How much to live on

Organgrinder

uralmaid said:

@Organgrinder - ouch.  Get ell soon.

I'll be back racing my bike tomorrow!

Nebulous2

Organgrinder said:

uralmaid said:

Hope you are feeling a little less battered and bruised @Organgrinder

Well I've either badly bruised or have cracked a rib!

Good fun though. Honest!

I previously discovered the lack of bounce as well. I've had broken ribs several times. The most recent episode was falling off my bike and landing on the handlebars. My GP told me the only noticeable difference was time. Bruised ribs would be better in a month, broken ones would still be sore in three. I ended up with the three month option. 

Savvy_Sue

Organgrinder said:

uralmaid said:

Hope you are feeling a little less battered and bruised @Organgrinder

Well I've either badly bruised or have cracked a rib!

Good fun though. Honest!

And on DH's behalf, I can tell you what you need to worry about.

How's your breathing? Yes, it hurts, but can you still do it without getting short of breath? And take a deep-ish breath without screaming in agony? Good, probably not a punctured lung.

Breathing OK? Excellent. Although continue to monitor this state of affairs if you get a cough or chest infection: it's more prone to develop into pneumonia or bronchitis if you're not breathing deeply.

Of course this is not medical advice: Google will give you that. But the breathing was all they cared about at the triage stage of what would have been a 6 hour wait in A&E, had we chosen to wait. 

Savvy_Sue

Nebulous2 said:

Organgrinder said:

uralmaid said:

Hope you are feeling a little less battered and bruised @Organgrinder

Well I've either badly bruised or have cracked a rib!

Good fun though. Honest!

I previously discovered the lack of bounce as well. I've had broken ribs several times. The most recent episode was falling off my bike and landing on the handlebars. My GP told me the only noticeable difference was time. Bruised ribs would be better in a month, broken ones would still be sore in three. I ended up with the three month option. 

Again, A&E said if we chose to wait 6 hours, they might or might not X-ray, as it would make not a jot of difference to treatment. 3 months for him as well, falling off an e-scooter!

Nebulous2

Savvy_Sue said:

Organgrinder said:

uralmaid said:

Hope you are feeling a little less battered and bruised @Organgrinder

Well I've either badly bruised or have cracked a rib!

Good fun though. Honest!

And on DH's behalf, I can tell you what you need to worry about.

How's your breathing? Yes, it hurts, but can you still do it without getting short of breath? And take a deep-ish breath without screaming in agony? Good, probably not a punctured lung.

Breathing OK? Excellent. Although continue to monitor this state of affairs if you get a cough or chest infection: it's more prone to develop into pneumonia or bronchitis if you're not breathing deeply.

Of course this is not medical advice: Google will give you that. But the breathing was all they cared about at the triage stage of what would have been a 6 hour wait in A&E, had we chosen to wait. 

Again that was more or less what the GP told me. If you are in discomfort and pain that's to be expected. Rest and take painkillers. If you become breathless, or start coughing up blood, do not pass go,  get help as soon as possible. I was concerned it would be seen as medical advice if I said that earlier, so I kept it brief. 

My first time, some 40 years ago, they wrapped my chest in sticky bandage. Then to remove it they cut it up the middle and simply ripped it off. 

I think I prefer the new way! 

helensbiggestfan

Coughing is a perilous activity.  😱.  In the past I have fractured my ribs by coughing.  🤣

Nebulous2

[Deleted User] said:

Of course the simplest way to avoid such injuries is to avoid perilous activities when reaching a certain age. For me walking, daily stretching and swimming work perfectly. I have never had the desire to have an adrenaline rush or attempt activities where possible fractures are more likely to occur, even when I was much much younger. 

You've never been a risk-taker Lord Mattenly?

I come from a working class background where people took huge risks regularly at their work. It gave a skewed view of risk in the rest of their lives, like driving cars, which was difficult for people outside that culture to understand.

There is something irresistibly attractive about going down a hill at 50+ MPH on a bicycle. That's when you really know you are alive. 

There is a huge difference between risk and perceived risk. Many people are terrified of flying, yet it is the safest means of travel, with being in a car considerably more dangerous. By some measures (deaths per billion miles travelled) walking (being a pedestrian) is more dangerous than cycling. 

Taking regular vigorous exercise carries a very small risk of death or serious injury, against a much bigger likelihood of living longer, and more importantly living longer in good health.  

Having said that - your swimming would certainly bring benefits, without loadbearing, particularly if you work hard. 

Here's some figures for you, from the last time I looked at this, 2011 stats for deaths:- 

Cyclists 98
Pedestrians 365 
Falls on stairs 693 
All transport accidents 1815
Accidental poisoning 1993
All accidents 11390 

Possibly the most dangerous thing any of us have done today is go downstairs. 
We have a higher risk of being poisoned than of dying in a traffic accident. 

Wednesday2000

I went through our finances at the end of the year and calculated that our income now we are retired is £3,300 a month with pension and benefits. My husband got awarded Pip last year, finally, as he was medically retired from work at the end of June. Our bills have reduced as we sadly lost our cat just before Christmas so we saved some money that we spent on pet insurance so the bills are now £700 a month. We have savings accounts that we had to dip into when we had a vet bill last year, but now we are leaving them alone to gain interest. I'm going to review our spending again in 6 months.

Organgrinder

Nebulous2 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Of course the simplest way to avoid such injuries is to avoid perilous activities when reaching a certain age. For me walking, daily stretching and swimming work perfectly. I have never had the desire to have an adrenaline rush or attempt activities where possible fractures are more likely to occur, even when I was much much younger. 

You've never been a risk-taker Lord Mattenly?

I come from a working class background where people took huge risks regularly at their work. It gave a skewed view of risk in the rest of their lives, like driving cars, which was difficult for people outside that culture to understand.

There is something irresistibly attractive about going down a hill at 50+ MPH on a bicycle. That's when you really know you are alive. 

There is a huge difference between risk and perceived risk. Many people are terrified of flying, yet it is the safest means of travel, with being in a car considerably more dangerous. By some measures (deaths per billion miles travelled) walking (being a pedestrian) is more dangerous than cycling. 

Taking regular vigorous exercise carries a very small risk of death or serious injury, against a much bigger likelihood of living longer, and more importantly living longer in good health.  

Having said that - your swimming would certainly bring benefits, without loadbearing, particularly if you work hard. 

Here's some figures for you, from the last time I looked at this, 2011 stats for deaths:- 

Cyclists 98
Pedestrians 365 
Falls on stairs 693 
All transport accidents 1815
Accidental poisoning 1993
All accidents 11390 

Possibly the most dangerous thing any of us have done today is go downstairs. 
We have a higher risk of being poisoned than of dying in a traffic accident. 

Thankfully @Nebulous2 I'm still of the belief that any risk to my well being is far outweighed by the benefits that continuing to do adventurous things brings. Indeed I'm already looking at next year's winter holiday. If possible I would still very much like to try bobsleigh too!

Last year I tried scuba diving for the first time. The year before driving a dune buggy across the desert. Or doing high ropes courses.

I still race my bicycle and compete regularly online against people around the world. The teams I race for regularly win the league we race in.

I have great memories of doing 90km/h down a hill in Scotland. 

I am far from being an adrenaline junkie. But equally I'm not ready to think of myself as being middle aged and neither was I born middle aged either!

Organgrinder

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cymrufyw/erthyglau/cvg67e165pyo

Sorry can't find it in English. But basically a group of middle aged surfers. Fantastic.