I hear you @retrospek - I honestly don’t know how some docs make it out of med school, and their residency. I have noticed as I journey through the aging process, that they touch you less, but pull out their Rx pad pretty fast, trying to keep you sleeping, and your aches and pains at bay. They order up the blood tests, routine screenings, and hope to not see you for another 6 months!
That said, I have a lot of respect for most doctors and health care professionals. Our insurance protocols don’t make it easy for them, and FP/Internists are being pressed to see increasingly more patients.
Have a new doc now, and am covered through Kaiser, so things are a bit different, as their approach varies from my last provider. In a mostly good way.
Go to Walgreen’s and buy some wine, they will ask for your ID. Come to Houston and the Wifeacita and I will buy all you drink at an Astros game. Bring your ID, you will get carded.
I don’t see a downside of younger folks looking out for older folks. It may make us feel old, but it’s reassuring to know they’re looking out for folks who remind them of their parents/grandparents and recognize that many have aches and pains that they may not (or may have?) in the decades to come.
As @ernie_in_berkeley says . . . maybe young people are getting more polite?
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
525
On a related matter, I’m surprised how quickly our GP (*) practice has adapted to the virus. The website now has online facilities to discuss a matter with the admin staff and another where you can initiate a consultation with the doctor (most are now working from home). We’ve needed to use both in recent days. In the first case, I needed to get the details of a blood test result. Sent the admin team an online request - copy of results arrived by post next day. Mrs H needed to get some advice from the doc - filled in the online form and , a few hours later, had a phone call from the doc. I suspect these things will remain in the post-virus life.
Yes, or being asked if you’d like your senior discount, or if you’ve had your special flu shot for those over 65! Yikes, it’s weird being a senior citizen so far!
To all of a certain age, I’ve had some very humbling moments, especially if I’m in an arthritic flare up. I am overwhelmed by the kindness and courtesy directed to me at those times. Depends on the color of my hair, good makeup, and mobility it seems lol. If walking slow, or climbing stairs, I move to the far right and let people know to go ahead of me.
I’ve been teaching 6th graders for almost 33 years now. When I turned 50 I would sometimes ask my classes how old they thought I was. Embarrassing to admit but their answers of 30 or 35 or even 40 made me feel a little better about myself.
Now, as I rapidly approach 60 I made the mistake of asking this year’s classes how old they thought I was. Not only was any mention of 30 or even 40 gone, but one 11 year old boy didn’t hesitate to say 100!
Here in NJ, the Wegmans liquor stores card EVERYONE. To the point of ridiculous–as in, people who are obviously 70+ – but that’s their policy, and I try to enjoy it whenever I’m there.
Before I recently retired the young pups at work would ask how old I was and I would say I was born in 1812. None of them had heard of the War of 1812.
I don’t know the laws in NJ, but here in PA there are strict limits to the amount of beer/wine you can purchase in grocery stores (from the beginning of the ability to purchase in groceries a few years ago). So they have to swipe your ID to ensure you’re not making multiple trips a day to over-purchase.
Never thought about it before . . .I wonder if the system is tied in to PLCB or if I could go to Wegman’s, buy the limit, and then head down the road to Giant
In the past few months I’ve noticed a similar system for tobacco sales. If I want cigarettes I have to hand over my driver’s license to be swiped although I am very clearly over 21.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
536
My West Virginian friend, and fellow amateur military historian, Chris reckons many Americans have very limited knowledge of the country’s military history. Certainly, there’s knowledge of the rebellion from 1775 onwards, then there’s a jump to the War Between the States in the mid 19th century and a further jump to WW2. From this side of the Atlantic, that has always struck me as odd. Where’s the interest in the war with Spain in 1898, which saw America establish itself as an imperial power and set the scene for its regular interventions in other countries? Where’s the interest in WW1 which, although the country had minimal involvement in the actual fighting, saw America establish itself as a major world economic power (and all that has stemmed from that)?
That said, the 1812-15 war between the UK and America isnt much remembered here as a separate event. I feel it gets wrapped up in the much wider and important conflict with France and is seen as a distracting sideshow.
Count me in. I’m watching the Germans skirt the Maginot Line on World at War as I type.
I’ve mentioned this before but my Grandfather was a Doughboy and my Father a B24 top turret gunner/flight engineer bombing the Reich out of England from 44 December until the end of the war.
