I haven't been around much of late

Friends here will perhaps have noticed that I haven't been around of late.  In fact it has been quite some time.  My apologies.  There are some reasons.

Firstly I have suffered a rather debilitating winter cough which grew from the annual cold but which has refused to go away.  The doctor finally conceded that I needed more than just a pat on the back and I walked out of the latest consultation with some strong antibiotics and an asthma-type inhaler.  Those are slowly - very slowly - helping to clear things up and allowing me to return to a more normal level of activity than the past three months of constant coughing followed by hours of resting from the effort.

I have also been struggling with what might be termed an age-related issue in that I have been finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile being the age I am (61) with parts of me insisting I behave like a much younger person.  We live in a block which is also home to, among others, numerous students so my daily interaction with neighbours is with those aged in their early 20s.  The effect over time has been that I too sometimes feel I should be behaving the same way as they can.  It has also left me feeling rather isolated when they all go off partying.  Not that I would necessarily enjoy that myself but more the sense that I am home alone again when the rest of the world is having fun.

The Good Lady hasn't adapted to our return to the UK as readily as we hoped.  Work presents her with many stressful moments and she is behind on writing up her PhD which should have been submitted two years ago.  She too has developed a raft of medical issues some of which are very debilitating and limit her ability to function as she would like.  On the other hand she is well-respected in her field and is regarded by the likes of Sir David Attenborough and HRH Prince Charles (both of whom she has met in the past year) as a world leader.

So I have my hands well and truly full trying to keep both our heads above water at times.  Socially I have dropped into the nearby Twickenham & District MRC which has some excellent layouts but their club times do not suit my work-life balance as I need to be up at 5am so cannot be out until 10.30pm. 

Today is the first anniversary of losing mum which will mark a turning point.  I have felt her loss more than dad's the year before as it left me the eldest in the family; with no children of our own I am increasingly aware of a need to have some sort of support in place should our health fail; it almost did that last month when we were both in bed for a couple of days and only coped because the supermarkets deliver.

The layout has seen very little activity as I am stuck with wiring issues but think I might have a way through it.  I have a couple of new bits and pieces to add when I feel up to it which will hopefully make things work as they should - or a least work as well as I need them to.  Once I can move trains I am sure the rest will develop much more quickly.

And please be assured that while I might have been quietly minding my own business so far as this place is concerned I have been in regular contact with other friends via social media and through the portals of RMweb.

Best wishes to all.  I'll try to pop in more often in future.

Thanks
Rick

Hi Rick,

I share your frustration in having to live with the inevitability of not being able to do all the things we have taken for granted for so long. I am much the same age as yourself and have finally stopped trying to keep up with some of the younger chaps that help out with things round here. Not all of them though, but I am able to slow the pace and take two days to do what the youngsters can do in one, although not to the same standards, so I'm still the winner!

You have my best wishes for healthier constitutions to you and your bride and I sincerely hope for happier times with greater fulfilment lie just ahead upon your hill of strawberries.

Best,

Bill

You have also struck a chord (or three) with me, Rick. i am just a few years older than you but my health problems are increasingly slowing me down, and any travel becomes more problematic because i need recovery time afterwards.

Like you and Sharon, Agnes and I have no heirs as such, and are questioning what will happen if either of us need care in the ensuing years. We have nephews and nieces but I really don't think any of them will want us to be reliant on them. My dear aunts would love to take care of us, but they are all older than we are and have their own problems to deal with. In addition, Agnes has got it into her head that we will be much better off selling our existing home and moving "out into the country" - something I am resisting very strongly because we are very centrally located for all the possible facilities we could need in our older age, including easy access to public transport, shops, doctors and hospitals. Sure, we could have extra money from such a move, but with a good chance of isolating ourselves from the friendship and support base we do have here, as well as from all the convenient facilities.

I can really empathise with your feelings, Rick.

Hey,
Sorry to hear of your issues. Hope things ease up a little and you get back into modelling again. Your little project looked exciting. 

Chris

The main thing is Rick that you and your wife look after yourselves,we are always here whenever you feel the need.You've been a fantastic member over the years so a little break will do you good.Good luck and good health to you both.

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the update. One day at a time and one scheduled activity a day.

We moved to our fourth country when I was 66, it can be challenging dealing with different mores, both locally and national. As is moving back after many decades away. 

Nigel

Hi Rick

Sorry to hear you have not been having a good time over the last few months i know you were getting a bit frustrated with the short problem you had on the layout but im sure that will get sorted once you get back at it.
The age thing thats something we all have to face Rick you and i are a similar age and i know i cant physically do what i did a number of years ago. I think its something we all have accept at some point i think once we do we adapt.
Hopefully Sharons job will become less stressfull and once she has completed her PhD that may well open opportunities for you both. You need to bring her back home here to Cornwall Rick for a week or so for a thorough   de stress.

Brian

Sorry to hear of your problems Rick. A trip home to Cornwall and a good few Proper Job would set you up a treat!
Best wishes

Derek

I can only echo all of these comments…. hope things pick up.  I for one enjoy any update, however small so look forward to hearing from you….

Michael

I can assure you that, on several fronts, you're not alone Rick.

Age, or rather age when it gets old, is something most of us hate with a passion.  I too am a good few years ahead of you but, like Bill, was extremely active when we moved here 17 years ago.  That early extreme activity now has to be paid for and, being a cross between a Scot and a Yorkshireman, I don't like having to pay over the odds for anything !!

I have heard about this dreadful lingering cough doing the rounds in UK and even had a partial dose myself having spent Christmas in Blighty.  It's an awful thing and does indeed, exhaust one.  However, it does eventually pass.

I'm sorry Sharon hasn't taken to life in UK but not really surprised.  Her work however, must be a huge consolation - she is very well respected in her field and working at Kew (I think that's where she works) must be like a railway modeller working at Pendon ……………… :roll:

Losing ones parents is something most of us have to contend with and all I can say is it's tough - bl##dy tough !!! One never forgets the grief but, given time, one does learn to live with it.

I join the rest of the gang in wishing you both better, less stressfu times ahead and look forward to your updates.

Take care Rick - I know you've been a pillar for others in the past - now maybe, it's our turn.   :cheers

Hi Rick, not real good news then eh ?
 We all hope that the hanging on of medical problems for both of you, leave soon and that life in its many different aspects gets back on "track".

I found that as soon as I turned 21 ( which was only recently ) that the body decided to slow down even though the brain disagrees and I have found parts of the body that now take longer to get over the "strain" that life can generate.

Re your wiring problems, unfortunately I cannot pop over to give you a hand, my days of long distance traveling is reduced but can attempt to help by the use of the forum. I hope my 60+ years in the hobby can provide some assistance though it may not be perfect.

regards
Sol

[user=606]Sol[/user] wrote:

I found that as soon as I turned 21 ( which was only recently ) …………………………………………………

……………………………………………..I hope my 60+ years in the hobby can provide some assistance though it may not be perfect.

It's to be hoped your wiring is better than your maths Sol…………………… :hmm

Hello Rick,
I too am also sorry to hear of it but if you have been reading other threads (why wouldn't you), there is plenty of help with the wiring from myself and Sol so perhaps if you care to take an aerial pic or a loose diagram of your current layout, I would be more than happy to help you out with diagrams/trouble shooting etc.  

Know the feeling about the age bit … I have three years on you and with the knee replacement, I still don't feel comfortable about getting under the layout and getting lights and a few isolating areas connected although it was 8 months ago… tomorrow in fact! 

I too am the eldest on both sides of my family, and Mum is still with us physically and we are seeing her tomorrow as she is arriving on a cruise around Tasmania from Adelaide but would not be able to travel  if it was not for support from my brother and her partner…  we are in Melbourne tonight to meet her tomorrow as it is our younger daughters 32nd today…

in any case, good luck and know we are happy to be a support base for and with you!

Regards

Trevor

You and your beloved have my sympathies

I'd like to add my best wishes to you and your wife, Rick.

As Peter says, your not alone.

Part of the joys of getting older I suppose.

At least we're coming out of the colds and flu season and the days are getting longer.

Sometimes a nice sunny day can make you feel just that little bit better.

Looking forward to more on your layout, when you feel able.

Once again best wishes.



Ed

Hi Rick   . Sorry to hear about these woes :sad: What a bleeder as we say here.     I do hope there will be light at the end of the tunnel for you and SWMBO.  Hopefully a bad patch which will clear,we all get those ,and being unwell just makes it worse.  easy for me to talk ,but try not to let this drag you down,   Spring and summer just round the corner perhaps things will pick up then.    I am sure you will get over that cough ,and find out what is wrong with the wiring , but if your other half is not happy here , there is only one way to put that right,    Cornwall might be the answer, there is the eden project down there.    I wish you luck dear friend , keep us posted .

Well Rick, you've learnt that you have to be tough to get old. Visits to doctors and physios, coughs and colds hanging on, not to mention moving to the other side of the world. I'll be 72 in June and I still have to learn that I'm not a teenager anymore. We moved to where we are now 7 years ago, and I've pulled concrete footings out of the ground, felled trees, cut them up and taken them to the dump, dug large roots out and it didn't bother me, but now…

Losing your parents is really hard, and some people can shrug it off and say"life goes on" but others can't, sadly.

I hope your wife settles down soon, after all, you haven't been back there long. It took us years before we got over home sickness when we came here, so who knows.

Good luck for your futures and the layout.

Gents,
Thank you so much for all your wonderfully supportive and friendly replies.  

Yesterday as I was leaving work I received several messages advising that Sharon had been taken urgently from work to West Middlesex Hospital "feeling weird"- by Uber rather than by ambulance but still leaving suddenly at 10.30am and not her normal 5pm.  I joined her and in due course she was seen by a doctor there.  She discussed the various medical issues which are or have recently been affecting her.  The doctor concluded that she had suffered a severe anxiety attack with nothing medically more serious to be dealt with.  

She had a pre-booked consultation with her own GP in the afternoon anyway which she duly kept and will be seen again in two weeks from now.  My next appointment is on Monday which was booked on an "if required" basis.  As I am still coughing painfully, though less often and less severely than I was, I shall be making use of this.  

Spring is around the corner.  Today was the first time this year I was able to take lunch on "The Terrace" which is our 4metre x 1metre outdoor area in the space which would be a balcony if we were on any level but the ground floor.  Sitting in the sun felt positively balmy after the winter months.

With the daylight now lasting much later into the afternoon there is a good chance of me getting under the layout with wires and choc-blocks to attempt the fix which I hope will see the project running to my satisfaction.  If it doesn't fix it then I know I have help here - thank you.

A trip "home" to Cornwall is definitely on the agenda.  The long-serving HST sets are about to be withdrawn from the London - Devon / Cornwall services meaning I have the next five weeks or so to make a farewell trip.  That will probably be via Yeovil as well because for three of those weeks the Orange Army are doing something inside Whiteball Tunnel meaning trains are diverted and buses run between Taunton and Exeter via Tiverton.  Thanks to a contact I have a note of those diagrams which are scheduled for HST as opposed to IET operation during both normal and diverted operations.  The longer break with SWMBO will come later in the year

One thing after another!  Glad to hear the panic attack wasn't something more serious, then again, I've seen someone suffer one of these and it's not nice. I can understand how worrying it would be to know your wife was in this state. Hopefully your cough keeps getting easier. Constant coughing is like dry retching… wears you out and gets pretty sore.

Cornwall sounds like a really good plan with the big trip down there something to look forward to.