Feeling Old

So is this the feeling of getting old?  Creaking joints, tired muscles, strained ligaments and that internal voice which keeps asking "should I be doing this at my age?", not to mention a general lack of energy and motivation.  I've always known and recognised my physical limits (not to mention legal and financial!), but suddenly there are many new ones coming into play; it's as though there is a Sgt Wilson inside me saying "Sir, are you sure that's wise?".  Drat, he's often correct.

I've done a fair bit on the front wall since last week despite the weather; but I've come to a stop due to simple tiredness.  Those at a similar age will perhaps recognise the signs of not sleeping particularly well or, if you do sleep well, still feeling tired the next day.  I tend to sleep well for a period which might be five or six hours if I'm lucky, but could be just two or three if some drunken berk wakes me up; thereafter, getting back to sleep may be difficult.  [Our house seems to be on one of the few ways that connect two parts of the town, and there are some (I'm sure it's the same people) who seem to love shouting in friendly terms at each other as they wander back home at 1am, 2am or even 3.30am.  Since the house is Grade II listed, I cannot fit double glazing to the bedroom windows but I do have secondary glazing on my immediate to-do list.]

Last week I enlisted the help of my son to lay a large flagstone on top of the wall, to be under the end piece of coping stone.  I could just manhandle this piece of stone on the ground but he picked it up on his own (with some effort, I think) and it was a joint job to get it to the top safely.  It went on surprisingly easily as for once all my measurements were correct, the cutting of the stone was spot on and also the mortar bed was perfect first time.  This was needed as the 14" coping stones are all narrower than the wall at the gate end, and so the flagstone also has bevelled edges to help with rainwater flow.  The 18" width of the wall at the gate end was governed by the size of the two 24" x 18" x 6" pintle stones which I purchased last year, and there was no way that I was going to cut them!  I have carefully made the rest of the wall narrower so only the end two feet needed this treatment.

Yesterday I did a lot of work on the wall, including lifting the first coping stone in place six feet up onto the bevelled flagstone (photo coming [Edit: I'm not posting the photo as the wall looks quite silly with just the one piece of coping stone! It's all out of proportion]), so I'm getting there. However, the coping stone was heavier than I realised and I could have done with the assistance of my son again.  The weight was bad enough - it must be about 35-40kg which itself made my knees creak - but then positioning it on the wall was quite difficult due to the shape; I could easily have damaged my back as I leant forward with it but chose instead to rest it on the mortar bed which then had to be re-spread.  Hence, last night I was particularly tired and slept through over eight hours without stirring (a rare occurrence) until woken by t'other half putting the radio on. This morning I can hardly get going at all, and there is no way that I will do more than potter around doing bits of small jobs.

After laying the first coping stone on top of the wall, one old song from The Jungle Book keeps coming into my mind - Kenny Ball singing "I'm the King of the Swingers".  This contains the memorable line "I've reached the top and had to stop and that's what's bothering me."  Unlike him, it's not bothering me and I shall be delighted when it's all done!

[Edit: I'm advised that actually Kenny Ball's version of "I'm the King of the Swingers" was a cover, following the film.]