Preparedness for when

pachycephalosaurus

fuddle wrote: »

That's the thing, if you're going down you're going to hurt something. I just wonder are we equipped, in that sort of quick scenario, to make a decision and action a plan or do we not have time to process that sort of info? Do we have to rely on our reactions to make the right call for us?

Hello , I've read this thread many times , got up to date only to look away and find I have more pages to read ...
But a subject I actually have something useful to say on comes up and I can no longer resist !
After nearly a decade of aikido training twice a week , always with a spell of breakfall training after the warm up I've had my reflexes retrained to fall as safely as possible .

Yep , the extended arm to try and stop the fall is a bad idea . Instead tuck , roll and don't stiffen up or hold your breath ( a natural startle reaction which just makes things worse as you get the breath knocked out of you with a big oof !) The problem is you really have to repeat the safe fall hundreds if not thousands of times so it becomes automatic.
A few months ago I slipped on a slimy wooden stile while out walking and before I knew what was going on , ended up doing a neat roll off the top of it into the adjacent field - the sheep looked even more bemused than usual ! No harm done , just a big diagonal streak of mud on my back from shoulder to hip , but I was aware that if the automatic response hadn't kicked in I could have been in trouble .

Hands in pockets would actually be no impediment - we practiced rolling from a standing position with our arms folded ( look mum , no hands!) as throws and armlocks often made safe one or no hand falls a necessity. Mind you , having seen it demonstrated how a chap wearing a buttoned up jacket with hands in the pockets can be effectively rendered helpless by having the jacket tugged down off his shoulders onto his upper arms from behind, pinning his arms at his sides , I always have gloves in my winter coat pockets !

I'd suggest anyone worried about falling over contact a good judo , jujitsu or aikido club and ask for some help in learning to fall safely, it is a curiously liberating skill , and even if you don't invest the time to ingrain the reflex , overcoming the fear of falling over will give you the advantage of being more relaxed and therefore less likely to be hurt badly .

First post , sorry it's a bit long ... I'll introduce myself properly next time

davidsdesire

jk0 wrote: »

True enough GQ. I have mentioned similar to my mother.

Trouble is, she is a member of the 'awkward bunch'. I'm sure you know lots of people like that.

Whatever I suggest to improve her life, she will already have thought of some excuse why she can't/won't do it.

Money out of the bank: Risk of burglars. (No need to anyway, as she can always write cheques.)
Extra dried/tinned food: Can't afford/carry it.
Extra water: Can't find room for it or carry it.
Fill up car with petrol: Can't afford it.

I have a friend just like this. I stopped trying to help years ago.

Frugalsod

This is the real impact on the UK economy.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2013/02/20/1393672/the-real-rate-of-british-inflation/



So real wages are down, and the real costs of living since 2007 are up 33% whereas the official rate of inflation is only 8% since 2007. So people are really experiencing a big drop in their standards of living. It also does not look like ending soon.

GreyQueen

That was very interesting, Frugalsod.

Since 2005, my social rent has doubled and will be going up again on 6th April. They have to give me a month's notice, so I don't know what it'll be yet, except that I have to pay it. I've had all the usual increases in utilities etc that we've all 'enjoyed'. A journey I used to make by service bus for £2.80 each way is now only possible by Nat Exp coach. Price fluctuates from day to day with a £5 spread from highest to lowest. The last ticket I bought was £8.50 in late Dec, the one I bought 2 days ago was £10.50, would have been £13.50 if I'd left 10 mins earlier.

Up until 1997, I owned a car. Small car, 10 year old F i e s t a, but still money into the chancellor's coffers. Car ownership is well beyond my pocket now, probably permanantly.

Lots of people I know look as if they're solvent, they're professionals with good jobs, but they're like swans; the upper body glides in a stately manner whilst the hidden legs are paddling frantically to keep going. And they are a whisker away from financial catastrophe.

nuatha

pachycephalosaurus wrote: »

Hello , I've read this thread many times , got up to date only to look away and find I have more pages to read ...
But a subject I actually have something useful to say on comes up and I can no longer resist !

Welcome, and I'm sure that you'll have other things to contribute, by and large its a friendly bunch in these parts.

After nearly a decade of aikido training twice a week , always with a spell of breakfall training after the warm up I've had my reflexes retrained to fall as safely as possible .

Its definitely a practise thing, though after the first half dozen or so you start to get the knack of it. Finding a local martial arts class to learn the basics is good advice - I should probably do a refresher, its a long time since I trained and my body isn't as fit or flexible as it used to be.

thriftwizard

Lots of people I know look as if they're solvent, they're professionals with good jobs, but they're like swans; the upper body glides in a stately manner whilst the hidden legs are paddling frantically to keep going. And they are a whisker away from financial catastrophe.

Too true, GQ; our neighbours have just had their house valued & are looking to downsize fast, before the bank forces their hands. Over the last few years, they have literally, quietly, gone hungry to keep up appearances. I don't know if DS2 will ever realise that the "on-its-sell-by" bread he used to bring home for free at 10pm, when he shut the newsagents he used to work at, actually kept them going, along with any eggs I could spare.

This has been a lovely neighbourhood to live in & bring our kids up in; they all used to play out in the street together & run from house to house to see what was cooking or on TV. It's nothing much to look at compared to the rest of our little medieval market town, but it was safe and friendly. Although other families have come & gone, these neighbours moving on marks the end of a chapter; they, along with two other families and a handful of elderly neighbours, formed the backbone of our little community for the last 20 years. The last of the elderly folk passed away just before Christmas, one of the other families (engineer/midwife) is talking about going home to Scotland now the last of their kids is off to uni, and the others (both in education) are struggling too as she faces almost certain redundancy and his hours have been cut down, so they may need to move back to a cheaper area.

We've been able to keep our heads above water, thanks in part to the lovely folks & plentiful advice here & elsewhere online, but I do have a real sense that for us, it's the end of an era. Plus ça change and all that...

moneyistooshorttomention

So, to coin a phrase, I guess the best motto for if a fall is clearly imminent is to "Think Ball not Fall". That sounds about the best way to sum up the thoughts on sort of rolling-up before hitting the ground? That is to try and turn yourself into a human "ball" shape....and make it one of those soft type balls you can easily press into the surface of.

ivyleaf

What a shame thriftwizard

There are now just 4 households which have been in our part of our road (the road's divided in two by a crossroads) since we arrived 32 years ago. We don't see the newer neighbours much as they mostly commute into London, or at any rate are out at work for most of the day.

It's made me realise that I only have friends here because I got to know people before I started working!

Softstuff

We're not yet living in our new home, yet already have met 2 neighbouring families in the street (1 quite by accident). I hope to cultivate good neighbours, we certainly have done so in our flat, a good neighbour is worth their weight in gold for many reasons. You don't need to be best friends, but even just knowing people to say hello to can help in so many different situations.

And we settled today and have the keys, so we're in progress :j

moneyistooshorttomention

Congratulations on progress Softstuff:beer:. Mygawd that's been quick:D

I'm sure it does help if its possible to have good neighbour relations. Fingers crossed you get good ones.

Me, at least I'm grinning from confirmation recently received about what my nfh is like. Outa the blue someone very au fait with whats what in this community told me that neighbour is someone who is one of the "Do you know who I AM?" brigade and expects everyone to "know who they are" (that would be "just another person then" would it?) and then kowtow to them. Confirmed my own opinion perfectly, so am pleased to find out that I'm far from the only one who has summed them up this way. I then got told that some of what she has been telling me as to how things are is a "pack of porkies":D:T. I'd always suspected that was the case...but am pleased to have evidence of the fact now.

I now feel MUCH better about the situation than I did:D and am giggling visibly at how "important" neighbour thinks they are when they were never "anyone very much" anyway....a lot is now much clearer than it was:rotfl: