I must get out more
08/10/2008
Visits to the theatre for my wife and I are all too rare, as pensioners we find ticket prices somewhat more than we can afford nowadays. However I did 'lash out' and buy a couple of tickets for a Bill Kenwright/Really Useful Group presentation of 'Evita' on at our splendid Milton Keynes theatre last evening.
More Stories
10 (or possibly more!) things to do when you retire!
Don’t think of yourself as old – you’re younger now than you’ll ever be. A reader has advice on how best to approach retirement.
Remember our present day heroes
Very little, if any, publicity has been given to an event that took place at Twickenham Rugby Football on Saturday, 20th September last.
Better to be dead than 'wardenless'?
Without the onsite warden my mother would have been dead for 6-7 hours before I would have found her. How awful would that have been?
Age discrimination at work - outrageous and outdated
With Rupert Murdoch, George Soros and Warren Buffett all over 76, one has to wonder why 'John Doe' cannot continue doing the accounts at Nestle at the age of 66.
We need a sub-titles campaign
When the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and other TV companies broadcast via terrestrial, cable or satellite they are regulated by OFCOM and have to comply with subtitling targets laid down by Government. However, once they decide to broadcast by telephone, PC or mobile phone they are unregulated. What they broadcast is entirely up to themselves.
If you're splashing cash abroad, keep your credit card in your pocket
Taking cash out abroad is never going to be cheap. But the high interest rates applied means that it's advisable never withdraw cash on a credit card either at home or abroad unless it is an absolute emergency, says MT's Debt Doctor Russell Cavanagh.
More on the perils of warden-less accommodation
How can elderly people be left at risk like this without any apparent means of easily and instantly contacting anyone in an emergency?
Why is Britain penalising its overseas pensioners?
I am sure that someone has brought up this point, but in case they have not here are my concerns about British pensions - as seen from afar. I live in the USA.
Politicians - you try it first!
I am responding to your invitation in your article ‘A taste of their own medicine’.
I’ve often found that another useful approach is ‘If you think it’s a good idea, why don’t you try it first?’
No country for old men
Further to your articles regarding older people living alone, especially men, I believe the film "No country for old men" should be renamed: "England- no country for old men." I am, of course, one of the two million loners.
Oh, to be a Channel Islander!
A single person's pension of £167.50 ... housing for £36 a week ... no road tax ... criminals serve their full sentence ...why can't our parliament not take lessons from the Channel Islands?
Do we really need all our MPs?
Now that more and more of our laws are made in Europe, is it not time to consider that we have too many MPs - after all we see daily that Parliament is attended by only a few of our elected representatives.
Piffle, padding? Too right!
Doris Daly's article on "Piffle, padding & procrastination" echoed exactly my own thoughts on the forests of expensive, highly coloured books and pamphlets full of ideas and theories about matters relating to older people; all too few of which get read by those for whom they are intended. Then of course, there are the well intentioned conferences and seminars where all those publications are brandished.
Choose to retire? We don't have a choice
Many people have no choice about retiring or not; particularly with the national default retirement age that gives employers, not employees the choice of when to retire. The second misconception is that there is a ‘normal retirement age’. There is no ‘normal’ retirement age. The third is that older people work to earn ‘some extra money’. Many older people must work to earn a living and pay the rising cost of living.
