searching for seashells, taking a long walk, and drinking some beer, what else is there?
I have had a bad nausea/headache to altitude, but on that particular trip, every person wound up with the same misery. Come to think of it, maybe it was where we ate, rather than the flu.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 4, 2021 7:34:15 GMT
Jeff says that we won't be getting any more pets after Django. Yes, there does come a time when your pet dog or cat might outlive you, but Cheery I think you are probably considering the fact that as one ages you are less enthusiastic about caring for a pet. To take it on that daily walk, or to make sure it is fed properly and also groomed properly. We had three Maltese poodles and when the last on died at the ripe old age of 25years old, we said no more pets. They become like your children and the parting is just too sad for words. BUT, our son had other plans for our pet days. He bought a Staffie puppy and when it got too boisterous after a year, guess who got given the dog. She is a super little girl and we love her to bits but at 5 years old now we are wondering who will outlive who...!
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Post by whatagain on Mar 6, 2021 20:31:49 GMT
I am very surprised that my father didn't take another dog. Hecis 80, in good shape and has sons who told him we would tske the dog should anything happen...
Funnily enough Lugg, my wife bought a car today.
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Post by whatagain on Mar 9, 2021 10:34:06 GMT
It seems it is the last time we switch to summer time. Either we stay on summer time or we switch once more to winter time and stay like that...
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Post by questa on Mar 9, 2021 11:09:02 GMT
I have had a bad nausea/headache to altitude, but on that particular trip, every person wound up with the same misery. Come to think of it, maybe it was where we ate, rather than the flu. Did a bus trip in Nepal. Everyone went down with Viral Gastro one by one. headache and nausea. lots of trips to the loo. Weakness and desire to sleep. One chap brought the bug aboard and general travel stress made it worse.
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Post by whatagain on Mar 9, 2021 13:39:45 GMT
One of the first times mrs Whatagain went on business trip - seminar to Sevilla - i had cooked all day and invited one of her best friends for supper. She comes home, goes to bed. Straight. The day after we hear on the radio that a gigantic number of ophtalmos are sick, quite a few taken to hospital due to food poisoning at a seminar in Spain...
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