Creak, Creak, Crack!

[poliphilo]

The theme of my dreams is difficulty. So, last night I was at a Test Match and having difficulty seeing the game. And after that I was in Canterbury cathedral and  having difficulty taking photos (even though they'd removed the roof and there was much more light that usual). 

Does this reflect my daytime experience?  I suppose it does. Life is difficult and getting more so. Like in the supermarket the other day- when I noticed what a performance it was getting things off a lower shelf. Not impossible, but difficult. First I had to get down there to floor level- creak, creak, creak- then I had to reach into the shelf because the stuff I was after had been pushed way back- creak, creak, creak- and then- very much the worst of all- I had to get up again- creak, creak, crack. I wouldn't say it was painful- at least not sharp and creasing- just effortful - like having to work with a very slow, broadband connection. 

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I'm not raging against old age. It's just that I dont entirely believe in it. (which could be why the dreams keep hammering away at the theme).   Walking, kneeling, getting out of a chair- these are all such simple things- so how can I possibly find them hard?  It's an act, isn't it- a way of trolling for sympathy? And I need to snap out of it. Now!

Comments

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

There's always a gap between the ideal and the real...a bit like one's weight and THAT pair of jeans...

of course when you find difficulty in one area, then you tend to imagine it everywhere, which may not be the case!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah, but when I was younger I didn't notice the gap. Broadly speaking- and within reason- my body up until I was fiftyish would do anything I wanted it to do- and no complaints.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

Exercise is probably the answer, but so difficult to do!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, exercise; I've heard of that....

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, you're not just imagining the creakings and the broadband slowness. It's no act. It gets harder and harder for me to get up from a stooping position these days.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

But- taking my cue from your icon- I wouldn't trade my condition now for my condition then. I may have been ninbler at 20 but certainly not happier.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Exactly.
:)

[silverhawkdruid.livejournal.com]

Ouch! I have that issue too. We like to buy the cheapest DVDs, for instance, but HMV in our town just switched their display cabinets, and now I can't reach more than a quarter of the stock, or read them, cos not only do I have bending issues, but eyesight issues too. :-) When they were at waist level and you just flipped them forward to look through, we found the £3 DVDs quite easily, and would buy them regularly. Not any more though. I can't help wondering why they changed the layout. Grandparents buy DVDs too, you know! LOL

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's cruel, isn't it?

I'm told it's standard supermarket practice to put the most expensive lines at eye level. If you want the cheap stuff you have to bend or stretch.

[silverhawkdruid.livejournal.com]

Aha! Lightbulb moment! No wonder I ache so much when I get home from the supermarket! I get a workout there I wasn't aware of. Remember the 4p curry sauce? That's on the bottom shelf, and the cheap beans, and most of their 'value' range is down there too, come to think of it. Well, well!

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Yes, both upper and lower shelves present a challenge - I ask a grocery clerk to help on days when I am too stiff to negotiate them. Days like today, cold and wet - or like last July, hot and very humid. It's funny but when it's zero Fahrenheit with very dry air, or 90 F. with no humidity to speak of, I am nimble, I am quick, tee hee. I get plenty of exercise, going through ballet barre exercises (modified for old age) out in the atrium. There is a rail running around the entire hallway. The answer is not lack of exercise - if it were, then I would have no stiffness at all.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Climate has a lot to do with it.

I live in one of the worst places in the UK for arthritis sufferers. Very mild, very damp.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Same thing with New England - most people here have one jkind of arthritis or other from middle age on.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Yoga helps - or so I tell myself.