From work to an early grave!

I’ve just heard on the news that we are the oldest nation in Europe and that we will have to work till the age of 67 cause we will have no young work force to pay for our pensions :S They also told us that we were now paying high dues because in earlier decades our retirees used to retire in their 50s or even 40s!!!!!! In the meantime less babies are made and these are the consequences we’ll have to face.

I have a desk job and I am not planning on having dimentia or getting senile that early, but what will happen to people that work on roofs, that have physically dangerous and demanding jobs?!

Anyway, I remember some of my younger co-workers being scared of an older woman in our company that was 64 and still working. One day he stopped me in the corridor to ask me: “When is that scary granny of yours going to retire?” (btw she retired during the last lay offs). What was so scary about her I wondered? The fact that she did not dye her hair, or that she wore an evil grin on her face!? If that is what makes one scary then I can work on aging gracefully, I thought.. till I clicked the silly “see what you will look like in 20 to 30 years” web site to have a preview of my future. The result can’t be true, but here it is!!! 

Go on, have a laugh at my expense! 😀

aged_wb20131107122641607761

And now the appropriate music:

 

If you want to hear the original (Croatian) version of this beautiful song that was “borrowed” by Bosnian-Serbian composer Goran Bregović and is sung in Polish (for reasons unknown to me) in the above link, please check out the video:

The lyrics: Rožica sem bila,
rožica već ne bum,
ko mi leto mine,
cvela više ne bum. (I was a rose, and rose I will not be, with the passing time, I will no longer blossom – my attempt at translation)

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 Category: Music, My daily thoughts, Writing      Tagged: , , , , , ,

71 Comments on “From work to an early grave!”

  1. I was supposed to laugh…H’m. Until I saw your, for lack of a better term, future you. Yeah, I laughed and got a bit scared if you may.

    Oldest nation in Europe is quite a title for Croatia. On the contrary, I will for sure remember easily such info.

    Happy Saturday, Paula.

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  3. Dear Paula,
    well, those programmes showing you how you will look like in ten, twenty, thirty years – I don`t know … It`s a kind of scary isn`t it?! I suppose I don`t want to know.
    Enjoy the weekend.
    Hugs from
    Klausbernd and his busy Bookfayries Siri and Selma

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    • Thank you, Klausbernd 🙂 It was supposed to be a joke :D. They can’t predict our future in any way. I wanted to show my dark sense of humour 😀
      Hugs to you and S&S

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    • Exactly, and with the extended life expectancy they should be expected to work longer, and in doing so not scare each other or younger colleagues (funny, but I thought kids liked grannies ;):D ) But what really pisses me off is the political aspect of the situation and what is causing these changes in our labour politics – people in this country used false medical certificates to claim early retirement which resulted in a huge burden for our pension fund – and now God only knows what will happen… I am happy you have taken this post lightly without being scared of the “future me” 😆 Big hugs, P.

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      • The good citizens are the ones pay pay the penalty 😦 I try hard not to scare my young colleagues 🙂 {{{Hug}}}

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            • Awwwwwwwwww. That can’t happen. If anything, you always give me hope.. Btw, I have a dear friend here that is more than 30 years my senior and when I met her I thought she was 10 years younger than me. That’s how some people are – and you are too, and you will always be young at heart. Bless you 🙂

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    • I know it sounds cruel, and I did not approve of his attitude, but I think his “disgust” was directed at old people being seen at the workplace .. It is a cruel world we live in….

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      • He could remedy that by having children. Often the people complaining about those not retiring are the very people who do not wish to have young ones.

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        • I wish the young ones would procreate more often cause our nation will disappear in a century or two (have to check the predictions again :S), but the youngster’s comment was in the light of people being laid off in our company and everybody was scared for their livelihood – so in that respect his comment was more directed to why do elderly have to work (esp. if they have all the requirements necessary to have their pension paid) and we younger ones have to be scared for our jobs. However, his comment about her being scary was really machistic, uneducated, and off place – shows lack of respect. Well, this is one of the co-workers I have to collaborate with almost on daily basis – good for me he still thinks of me as young enough 😆

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        • P.S. How is your Saturday, Colline? I know you must be busy as hell 😦 Thank you for taking time to comment – this is quite a controversial post and I tried to tackle several themes – labour politics, perception of aging in the society, cultural differences (in the attached music), musicians that steal/borrow beautiful songs from other nations and market them under other cultures to earn massive amount of money .. and I was hoping that some elderly gentleman would stop by my blog to say I will make quite a handsome old lady :D.

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  7. So funny,if it weren’t so sad……In my country things don’t seem to go better , you know!
    Though I really appreciate your sense of humor ,I can’t but agree with your words against labour-politics and politics in general!
    Bella Paula, thank you for this post ! It reminds us that life is not only ” roses”……..!

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  9. I’m sure that by the time you reach this age, 70 will be the new 50. 🙂 Now you have me curious to see what I will look like in 20 years time. I wonder if I dare. 😕 The words of the song don’t sound too positive, but the melody is hauntingly beautiful. Wishing you a wonderful day. xx

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    • Sylvia, I strongly advise against using these silly programmes. Hubby was really upset when he passed by my laptop and saw the pic :D. These are some silly predictions and I did not take it seriously at all, but the fact remains that none of us is frozen in time though you sometimes look like Miss Gray 🙂 As for your first sentence: from your mouth to God’s ears! 😀 Thank you, my dear Sylvia xx

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  10. Ah!! It’ll get us all in the end! I’m getting to the point where I think all doctors and policemen look far too young and should possibly still be in school! EEEK! 🙂

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    • Now, you had me worried.. do you have to deal much with the police? 😀 I don’t see them as young, but I get upset at the doc’s when they inspect my private parts on ultrasound and say something: as found this and that in accordance with the age – there I could flip 😀

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      • Well, actually, no I thankfully don’t have too much to do with the police…I’m pretty much a model citizen! Oooh ultrasounds and private parts….never want to be present for that…I take myself off to lovely places in the world in my head!!! 🙂

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  12. We have recently had our retirement age upped to 67 as well, here in the UK. As you say its hard to imagine everyone being well enough/ fit enough to do their jobs at that age. I started out working in hospitals, and the idea of a 67 year old nurse looking after a ward of patients full-time is hard to imagine. Of course the cynic in me thinks that since the NHS retirement plan is based on final 2 years of salary, having lots of staff switch to part-time in their last few years will cut the pension fund costs considerably!!

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    • Hello Seonaid, Thank you for comming here to comment. I had no idea the retirement age was upped to 67 in the UK as well. Now I see your point it scares me :(. How insidious government can be in their plans :(. It is a disgrace, especially when I think about the current amount of our pension salary, if they halve it, people will literally starve 😦

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  13. I think people are hearing these stories the world over. Here, there’s the constant threat that there’ll be nothing left of our old age pensions.

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    • Thank you, Allan. In that case working as long as possible may not be such a bad plan and it will make my post title true. Sad, isn’t it….

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  17. We also have to work till the age of 67 here. They’re even talking about raising it to 70!
    “Fuck off!” I say. Are we never meant to have time to enjoy life? Are we supposed to slave all our lives, while the politicians steal our taxes and give themselves fantastic pension plans?
    “Fuck them” I say.

    Over here they’re generously handing out passports, that comes with full rights to social welfare & pension plans, to immigrants & asylum seekers that never worked 1 day here and never paid any taxes.
    To finance this abuse of the natives money, we’re forced to work longer and longer.

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  18. The music is more than great, I have passed the video on to a very dear friend of mine, Paula. Thanks a lot!
    Ha, one day, some years ago, I made this little experiment … catapulting myself into the future, having a look at myself at the age of 67. It was so frightening…, I had almost worked myself to death. (A good thing I didn’t actually see a pic of me, that would have been scary indeed :-)) So there and then I changed a lot in my life. It was risky, but worthwhile. Thanks for giving me a laugh on your expanse and bringing back a fine reminder about living in the present.
    Stor klem!
    Dina x

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  20. Paula, I am at peace with aging on the outside as long as I am growing younger on the inside. Now that I am in my fifties I enjoy the deeper things in life so much more, and I appreciate what I do have more than ever. Real beauty is spiritual – not physical.

    Blessings ~ Wendy

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  22. Years ago, many, someone said to look down into a mirror and this is how you will look. I am sad to report its true 😦 You look great !

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  23. Having less than perfect vision helps cope with the changes somewhat 😀
    Fab post Paula. Adore the music! China is soon going to beat that statistic too, thanks to their harsh population control methods in the past few decades. Looks like our procreating like there is no tomorrow, might not be such a bad thing after all 😀

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    • Good point Madhu :D. When you say you adore the music – please adore the Croatian original version – the stolen one is just a parody 😀 So within a century we will have a lot of little Chinese running around beautiful Dalmatian coast – oh well, I won’t be around to see it. I hope I won’t reincarnate as one… 😀

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    • Hello Jo. I woke up at 10:30 am with my eyes swollen and nozzle congested. I will be fine till Monday I hope. Have to make the most of this sick leave. Hugs to you if you are not afraid of catching my bug 🙂

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  25. P.S I made the mistake of listening to both the videos at the same time (not much between MY ears!) Thought the Polish lady had a beautiful voice. 🙂

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    • Polish singer Kayah is terrific – I have nothing against her 🙂 but Bregovic (Serb) is an extremely skillful thief…

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  26. Ewwwwww, you’re gonna be so uuuuuuuglyyyy! Lol, jk, we all get old, but it’s also the lifestyle, and other factors that influence the way you are going to age. Besides, I’m sure that in 20 years the science will be more advanced in terms of dealing with aging. I hope. And the politics of making people work more years, well it sucks. But hey, they say that when old people stop having a purpose in life they die, so a job should fix that 😀

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    • Hello Laura, my phot-aging time machine was set for 30 year period. I don’t think I will live that long. Everybody in my family died younger. Take care, P.

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  27. Hey Paula, what we look like in 30 years really doesn’t matter. It’s actually kind of scary to think about the future and how we will look. I don’t know about you but when i look in the mirror i see a man that God made. I just wish He would have told me what my true purpose in life is. Ok i wish He would have made me a little taller, stronger and maybe a little bit better looking, but then again, I still thank Him everyday for everything He has done for me… I hope you’re a true believer to Paula…
    Have a beautiful day wherever you may be.
    Terry

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    • Thank you very much for your comment, Terry. Thankfullness is important. I am not an atheist that is all I can say … as for being a true believer – it is not that easy. Take care, Terry. Paula (living in Croatia)

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  28. La solution: que la Croatie fasse des bébés ! 😀 Avec l’espérance de vie qui se rallonge, la retraite vient de plus en plus tard et nous devons travailler de plus en plus vieux…
    Nous avons le même problème en Belgique, dans quelques années, il y aura presque autant de retraités que de travailleurs ! Et ça va être la galère pour les pensions… :-/
    Je suis d’accord avec toi sur le fait qu’on ne peut pas exercer son métier jusque 65 ans ! Les travailleurs à l’extérieur, les pompiers, les policiers (course-poursuite avec des voleurs en chaise roulante ? 😆 ), etc. Même pour les travailleurs de “bureau” ce sera difficile: les professeurs en auront marre de donner cours depuis 45 ans, les businessman vont mourir sous le stress et la fatigue…
    Bref on est dans la merde. 😆

    Très marrante ta photo venue du futur ! 😆

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