Premature ageing

[Chancer]

Do you find that people in your area of France look a lot older than they actually are?

It is something that has struck me a lot recently, I have been away from the UK for seven years and been in France for six, in the UK I often meet people that I havnt seen for several years yet I never notice that they have aged significantly in that time, perhaps its because I have known them for a long time.

Here in France the longest that I have known people for is six years but often like today I meet people that I barely recognise as they seem to have aged so much in tht time, I am also often shocked to find out that people I consider to be at least 20 years older than me by their appearance and liveliness are often significantly younger than me.

Perhaps the ageing is normal and having met people when they are say 45 I should not be shocked to see what they look/act like at 50, that is to say, if I had already seen them change over the previous decade, there is quite a concentration of cancers in my area but the only common factors would seem to be alcohol and tobacco related illnesses.

There are a few noteable exceptions and all of these people are those that work hard for a living and participate in active sports and other activities outside of the home.

Is this something that you have noticed?

[woolybanana]

Chancer, we only see others ageing, not ourselves. They doubtless see you in the same way!

[Alan Zoff]

It's the other way with me, Woolly. I bump into people I haven't seen for ages and they seem much the same but I scare myself sh*tless when I see a photo of myself these days.

[woolybanana]

I don't look at old fotos!

[Alan Zoff]

It's not the old photos that bother me

[idun]

In my part of the Alpes I have to say no to the basic question, but some of the paysanne always looked ancient to me and never seemed to change at all. Then take somewhere like Ugine, also in the Alpes, not far from Albertville and something funny was going on  there with folk there, lots of cancers etc. I'd heard stories, but my son knew a medecine de travail from there, so heard some disquieting things. So maybe that statement might ring true there.

I know I look older, I probably look my age now, which frankly I think I would have prefered to do and look my age in my late twenties, when I looked like a kid, to it happening now. Nothing I can do about it, still  the 'girl' is still in there, losing my sense of humour, fun, even wrecklessness and  naughtiness would upset me far more than my looks going a little, or is that a lot? I'm perhaps not the best judge as to how much.

So in reality how much do you think you have aged Chancer in comparison to your neighbours. Six years isn't a lot really for your neighbours to have aged. I had time to get 'old' in my 27 years there nez pah![Www]

[Chancer]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Chancer, we only see others ageing, not ourselves. They doubtless see you in the same way![/quote]

Up to 3 months ago I would have reluctantly had to agree with you Wooly, however thanks to the kindness and generosity of a forum member (you know who you are [:D]) I have wound the clock back a couple of decades.

I have always been young at heart and the older I got the more apparent it became that I was younger, at least on the inside than my peers, but now I look the same on the outside as I feel on the inside, WYSI (now) WYG [:D] [:D]

[idun]

Well Chancer I always thought that you were 'young' from the way you write. 

I suspect that my face has started to age more quickly in the recent past because of the hot summers I lived in for so long. That was without sunbathing, just doing every day things and driving or being a passenger with the window open. That is one difference I have noticed between me and my friends in England and who have always lived in England. That pesky sun has done damage to my face.

And yet, until say I was 50, I probably looked younger than most of my friends.

I have no idea as to how much 'sun' you get in Picardie.  Could it be the sun up there that has done this to the locals?

[Clarkkent]

[quote user="Alan Zoff"]It's not the old photos that bother me[/quote]

... but the portrait in the attic!        [6]

 

[Bugsy]

Its one of the reasons why your eyesight fades as you get older.

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[Chancer]

Sun?

Picardie?

Tu te moques de nous?

[crossy67]

Sun when driving is a real problem.

Until recently car glasses had no uv protection at all.  Most do have some inbuilt now, BMW's and Japanese cars still seem to be lagging behind on this one though.  Windscreens are easy to include UV filters in the laminate, many even have IR reflective coatings, the purple or blue hue screens to reflect heat.  The toughened side windows can have some filter in built but there seems to be little information as to what %age it will block.  One thing for sure, it is not all and in my experience (22 years fitting and tinting car glass) it may not even be a significant %age.  I have seen Focus door glasses that have been tinted with a film that didn't have a UV filter that had faded quite badly, all glasses for Focuses have UV filters in.

Most window tinting films have UV filters in them that block 99.7% UVa, you can get the same protection without tinting the windows.  I used to drive a lot and was in the van getting a burned right arm, now I have the windows tinted to stop this and it works, only problem is my Corsa doesn't have AC so I can either bake with the window shut or burn with it open.

Any one want any more info on UV and heat rejection drop me a line.

Ian

[idun]

Alors, I thought that Picardie was next door to the Champagne region, feels like it on our very long haul north and they get 'sun'! don't they? Does it avoid Picardie somehow?[Www]

[pachapapa]

Just enough for the "Roses de Picardie".[I]

[mint]

[quote user="Clarkkent"]

[quote user="Alan Zoff"]It's not the old photos that bother me[/quote]

... but the portrait in the attic!        [6]

 

[/quote]

Clarkkent, that really, really made me smile...........soooooo  funeeeeeeeeeeee!

[Alan Zoff]

I felt bad enough about seeing photos of myself without others having a go at my portrait.

[londoneye]

Actually I agree with the original poster - the French in this area do seem to look a lot older than they are.     And even more scarily I have now joined them.     Perhaps it would have happened anyway, but I feel like I have physically (ie appearance-wise) aged 10 years in the 5 years we have lived here.

I don't doubt for a moment that the reason is related (largely) to cost.    In the UK when I was a hard-working, highly paid gal, I thought nothing of a facial once or twice a month, hair-cut every 6 weeks on the dot, gym membership (ha ha never used of course !) going to the local pool two or three times a week.    Not to mention buying clothes whenever I fancied it.      These things make a lot of difference to how people are perceived to be ageing.    Here in the Limousin I would say that a lot of women who are 50 plus seem not to be working, and simply do not have the money for these kinds of things.   I have been to each of our two local fetes for the past 5 years and every female neighbour has worn the same dress (well, not as each other clearly).   Now these neighbours have (as do we all) become slightly more porky in the last 5 years but still  streeeeeeeeeeetch that dress across the belly.   Not their fault but it doesn't help.

On the bright side, as far as I can see once you reach 70 here you don't actually get any older, just a little bit shorter every year.

[dave21478]

People in my local area definately seem older than their actual years, but I am sure this is due to the work they do/endure. Most people here are something to do with farming and those who have been at this their whole lives look thoroughly worn out and very old by the time they are in their 50`s and 60`s.

People of my own age definately seem older than me too. Im 33, and looking at others in this age group, especially women, they tend to look a bit haggard. However, since there is nothing to do here except drink pastis, have sex with your cousins and watch TV, then most women my age are already married with several kids by now. The few single people I know (male and female) all look and act much younger than their settled counterparts.

[idun]

And I will do an erratum to my last post. If the girl is still there, then her tastes have actually changed.

I have friends of all ages and I was at a friends the other day, she'll soon be 40, and is now seeing the first love of her life again and was showing me photos she had kept of the pair of them when they were in their late teens early twenties. She had a family shot and she was saying how 'gorgeous' he was, refering to her once again boyfriend, and there was me thinking that his Dad was very attractive.

The 'boyfriend' as a twenty year old was a kid. The Dad was in his forties and a very attractive man. What can I say, older men look far more attractive to me.  So that is quite a change.

 

[Chancer]

Yes its exactly like that here except that they are worn out from not working!!!

Most women around hear are already grandmothers by your age Dave and its horrific to see how they just all seem to morph into the same amorphous shape, after that its very difficult to actually ascertain their ages, all the more reason not to wear beer goggles [6]

Joking apart I am 52 and most of my friends are in your age group, any older than that and people just dont even leave their foyer to socialise, most if not all of them make me feel 18 years old by comparison.

I do find that those who work and are encadré tend to have fewer children and later in life and hence tend to be the ones younger at heart but there is still a huge decallage.

As for fitness there are no gyms as we would know them for a 100 miles or so, I have joined a gym club a bit like we had in the UK in the 70's just an instructor, a class full of gonzesses (his words not mine) and myself, the only equipment being some batons made from gaine IRL and some stretchy band thingys with handloops, it is very cheap, only €30 or €50 per year dependant on how many classes you do, I do "step", "streching" (their spelling), "musculature" and "abdo's fessiers" as well as my swimming pool dive training sessions.

Now despite it being very affordable (one trimestre of aqua-gym alone costs €70+) and the classes being set up for les ouvriéres d'aviation (that is another story in itself) it seems to be populated exclusively by the Picard equivalent of middle class "yummy mummies", it would seem that around here at least, fitness, diet and healthy living has a real class divide.

[idun]

amorphous shape[:-))]

 

I am rather worried about that description. In fact revolted and am just hoping that no one thinks that of me.[:'(] I would actually be quite upset, especially with friends who should have told me. Also I'm not quite sure exactly what it means and my imagination is working overtime!

[Alan Zoff]

At the risk of sounding horribly ageist and sexist (but someone else started this), my son-in-law did remark a few years ago that it was a bit like looking for the missing link. Unless you are in a reasonable size town, you will see a number of slim, attractive teenage girls in colourful clothing and a lot of rather shapeless "old" women in blue tunics, but not much in between.

[londoneye]

Don't disagree but then again (I am female) the men around this way are hardly a sight for sore eyes either - we have one youngish (early 30s) very good looking guy who delivers parcels to us sometimes and I feel ridiculously girlish when I see him (!) - such a change from what I normally see around here

- neighbour down the road, big handle-bar tache, probably 65 but looks 90, who sleeps in his chair outside all afternoon, alternating snoring with f**ting.

- neighbour opposite who has a severely unpleasant habit (he is about 40) of wandering around in summer with underpants on (only them) and the world's most HUGE belly hanging over top.

Thankfully I can only see these two from the house ..... I am sure there is worse down the road.

[Alan Zoff]

The thing with the blokes is that none of them seems to have any teeth left by the age of 30, or at least not much more than a few black stumps. They must have constant toothache, and it doesn't do a lot for the breath.

[DerekJ]

I was on a cycle ride a few weeks ago and had just reached the mini roundabout in Vers.... another rider was coming into the roundabout from the opposite direction (from Cahors) and we met up and started chatting as we rode along the Lot as far as Conduche..  he was going straight on and I turned off towards Cabrerets. This Frenchman looked about 50... in fact it turned out he was 71.