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Motorcyclist, 92, killed
The family of a veteran of the D-Day landings and Arctic convoys have paid tribute to him after he crashed his motorbike at the age of 92 and died. After the war Donald Wallace became a clergyman in the RAF and was honorary chaplain to the Queen. His daughter, Fiona Tyson, said: “He was a wonderful man, full of adventure.”
PPRuNeUser0139
25th Jun 2018, 08:13
Better that way than slowly running down to zero in a nursing home surrounded by other geriatrics..
We have a friend who's a GP and he has an unfashionable view of how his life should be lived - he takes pleasure in smoking cigars and enjoying wine.
His view - to which I subscribe - is that if you live a parsimonious life with none of the "good things" then you might add 5 years to your lifespan. Unfortunately these 5 years extra don't come in the prime of life where you'd want them - they come at the end where they might not be so welcome. Another 5 years in a geriatric ward? Difficult to argue with..
jindabyne
25th Jun 2018, 09:09
I'd hardly call smoking one of the good things of life. I know many, who, were they still here, would agree.
Now, as for wine ;)
PPRuNeUser0139
25th Jun 2018, 09:47
I agree - I don't smoke either - but as for the rest then yes! :ok:
Tankertrashnav
25th Jun 2018, 10:08
"I may die young but I'll die happy" as inveterate smokers often say. To which I reply if you've seen someone dying of lung cancer you may revise your definition of dying happy!
As for the rest of it - totally agree. Falling off a cliff you are free climbing, spearing in on finals (but only if you are flying solo) are a couple of good possibilities, as is the old favourite - being shot post coitum by your lover's jealous husband!
ian16th
25th Jun 2018, 10:48
Times Obit (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-rev-group-captain-donald-wallace-kbmfthw3s)
Posted to Cyprus in 1960, Wallace, by now an experienced diver, founded a sub-aqua club, created a beach for RAF families by dynamiting a cove and transporting several tonnes of sand over a peninsula.
Would this be 'Tunnel Beach' at Episkopi?
Danny42C
25th Jun 2018, 13:21
Anoxia feels the best way of the lot to me (after a wartime session in a decompression chamber).
phil9560
25th Jun 2018, 14:16
Agree on the smoking.Spent a very long 10 months nursing my mother through terminal lung cancer.
Although I am a big fan of the red stuff.And the white...and lager.I could go on.
MPN11
25th Jun 2018, 16:52
I shall go when I go, by whatever means it happens. I have no intention of reducing my wine or tobacco consumption to drag out a few extra years, when many other factors could influence my lifespan.
<cough> <hic> :D
SASless
25th Jun 2018, 17:37
Live Life at full throttle and go out like you were sliding into Home Plate in a big cloud of dust and lots of commotion as if you were the winning Run in the last game of a World Series Series!
LOMCEVAK
25th Jun 2018, 18:52
“It is better to live one day as a lion than a lifetime as a lamb”. I do not know who wrote that but it gets my vote
Fantome
27th Jun 2018, 21:57
I have no intention of reducing my wine or tobacco consumption
yes .. . it is crook beyond description to have nursed those who have suffered and died . .. BUT . .. this thread is not the place to preach . .. . (bloody wowsers .. . bloody killjoys .. . )
The foul pictures on the packets of shag are so offensive . .. if one is posted here . .. I implore the mods to remove it . . instanter.
Danny . .. you hilarious old bugger. ( A joke is a joke . .. . a smoke is a smoke. . . a poke is a poke . .. but to talk about it is fecking ridiculous. .)
p.s. for ORAC - (that bon vivant) - morte magis metuenda senectus. . .old age should rather be feared than death. . .
Sloppy Link
28th Jun 2018, 08:36
I'm not scared of dying, just don't want to be there when it happens. Funny when I checked, Spike Milligan is attributed with the footnote he stole it from Woody Allen.
Danny42C
28th Jun 2018, 11:04
"There's no reason to be scared of dying - you do it every night ......"
Danny42C
28th Jun 2018, 11:26
Fantome (#12),
...A smoke is a smoke...
Recalls Kipling ["The Betrothed"]: "A Woman is only a woman, but a Good Cigar is a Smoke"
H.O.B.
ShyTorque
28th Jun 2018, 11:48
"There's no reason to be scared of dying - you do it every night ......"
I think I've watched the same comedian....
sycamore
28th Jun 2018, 12:23
"Life`s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely,in a well-preserved body,but rather, to skid in sideways,totally used-up and worn-out,shouting `%$£* man ,what a helluva ride`.."-Anon...
The Oberon
28th Jun 2018, 13:00
You are not here for a rehearsal.
Lantern10
28th Jun 2018, 22:25
I've heard it said that if you give up smoking, drinking and chasing women, you don't actually live any longer it just feels like you do.
phil9560
28th Jun 2018, 22:25
Agree with all the above sentiments.However the flippancy rapidly dissolves at about the point the Consultant says 'I'm sorry to tell you....etc'.
Melchett01
29th Jun 2018, 11:20
Agree with all the above sentiments.However the flippancy rapidly dissolves at about the point the Consultant says 'I'm sorry to tell you....etc'.
I'm well practiced in those conversations - my desk officer says the same thing every time we speak. One more conversation like that won't change a damn thing.
Nurse, where's my drink?! And bring the bottle and 2 glasses with you!
Danny42C
29th Jun 2018, 12:30
"He was doing his job - the only excuse a man has for living or dying".
Not a bad epitaph, I think - me ? - I'll stick around for a while, if you don't mind !
Watched my Dad die of lung cancer,: enough to put me off cigarettes for life. Smoked a pipe in the RAF (because that was the thing to do). Gave that up when I retired. (Halo too tight now)..
Danny42C
29th Jun 2018, 13:53
"Long may I linger in the arms of Venus - and, when I die, may I perish in the Act !"
(Ovid ?)
MPN11
29th Jun 2018, 14:45
Agree with all the above sentiments.However the flippancy rapidly dissolves at about the point the Consultant says 'I'm sorry to tell you....etc'.
Well, my Consultant has yesterday given me the results of my latest PSA Test, post Prostate Treatment in UK, which suggests I have just managed to dodge the Grim Reaper (with thanks to the Medical Profession) ... at least for the time being! So it looks as though I may be posting irrelevant drivel here for a bit longer! :cool:
https://prostatecancer209686453.wordpress.com/
However, an ATC mate of my generation has been given an 18-month countdown for departure. Now a millionaire, but with not a lot of time left to sell the Rolls, and the Posche, and the Lexus ... what a PITA. :(
Union Jack
29th Jun 2018, 18:08
Well MPN11, I have to admit that several times over the years I have raised my eyebrows at things you have written, but this time I am simply raising my hat to you. What an incredibly thorough, interesting, and down to earth description of your travels and travails, for which many of us must be most grateful to you for making it public, whether affected or not. Thank you so much for doing so - much appreciated.
Jack
PS (rather than PSA, currently 2.1) Danny - You are a one!
phil9560
29th Jun 2018, 18:17
Yeah good news MPN.I'm pleased for you.Always good to hear of someone beating it.
MPN11
29th Jun 2018, 18:34
Thank you, Union Jack and phil9560 ... I hoped the story might inspire people to get tested.
It doesn't hurt (just a small vial of blood) and who knows what that might reveal or solve! Mine got caught early, more by luck than judgement, before the little buggers spread. Of course, I'm not 100% clear yet, but it seems so. My BiL had them rather widely distributed, poor sod, and still suffers the effects of irradiation in "that area".
DO. IT. ;)
LowObservable
29th Jun 2018, 22:45
I want to go the way Grandpa did.... quietly, quickly, so fast you never feel it and while you're doing something fun....
...and not shrieking in abject terror like the three other guys in his Bonanza
//brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of Elderly Jokes
Lima Juliet
30th Jun 2018, 09:03
I don’t know, I quite fancy a care home at some point as many are old Officers’ Messes. It would be like going back to being a singley in the Mess all over again - as long as it has some good types in there. This is Cherwood Care Home in Bicester so it even has Tiger Moths doing pleasure flights opposite. This is my dream plan...
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/640x480/064214_ded00533_92f5c2cd047d0ca832a00fb7dd04eaa6b2e752dd.jpg
MPN11
30th Jun 2018, 09:32
Going out in a blaze of nostalgia ... I like it!
Do they have Happy Hour?
Lima Juliet
30th Jun 2018, 09:37
MPN11
If not I would start an underground committee “H Hour Domino Club” - a bottle of spicey to join!
I’ve also got some mods planned for the mobility scooter...
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/567x560/serena_holby_f7cc6a06bb2a785e0465350a48f146f1332f38ad.jpg
MPN11
30th Jun 2018, 16:24
A quick thank you to all those who have followed my link upthread and looked at my Prostate Blog ... please spread the word about early testing, guys!
Danny42C
30th Jun 2018, 16:52
MPN11,
Congratulations on beating the Prostate Rap ! I had the same trouble, but fortunately mine was a benign enlargement. I was a bit amused by your:
(It doesn't hurt (just a small vial of blood).
My experience (in earlier days) wasn't quite like that. Tentatively voiced my fears to my GP (greying family doctor of the old school). He rolled a sleeve up, liberally smeared a white goo on hand and wrist - WHAHOO ! - he was in and "right up" (I was more shocked than anything else). He poked about a bit, then announced that the gland was smooth and so likely to be innocuous (so it proved when they later hacked it out).
Lima Juliet,
I don’t know, I quite fancy a care home at some point as many are old Officers’ Messes.
Wouldn't recommend - except as a last resort. The old Mess looks fine, but I've been in a Stately Mansion (in "kennels", so to speak, while poor daughter has a bit if respite from me for a few days), and have been glad to see the back of them. Might be all right if full of old RAF types, still "compos mentis", but more likely to find a bunch of brain-dead "zombies" (not their fault, poor souls).
I’ve also got some mods planned for the mobility scooter...
Side-saddle ? Would need a Stab Aug, I reckon !
MPN11
30th Jun 2018, 16:56
Danny42C ... the only discomforts were (a) the laser wand that smashed my bladder stone into dust, and (b) the transrectal biopsy which was quite unpleasant!
Otherwise ... lie still and let the machines get on with their work!! ;)
Lima Juliet
1st Jul 2018, 13:13
Maybe we need a PPRuNe Care Home? One where the beer flows cold and the banter flows hot? That would stop the dementia kicking in!
Here are the rooms:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/970x1294/amusing_can_you_find_murals_coolest_wall_kitchen_for_care_ho mes_in_enchanted_forest_bamboo_near_me_autumn_wallpaper_970x 1294_jpeg_c98ba8bd139a710269dd7d84681987b891bb0586.jpg
I think I would prefer to escape to the leaky Nissen Hut used by denizens of the “Pilots Brevet” Thread!!
That room would give me nightmares, not dreams :)
Danny42C
1st Jul 2018, 14:07
MPN11,
Think our cyber-crewroom might carry a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, though !
MPN11,
Think our cyber-crewroom might carry a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, though !
Or ... we could supplement the Tea Swindle by collecting CO2 and selling it to the breweries. Not sure about the market for CO, though.
“Open a window on the downwind side, someone.” ;)