A gap year for pensioners.

[gaz 786]

6 hours ago, Padders said:

My Grandaughter starts at Nottingham university this week, this is after taking a Gap year..

Now I've never quite understood what a Gap year is, is it a new thing?

Do they queue up at the check in desk for an airline they've never heard of, and fly off to a part of the world they've never visited, to spend a few months doing stuff they don't understand?

If that's a Gap year it sounds fun..

 

Now, when I grew up in Sheffield there was no such thing as a Gap year, you left school at three o'clock in the afternoon, and the next day you were down the pit..

Nottingham was abroad, and a university was a place of learning for hoity-toity homosexuals, so it was on nobody's radar in Sheffield.

It certainly wasn't on mine, I left school on a Friday, and was starting work the following Monday in the office at Firth Browns, and I spent the short Gap in between buying a coat and a Biro pen.

 

Things seem to have changed a bit now though, most of my friends Grand children are currently cycling round Mexico, before taking a trip to Cambodia, they're all turning their geography lessons into reality. New Zealand, Canada, Uganda, and all funded by babysitting, occasional bar work, and a one off payment from some long forgotten godparent.

 

Now I'm thinking "GODDAMN IT" I would kill someone's small dog to make a trip like that.

Maybe in society's haste to create a Gap year, they've put it in the wrong place.

Eighteen year olds are vibrant and their brains are tuned beautifully to receive and disseminate even the most complex information.

So it stands to reason that at this age they should be at work, dreaming up new ideas and making the World a better place.

It's stupid that they spend the sharpest year of their lives catching chlamydia on a beach in Thailand when they could be inventing batteries that rejuvenate themselves, corkscrews, and most of all a Tin opener that actually works...

 

Gap years, I reckon, would work better for older people, now I'm not suggesting for a moment that you get up from the breakfast table and set off like a James Bond hero on an odyssey of beach bars, sultry girls, mad jobs, endless starry nights and no real sense of what the next day will bring.

You might have a coffee morning to attend on Thursday, so you cant very well be in Laos that day, lying on a hammock, drinking an ice-cold beer with an Australian girl called Sarah who's wearing a white, flimsy, gypsy dress and not much else.

 

No, I'm not suggesting a Gap year for people in their forties and fifties, but what about when you are Sixty-Five?

What about a Gap year between the drudgery of work and the mind numbing tedium of retirement?

Many retired people today have up to forty years of life left in their bones, and then what?

Forty years of sitting in your floral print conservatory, and an eternity of watering plants.

Forget it!!!

Hitch a lift to the ferry port in Dover and see what happens next.

 

At sixty five you're showroom fresh, you can play tennis and ski and scuba dive. so why not just bugger off and spend twelve months doing what you can while it's still possible.

You know by that age what you haven't done, and what you want to do, so go and do it.

Bungee jump into the Grand Canyon, and make love on a Tahitian beach.

Kick the cat out, it'll be fine,

Forget about the luggage, it doesn't matter if your going skiing for a week, going to a party at the other end of the World, or pheasant shooting in Outer Mongolia, all you'll need is a phone and a credit card.

A Gap year for pensioners makes sense.

Or you could prefer getting an allotment I suppose, and have Betty come round for a Sherry once a week.............

 

Bloody eck Padders thaz gerrin carried away here lad 👦 😳 👍 

[Draggletail]

6 hours ago, Padders said:

My Grandaughter starts at Nottingham university this week, this is after taking a Gap year..

Now I've never quite understood what a Gap year is, is it a new thing?

Do they queue up at the check in desk for an airline they've never heard of, and fly off to a part of the world they've never visited, to spend a few months doing stuff they don't understand?

If that's a Gap year it sounds fun..

 

Now, when I grew up in Sheffield there was no such thing as a Gap year, you left school at three o'clock in the afternoon, and the next day you were down the pit..

Nottingham was abroad, and a university was a place of learning for hoity-toity homosexuals, so it was on nobody's radar in Sheffield.

It certainly wasn't on mine, I left school on a Friday, and was starting work the following Monday in the office at Firth Browns, and I spent the short Gap in between buying a coat and a Biro pen.

 

Things seem to have changed a bit now though, most of my friends Grand children are currently cycling round Mexico, before taking a trip to Cambodia, they're all turning their geography lessons into reality. New Zealand, Canada, Uganda, and all funded by babysitting, occasional bar work, and a one off payment from some long forgotten godparent.

 

Now I'm thinking "GODDAMN IT" I would kill someone's small dog to make a trip like that.

Maybe in society's haste to create a Gap year, they've put it in the wrong place.

Eighteen year olds are vibrant and their brains are tuned beautifully to receive and disseminate even the most complex information.

So it stands to reason that at this age they should be at work, dreaming up new ideas and making the World a better place.

It's stupid that they spend the sharpest year of their lives catching chlamydia on a beach in Thailand when they could be inventing batteries that rejuvenate themselves, corkscrews, and most of all a Tin opener that actually works...

 

Gap years, I reckon, would work better for older people, now I'm not suggesting for a moment that you get up from the breakfast table and set off like a James Bond hero on an odyssey of beach bars, sultry girls, mad jobs, endless starry nights and no real sense of what the next day will bring.

You might have a coffee morning to attend on Thursday, so you cant very well be in Laos that day, lying on a hammock, drinking an ice-cold beer with an Australian girl called Sarah who's wearing a white, flimsy, gypsy dress and not much else.

 

No, I'm not suggesting a Gap year for people in their forties and fifties, but what about when you are Sixty-Five?

What about a Gap year between the drudgery of work and the mind numbing tedium of retirement?

Many retired people today have up to forty years of life left in their bones, and then what?

Forty years of sitting in your floral print conservatory, and an eternity of watering plants.

Forget it!!!

Hitch a lift to the ferry port in Dover and see what happens next.

 

At sixty five you're showroom fresh, you can play tennis and ski and scuba dive. so why not just bugger off and spend twelve months doing what you can while it's still possible.

You know by that age what you haven't done, and what you want to do, so go and do it.

Bungee jump into the Grand Canyon, and make love on a Tahitian beach.

Kick the cat out, it'll be fine,

Forget about the luggage, it doesn't matter if your going skiing for a week, going to a party at the other end of the World, or pheasant shooting in Outer Mongolia, all you'll need is a phone and a credit card.

A Gap year for pensioners makes sense.

Or you could prefer getting an allotment I suppose, and have Betty come round for a Sherry once a week.............

 

Sorry to be boring but once you take on the increasing responsibilities of life there'll be no gap year. Gap years are for the young and carefree.   

Great post though! 👍

[gaz 786]

1 minute ago, Draggletail said:

Sorry to be boring but once you take on the increasing responsibilities of life there'll be no gap year. Gap years are for the young and carefree.   

Great post though! 👍

I reckon every years a bonus Gap year or not 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[gaz 786]

1 hour ago, Meltman said:

Pray tell who is this Betty that you have mentioned....just asking for a friend!

Frank spensors ex wife !

[Draggletail]

3 minutes ago, gaz 786 said:

Frank spensors ex wife !

Ooh, Betay (with dismayed and troubled look) 😂

[spilldig]

22 hours ago, Padders said:

My Grandaughter starts at Nottingham university this week, this is after taking a Gap year..

Now I've never quite understood what a Gap year is, is it a new thing?

Do they queue up at the check in desk for an airline they've never heard of, and fly off to a part of the world they've never visited, to spend a few months doing stuff they don't understand?

If that's a Gap year it sounds fun..

 

Now, when I grew up in Sheffield there was no such thing as a Gap year, you left school at three o'clock in the afternoon, and the next day you were down the pit..

Nottingham was abroad, and a university was a place of learning for hoity-toity homosexuals, so it was on nobody's radar in Sheffield.

It certainly wasn't on mine, I left school on a Friday, and was starting work the following Monday in the office at Firth Browns, and I spent the short Gap in between buying a coat and a Biro pen.

 

Things seem to have changed a bit now though, most of my friends Grand children are currently cycling round Mexico, before taking a trip to Cambodia, they're all turning their geography lessons into reality. New Zealand, Canada, Uganda, and all funded by babysitting, occasional bar work, and a one off payment from some long forgotten godparent.

 

Now I'm thinking "GODDAMN IT" I would kill someone's small dog to make a trip like that.

Maybe in society's haste to create a Gap year, they've put it in the wrong place.

Eighteen year olds are vibrant and their brains are tuned beautifully to receive and disseminate even the most complex information.

So it stands to reason that at this age they should be at work, dreaming up new ideas and making the World a better place.

It's stupid that they spend the sharpest year of their lives catching chlamydia on a beach in Thailand when they could be inventing batteries that rejuvenate themselves, corkscrews, and most of all a Tin opener that actually works...

 

Gap years, I reckon, would work better for older people, now I'm not suggesting for a moment that you get up from the breakfast table and set off like a James Bond hero on an odyssey of beach bars, sultry girls, mad jobs, endless starry nights and no real sense of what the next day will bring.

You might have a coffee morning to attend on Thursday, so you cant very well be in Laos that day, lying on a hammock, drinking an ice-cold beer with an Australian girl called Sarah who's wearing a white, flimsy, gypsy dress and not much else.

 

No, I'm not suggesting a Gap year for people in their forties and fifties, but what about when you are Sixty-Five?

What about a Gap year between the drudgery of work and the mind numbing tedium of retirement?

Many retired people today have up to forty years of life left in their bones, and then what?

Forty years of sitting in your floral print conservatory, and an eternity of watering plants.

Forget it!!!

Hitch a lift to the ferry port in Dover and see what happens next.

 

At sixty five you're showroom fresh, you can play tennis and ski and scuba dive. so why not just bugger off and spend twelve months doing what you can while it's still possible.

You know by that age what you haven't done, and what you want to do, so go and do it.

Bungee jump into the Grand Canyon, and make love on a Tahitian beach.

Kick the cat out, it'll be fine,

Forget about the luggage, it doesn't matter if your going skiing for a week, going to a party at the other end of the World, or pheasant shooting in Outer Mongolia, all you'll need is a phone and a credit card.

A Gap year for pensioners makes sense.

Or you could prefer getting an allotment I suppose, and have Betty come round for a Sherry once a week.............

 

That's exactly the way it was for me Padders. Left school at 15 and the following week working down the pit but I often have a laugh with my missus about how schoolchildren today would go on with that and what that would do for  their "Mental health"?