That's it.
I'm officially old.
At only 54.
My GP just recommended a course of physio because "we don't want you taking a little tumble now, do we?.."
A. Little. Fucking. Tumble.
I went into that office feeling like Harrison Ford, but left it as Miss Marple.
@Richard_Littler Hey, Miss Marple solved a lot more crimes than Harrison ever did 🤭
@Richard_Littler Nah, this is where you start Level Two, on hard mode …
@Richard_Littler Patronising fucker!
I say that as I'm sat with my foot up suffering a flare-up of gout.
I'm 52.
@AndyIncarnate Actually, he didn't word it quite like that. He's a really good GP.
The way I wrote it is just the way I felt, for comedic effect.
@Richard_Littler I was about to say that you're way too young for osteoporosis. Clearly the plan is for you to get super-hero level buff and save the world.
@AndyIncarnate
@Richard_Littler I feel this in my metaphorical and literal bones
@Richard_Littler For what it’s worth, at 54 my doctor told me to get fitness strength training - and part-paid for it. Best thing I’ve done; I feel so much better and stronger, and it’s been a very good thing.
@james @Richard_Littler I'm 51 or 52 and I've picked up yoga and working with resistance bands. Small weights too sometimes. Been doing it for about a year now and it's greatly improved my everything. Feeling better now than I did 5 years ago.
@Richard_Littler
Wait until you hit 70 and various clerks and service people think you're either mentally deficient, or likely to croak in front of them.
@Richard_Littler 58. Osteopenia. Exercise physiologist said "now, at your age, we should really think about our bones, shouldn't we?"
"And at your age, you should respect your elders."
@caity @Richard_Littler THAT there is pretty much the only sign of age I recognize: demanding "respect" (that isn't even) just because you are older during situations in which you weren't even disrespected.
When I start doing that, you can take me behind the barn and shoot me in the back of the head. That's the sign. That's my DNR.
Hopefully I've got more than just the 2 years left before that happens.
@Richard_Littler just overheard an older couple while I was drinking my coffee say, “…he’s afraid of falling so he wears a helmet. But he doesn’t want to stand out. So he carrys a skateboard”.
Pro tip
@sconlan @Richard_Littler how do you do fellow kids
@Richard_Littler in some very unfortunate news, the stretches, exercises and very silly dance moves, actually work lol, making a huge difference for me every time I remember to do them😄
Harrison Ford is officially retired. So what’s the problem? ;)
@Richard_Littler I'm a year older than you. If there was one piece of advice I'd give people my age it's have a practice that'll train your core and legs. Yoga, tai chi, reasonably heavy weights, whatever. I see too many people a decade younger complaining about how their body betrays them when they haven't actually used in decades.
@Colman @Richard_Littler I am 67 and swim 2 km in an hour, if I am slow, 65 minutes. It helps against my heart deficiencies and arthritis. I also walk a lot. Sport is the answer 😊Though I do tumble rarely, as I am about to have an ablation of a neurinome, which is on my spinal cord and numbs the lower part of my body, especially my feet.
@connynasch @Richard_Littler that's great for you if you can work that way, but I can't do that: I need something that's going to occupy my brain while I do it. So ballet, martial arts, that sort of thing. Then I can do cross training to support those practices.
@connynasch @Richard_Littler the last time I fell it was out of a pirouette and I managed to perform a break fall so fast I was standing upright looking composed before my ballet teacher had turned her head.
@Richard_Littler 🤣 Know the feeling! Doctor recently diagnosed some symptoms as simply ‘age’.
@Richard_Littler I hit 54 next month... and I would hit my GP if they said that.
@Richard_Littler I don’t know how to break this to you, but have you seen what Harrison Ford looks like lately?
Jul 3, 2026, 1:28 PM@Richard_Littler So, you'll be solving lots of murders now, at least?
Jul 3, 2026, 2:14 PM@Richard_Littler
Wait till you get to 59 and everything hurts.
@Richard_Littler I am 54, and my nurse practitioner started acting like I was a feeble little old lady at 50. It starts earlier for women.
@Richard_Littler Harrison Ford *is* 83.
Jul 3, 2026, 4:22 PM@Richard_Littler Shortly after turning 49, I was in a store getting some food and the cashier called me a "young man" in a condescending but not mean spirited tone, sounds silly but, it took me some time to recover from that.
@Richard_Littler Cheeky sod.