It is now 8 years since our inception, and the Greypath community has grown to be the leading world seniors site. It is in the top 5% of world websites by traffic.   Greypath remains  free to seniors. We welcome suggestions and we hope you enjoy your time with us.

It is on my wish list, that we attract and interact with seniors from countries where English is not their first language.

An exchange of views in our forums between people of common heritage is fine and comfortable, but what do seniors in India, Russia, China, Brazil, Iran and more, think about what we have to say?

What is important to them? Are we all sisters and brothers under the skin, or are there fundamental differences in our approach to life and ageing?

What do you think?

Greypathers often bemoan the fact that, although we have 10 000 registered members, and are growing daily, its hard to get seniors to speak up. 

If we raise an important subject in our forums, such as ethics, we might get 5 responses if we are lucky. If we raise something about say rudeness on buses, then we might get 20 responses. If we raise something on feral neighbours, we might get 40 responses.

I know it’s human nature to be more interested in a twinge of arthritis than children starving in Ethiopia, but at times it is disappointing, that, with so many lifetimes of experience between us, we do not speak up and contribute much more to public life.

Sadly we are fast becoming the silent grey majority.

Greypath offers us a number of forums, where you can have something to say, and may be ‘take a bit of stick’  sometimes, as a practice run perhaps,  before having your say in more public arenas.

We owe those who follow us, something more than silence.

 It seems to me, that regardless of our greenhouse gas contribution or not, the odds are that global warming is a fact. So, what can we do about it?

Basically two things, firstly reduce its emergence as best we can, and secondly, practically prepare for it.

Reducing its emergence seems to be limited to  reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. How best to do this is in heavy world wide debate.

Practically preparing for it, seems to be much harder. My recent research on line, has led me to believe that we seem to be bereft of any real ideas at all.

Consultants are making money from telling Councils for example, that they need action plans with problem analysis, benchmarks and deliverable steps etc. Such are all weazel words that do not add one new practical idea, or advance one whit, our dealing with the problem.

Where do we see, anywhere, ideas like the State progressively buying up homes that look like being inundated, removing them, bringing in soil to raise the levels above any expected sea rise, and creating say, new safe level, marine estates that can be sold back to recover the States investment?

Where do we see initial considerations for dykes like the Dutch and others have or?

What about the provisional planning for new towns on remote coastal locations of Australia, for the relocation of people from low lying Pacific  islands, should they need our help?

I would be delighted to hear of any ideas you might have…

Many of us, who have the good fortune to own our own homes,  have now got to the stage where we find stairs becoming increasingly difficult, gardens too big perhaps, the house hard to upkeep, or the shops or nearest public transport becoming a walk long enough to be avoided.

Some thoughts here therefore on sizing down, and keeping your independence, as distinct from moving into a retirement community.

 Seek something close to public transport.

Seek to be close to local shops.

Try and find a place that is not in too big a complex.

Get a fix on the neighbours beforehand if possible.

Seek as long a settlement as you can so as to give you time to adjust, find another home, pack, get rid of that which will not fit in the downsized place,  and move.

Move as little a distance as you can, from that which is familiar

Do it now, as we all find it increasingly harder to move, as we age

Do you have any thoughts or advice to add here ?

Seniors need to be very wary of such products and certainly take independent advice before entering into them.

 In the worst case of reverse mortgages, you can have no equity left in your home when you leave it, for whatever reason. This happens when the unpaid interest on your loan grows faster than the homes increase in value, for long enough to eat up your share.  While unlikely, this did happen on a widespread scale in Scotland, a few years back

 With the various ‘shared equity’ type of loans, you are given cash up front, and in turn pass on a share of your home, (equity), to the cash provider in return, and you both share future profits according to the share of your home agreed upon. You have then  no interest or whatever to pay. There are however some serious issues surrounding  the amount of equity given up, and  the basis for your homes valuation, and by whom, that warrant very careful questioning.

 If you own property of high value, and need cash to live on, and do not seek to maximise the assets for the future, (e.g no – one to inherit your estate), these new products can be wonderful, but for others, great caution and a full understanding of the implications is a must.

Centrelink can provide free financial advice to pensioners.

If any provider feels that what we have said in this editorial is incorrect,  please let us know.

Why dont we think about buying an old aircraft carrier and turning it into a disaster relief ship for our region?

It could carry a communications centre, medical supplies, food, helicopters, all terrain vehicles, food, water kits shelters, police, disaster specialists and much more.

Such a vessel could be on permanent standby, and we could be away and off to help in hours, while others were debating what help is required, who should do it,  where and when, etc. (Our usual mode of operation)

I am equally sure that some very early action in support of our fellow peoples in this region, would bring much quicker stabilisation and recovery for them.

I am sure such  relief vessel would be swamped with volunteers for quick call up action.

It could also have Australian flags painted along its sides for some useful PR.

What do you think? Is it feasible? Should we do it?

  An adversarial approach to, for example, law or politics, has a lot to be desired, but it does tend to keep both sides honest, as the each seeks to discredit and minutely examine the actions or arguments of their opposition.

 At law, the French, it seems, have the maturity for both sides to firstly seek the truth (non-adversarial approach), whereas we take the adversarial path and seek to get our client off regardless, or if a prosecutor, convict him.

 Truth can be an early casualty of this process.

 Supposedly the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, underpins legal argument, but, (in truth), if we have one slip in the judicial process, the accused often gets off free, regardless of the weight of evidence.

 Adversarial politics, although cruel and unfair at times, seems to work for us, but I think this approach at law, is failing too often these days, with hot shot lawyers having disproportionately favourable outcomes…

Well it’s on again. The question of Monarchy.

Do we need it? Is the concept of value to Australia?

The arguments seem to be evenly divided.

In the left corner of the ring, we have those who say it is a relic of a colonial past, that it has no relevance for modern Australia, and that we ‘should grow up and stand on our own two feet as a Sovereign Nation’.

In the right corner, we have those who say that we are fundamentally independent anyway, that modern Monarchy adds colour to public life, and that ‘If it ‘aint broke, don’t fix it’.

Frankly, I think it is a matter of mostly un-reasoned personal bias, (like our voting habits), for which both sides seek reasons to justify their views.

My bias, is that I like the Queens head on coins and buttons, enjoy the pageantry, and I think that her representatives, the Commonwealth and State Governors, carry an essential civic duty that I would not like to see lost. I feel that to lose such independent leadership, is to increase the chances of an Orwellian future.
 

Xmas is a time to reinforce our values, especially spiritual and family values. I can add nothing new here.

I can however comment on the year that was, from my perspective.

1.    We had a new President in the USA who carries great hopes on his slim shoulders. Too much is expected of this one man.

2.    We had increasing local terrorism across the world from religious fanatics. There may be some excuse for those who fight perceived invading armies with booby traps and martyrs, but for those who target innocent women and children in markets and more, there is a special place in hell.

3.    We have had the emergence of the global warming pandemonium, where truth is harder to find than Osama Bin Laden, and doubters got short shrift.

4.    China has emerged to save our economy, and they, in new alliances with Russia and India, will progressively take over the US mantle as the worlds most dominant economic and military power bloc. We need to get our hearts and minds around the implications.

5.    Rapidly emerging gene based cures for everything [even including re-growing lost limbs] hold out great hopes for the many afflicted among us. For one example a local, near terminal, MS suffering man, has walked out of hospital in December after genetic [stem cell] treatment.

6.    Water was found on the moon so the proposed first ex Earth colony is now feasible.

7.    Our economy turned out to do better than anyone else’s in the world due to our resources luck and pre-emptive government action.

8.    The birth rate continued to climb.

9.    'Stuff' got cheaper, and we found we could no longer live without big flat TV’s and new mobile phones and more.

I note too, on another front, that we seniors are becoming more and more swinging voters. The quality of our local candidate or the party’s policies, being more important than ones traditional voting habits.

Jack, I and the office cat, hope that you find yourself happy and travelling in hope, throughout 2010