Are You Knocking On a Bit?

[guy]

Ah, these must be yours, no wonder I couldn't see bugger all.

sounds like mine

[Pigmy Pony]

Back on the 70s, some bright little ne'er do well discovered that if you put a small elastic band around the edge of a 10p coin, you could fool vending machines into thinking it was a 50p. Several pubs round Preston only twigged when it came to refilling their cigarette machines, and finding a shit load of ten-pees and elastic bands.

I wouldn't have wanted to be in the shoes of whoever got caught red handed there. 70s landlords were a tough bunch, had to be.

[Alex_UK]

Back on the 70s, some bright little ne'er do well discovered that if you put a small elastic band around the edge of a 10p coin, you could fool vending machines into thinking it was a 50p. Several pubs round Preston only twigged when it came to refilling their cigarette machines, and finding a shit load of ten-pees and elastic bands.

I wouldn't have wanted to be in the shoes of whoever got caught red handed there. 70s landlords were a tough bunch, had to be.

There was a similar trick when the newfangled £1 coins came out - wrapping the old style 5p (shilling) I think it was in tin foil to the same diameter and thickness of the £1 coin would fool vending machines. 5p to £1 - not a bad return on your investment even taking into account the roll of Bacofoil.

[Roy S]

There was a similar trick when the newfangled £1 coins came out - wrapping the old style 5p (shilling) I think it was in tin foil to the same diameter and thickness of the £1 coin would fool vending machines. 5p to £1 - not a bad return on your investment even taking into account the roll of Bacofoil.

Or indeed the role of Bacofoil

[walpurgis]

It's funny how one's strength declines and you become less muscular with advancing years. I was poking about in the garage/workshop and dug out an old Avery 56lb weight to clean up. I can cart it about no bother, but god knows how I used to manage arm curls with it, but I did (not many though ).

[Barry]

I can remember in my twenties, a delivery of 20 one hundredweight (112lbs) bags of cement was made whilst my father was away from the house. I was the only one in at the time, so it was down to me to shift them all. Even then my knees were 'buckling' at the end.

Nowadays, I doubt if I could easily manage half that weight.

[Pigmy Pony]

It's funny how one's strength declines and you become less muscular with advancing years. I was poking about in the garage/workshop and dug out an old Avery 56lb weight to clean up. I can cart it about no bother, but god knows how I used to manage arm curls with it, but I did (not many though ).

Yeah, it's called sarcopenia. I think by the age of 60 it'll be about 1% per year, and this decrease isn't linear

A couple of years ago when I was fitting some windows in a customer's garage I saw one of those 56lb weights. In my younger years 12 to 15 overhead reps was easy peasy. This time I struggled with half a dozen. Bit depressing really.

I should join a gym really, see if I can slow down the decline. Maybe treat myself to an OAP-rate membership for my 66th birthday...