What type of Retirement Unit/Home/Village setting would you opt to live in ?

[inotarobot]

Hi all,

the question came up the other day of "What type of Retirement Home/Village setting would you opt to live in, when we finally sell our home ?"

And MOST importantly what sort of 'neighbours', would you like to have around you ? Brainy technology geeks etc or the rest of the population ?.

(hard to word the above, as I DONT wish to Imply, the "REST" are any form of lesser foke than I, and not any good to live around)

This year I will be 66, and here in Australia, getting into a Retirement facility, then eventually into Assisted care unit or nursing home, can take quite a few years, especially if its one, that is in a popular location. You put your name down and its progresses up the list as time passes.

We live on a steep hilly semi rural property and I am already finding it getting tiring to walk the 40m to the letter box, so I am thinking by the time I am 75, flat ground living will be the order of the day.

So I started doing some online research on a few places, and in the process it struck me, the greater majority have general "Joe Public" as residents.

I come to technical forums like this one, because I have been in High Technology all my life, and am not a great mixer socially. Simply have no interest in going to dances, or gaming clubs, pubs or sports events.

So when it comes to a retirement home, then nursing home, that I could possibly stay in, till I die, could I cope with 96% non like minded foke around me ? ; maybe even in an adjacent room, as I get to be put in assisted care facility.

Having to sit in a communal dining room for lunch and dinner, as I have seem many do, does not appeal to me, especially if I have nothing in common with those around me.

I guess maybe by the time I am 75 or 85 or 95, all I will want to do if make sure my false teeth say put. so I can eat. Hell, I most likely will have lost a few brain cells by the time I get that old, that just maybe I wont want to talk or even be able to think that much about technology anymore.

So I ask what other here, have you discussed or considered such a question ?

If you don't have a long term partner that you would end up moving with, (due for health reason, maybe them needing a significantly different type of care facility to yourself, or them 'passing' or being way way younger than yourself) and its just yourself, by that stage of your life, would you :-

A. prefer to find a Retirement Unit/Home/Village that caters for more, dare I say, highly educated people ?

B be happy with a Retirement Unit/Home/Village that has fokes from all walks of life, around you ?

I am sure this post will raise the ire of some, for maybe me inferring, I was better than other "classes of foke', but that's NOT what I am inferring.

I have NOT made any distinction due to race, creed or color, but purely wishing to retire amongst like minded foke.


As to what of my technology bits and pieces I will hopefully take with me to any such facility, I think I would take :-

a. few technical books maybe also the Discworld books and Monty Python dvd's.

b. 3 vintage computers, most likely my Motorola MEK6800D2 kit, that I owned since 1976; my 68000EDU unit and the PiDP-8.

c. My old enhanced No 9 Meccano set.

 

[Chuck(G)]

I'm older than you and I don't know what I'd do if I were in your situation.

 

[Stone]

(G), I'm sure that you're going to stay in your rural, semi-isolated location till the end of time.

How do I know this?

If you meet me in Hawaii next year after I move there (till the end of time) I'll let you know.

Here's a clue in the meantime.

It's chock full of rural, semi-isolated locations... with perfect weather, magnificent views, outrageous FRESH foods and a huge variety (but not a huge number) of people.

 

[commodorejohn]

I'm a long ways off from being even close to retirement age, but I made up my mind long ago that I'm going to be one of those shriveled old trolls who live in the same rural Midwest lake cabin until their dying day - I've spent enough time around nursing homes and assisted-living facilities that I can't stand the thought of ever living in one.

 

[roberttx]

I'm just going to have to die, because my wife and I (who are childless) have spent all the money that we should have saved for retirement on paying for schooling for other people's children.

Still, at least those other people will have educated offspring to take care of them, while we expire unattended, which is nice.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Well, most of the guys that I've hung around with are pretty tough. When they go, they're still living at home and generally just drop dead. A friend in his 70s was on top of a commercial building he owned, fooling with an antenna. He lost his footing and fell 30 feet to the tarmac. He got up and drove himself to the ER, who pronounced him bruised, but otherwise fine. He looked like hell with two black eyes, but it didn't stop him.

I will say that most of my crowd doesn't seem to get much past 90, however.

Still, that's pretty good.

 

[Unknown_K]

Retirement units seem like slightly more expensive better smelling nursing homes.

If you get too old to take care of your home, sell it and move to an apartment with a pet. I say get a pet because it gives you a reason to get out of bed every day.

If you are alone and cannot take care of yourself any longer its time for a nursing home.

 

[Doug G]

Hang in there. My aunt is 102, and still lives at home. Until mid-last year she lived alone at home since my uncle died in 2002, but now has a bit of a mobility problem and due to her age, qualified for some hospice in-house care.

Even good care facilities leave a lot to be desired here on the west coast.

 

[Chuck(G)]

For a time, I played with a musical group that visited nursing homes. It was awful. On the other hand, I rather enjoyed visiting Alzheimer's memory care facilities. In the former, many people know it's the end of the road; on the latter, not so much. I lost my own mother to a nursing home mishap. Of course, the nursing home couldn't explain how my mother's hip got broken and how that blood clot went unnoticed.

Forget that noise--no "golden years" for me.

 

[KC9UDX]

When I retire, I'll live in a pig pen. All the pigs will have flown away, so I'll be able to afford a pen.

Seriously though, I've lived at home my whole life. I hope I do for the rest of it. I did consider living in my car at least once, and hope I never have to again. Of course, even if I did do that, my car would be my home; I'd still live at home.

 

[luckybob]

I honestly believe in the coming decades, technology will likely have solved the aging issue. Either by robotic bodies, or cloned replacements, or what have you.

 

[MikeS]

Well, most of the guys that I've hung around with are pretty tough. When they go, they're still living at home and generally just drop dead. A friend in his 70s was on top of a commercial building he owned, fooling with an antenna. He lost his footing and fell 30 feet to the tarmac. He got up and drove himself to the ER, who pronounced him bruised, but otherwise fine. He looked like hell with two black eyes, but it didn't stop him.

I will say that most of my crowd doesn't seem to get much past 90, however.

Still, that's pretty good.

As it happens I'm about to climb up a ladder to install an antenna; I'm in my 70s as well, so I'll try to be more careful than your friend...

 

[Stone]

... I'm in my 70s as well, so I'll try to be more careful than your friend...

That's a load. We had that video chat a coupla years back and you were in your 50s then. Did a time warp pass through the area? Either that or I need to get a video camera like yours!