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[roycv]

Hi Tony, I expect pollen can carry that far but not enough of it to cause a problem.  Do you know what you are allergic too?

I used to lose the month of June every year and when I had my own home a room was kept closed and curtains drawn for when it was bad.  I had many tests they all said that I was allergic to mainly grass pollen. 

I went through 18 weeks of injections leading up to June with a special mix made for me but only marginally better.  Best thing that happened was air conditioned computer rooms, a quick brush of my clothing then into our engineers room and after 10 minutes complete relief.
My GP eventually said to try again and I was given some pills, ancestors of Losartan and I found that when I got my first symptom, chew a tablet and cured in 15 minutes, I then got a whole month of my life back for each year.  That was around 1971 and I have had to take them ever since, so nearly 50 years now! 

Regards
Roy

[tonyH]

Hi Roy, up to about 1000miles in low density
I was lucky in a sense because although I had it badly up to my mid 20's or so, I seemed to get de-sensitized slowly after that. Whether it's an old wives tale or not but it's supposed to come in 7 year cycles (7 year itch?)I was allergic to various grass pollens and the cricket season was a real "xxxxx". Beechams had a research lab on the A40 near the Hoover Building in West London and I had my skin tests there and most of the blobs were nicely red
Now, it's almost non-existent. Probably 50 years of fags and cigars have done that for me BUT I still react to Carnations and other "Pinks". SWMBO has cut them from what she grows BUT it's s**s law that bunches of flowers that friends give her almost always contain them so I'm forced to hide in the shed......
Keep Well & Keep Safe
Tony

[david48]

Not to happy about the elderly thing my self ,it's been around a long time so you would have thought it would be better than it is  by now .I know we are living longer  but it is still the same old age at the end ,mostly frustration at not been able to do what you could ,what I do not like is having to pay some one to do what I used to do ,in my head I can still do it but physically my hands can not do. After all that no regrets with my life would do it all again ,the only thing that brings is ,I would have to do all  that work again.

David

[Buccaneer]

This is all a bit like having a conversation with my mother-in-law.
John

[Plastic - RIP]

Managed to tick something off the bucket list - had a Grand Big Mac - ooooh yes - very, very tasty - good flavour balance and no 'meat wall'.     And a Flake McFlurry with raspberry sauce.     And an apple pie. 

[clivef]

Ron and the OldiesWow! This is the most interesting (non model) thread on Mayhem....... I probably think this because I now consider myself 'old'. Its just great to read all that variety of viewpoints. Roy: its never to late to learn. I have always loved listening to music, especially the old 1970s hits, and other music that moved with me in the 'dominantly emotional growth' years. I always had powerful stereo systems at home and went through about 6 of my best music years accompanied by my souped-up Triumph Vitesse convertible complete with stereo 8 track. When I reached 50 (and after a long career as a teacher, sports for years, then Geography, senior teacher and Deputy Head of a small International school in Germany) I suddenly needed challenges so I took on three, planned them in great detail and got on with them:
1. Cycle around the UK mainland
2. Ride a heavy motorcycle
3. Learn to play an instrument
I almost succeeded in number one (over 5000 miles, Lands End to Thurso, done but not finished), and may manage it if my health improves again. Number two was relatively easy (I was a mod in the late 60s and early 70s, so my Marauder chopper is sitting in the garage with a 1965 Lambretta....I love riding it around MG (I am over the total weight limit on my own these days), but where are all the other nuts and girls and the atmosphere that went with it, and the carefree irresponsibility - you can't recreate old times, you can only be sure to enjoy remembering them.
What I really wanted to say is...... Ron, it is never to late to learn to play an instrument!!!!!! The journey is just as pleasurable as the 'end' result, but there isn't really an 'end' either.  When I turned 50 I bought a bass guitar because there are only 4 strings to cope with, and joined a blues band. It was so easy to do. Fantastic fun, quite an amount of 'kind-of' unexpected - what I like to refer to as - 'youthful irresponsibility' returned, but it was, of course, frustrated midlife crisis. Anyway, the bass was great because you can keep it simple and be in with a new group. Twenty years later, I have just started acoustic guitar and the blues Harp. Its wonderful! I can play the acoustic on my own and sing, and those 1960/1970/1980 hits have become wonderfully real again as I have learned to play them...... 'Sitting on the Dock o the bay', 'Road to hell', 'Sweet child', 'Sweet Jane', 'What a wonderful World', 'Scarborough Fair' etc.. And a really good acoustic costs less than Deans Dreadnought. I build for an hour, and play for an hour, etc. etc.....Magic! Its never to late - choose your instrument and enjoy every minute, I did, and do.
Just want to make two more points..... I am reasonably well qualified - Batchelor in Education and Master in Educational management. I am not proud of these qualifications, they exist.... I have the originals in a dusty folder upstairs. When I started out teaching in Gillingham Comprehensive in 1974, I had a fantastic time teaching and enjoying sports, rugby, cricket, basketball, athletics, etc. with teenagers in a time when we (the teachers) could enjoy actually taking part in the activities with the children..... but I wanted to say - after school I would meet and play golf with my best friend Martin - he was 20 years older than me... he called himself a 'sleeper-walker'. He walked the railways in North Dorset (the rugby club I played for in those days), with a hammer, testing that the rails were securely fitted. He had NO qualifications, but he was my best friend in this days. He taught me a lesson that I took with me right through my career - qualifications have no importance when compared with experience, emotional understanding, compassion, empathy. He taught me about the relevance of Shakespeare and classical music, he told me the history of Carthage in great entertaining detail, he comforted me when I lost a lovely girlfriend, he taught me how to smash a golf ball down the fairway with little style but with great effect. He was very satisfied with a minimalistic life and he was the first person I met who was already concerned about climate change and damage to the environment - in the 1970s. I was too immature to keep contact with him when I moved abroad. Anyway, one of the effects of knowing Martin on me was that I never expected any of my 4 children to go for as many qualifications as possible - I pride myself on wanting then to enjoy school and develop skills, not collect qualifications.
And then I must react to the message from a gentleman who says he is dying of cancer. I am 69 and reasonably fit for my age, I try to imagine what it is like to know that death will come soon. But for me thats not the case - I don't know how long I will live, I may have a year or 20 years. I'm so lucky in comparison.....I just want to say..... the most valuable thing we have in our lives is a 'package of memories'. When I retired in 2017 I decided to record my 'package of memories'. I wrote the story of my life - my reason was that I wanted my children to know more about my life than the 'little' I know about the lives of my parents. But the person who has benefitted most from writing 'my story' is ME. I divided my life into seven logical sections and jus wrote everything I could remember - and the wonderful thing was that when you write it all down, you re-remeber things that you (and your children) would have otherwise lost for ever. I want to suggest that if you are someone who knows that time is limited - write the story of your life, if you have children, you can say its for them, and you can create some sort of procedure so that they get it when you pass on. But, if you don't have children do it anyway, for yourself. You will learn more about your successes and mistakes, but most you will remember what a fantastic life it was......