In message , Sacha
writes
On 2012-02-08 14:34:36 +0000, Simon Foster
said:

Hello everyone.
I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering
department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an
engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling
system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find out what
difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.
If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max), please
have
a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the design
as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over the age
of 50.
The survey is at: www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening
I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,
Simon

Seems a good idea to me. We often grumble about inadequate machinery or
consultation by manufacturers, telly programmers, you name its....
Now's a chance to give an opinion that could be of real use. The
question is posed to over-50s, not 50s, so let us hear from our 50-80
year olds and above, eh? ;-) Most people have a lawn if they have a
garden, after all!
Very thoughtful of him to use imperial measurements.
--
hugh

Sacha wrote:
On 2012-02-08 20:01:11 +0000, Jake Nospam@invalid said:

On Wed, 8 Feb 2012 19:53:28 +0000, Sacha wrote:



Seems a good idea to me. We often grumble about inadequate machinery or
consultation by manufacturers, telly programmers, you name its....
Now's a chance to give an opinion that could be of real use. The
question is posed to over-50s, not 50s, so let us hear from our 50-80
year olds and above, eh? ;-) Most people have a lawn if they have a
garden, after all!

This old codger has completed it. I am particularly impressed by the
way in which the survey allows people to just say they're over 6 stone
if they don't want to admit to anything higher (ok, the arrow points
the wrong way!). I was wondering, though, whether questions about the
size of lawn and width of cut might have helped as the size of the
machine will affect how easily different people can use it and that of
the lawn may lead to buying a bigger one than can easily be handled.

Cheers, Jake

I'd have thought your last point was worth the survey on its own!

My front lawn has a parts that are on a 1:4 gradient. My wife can't push
our lawn mower up the steepest part of the slope at all and I have to be
careful going downhill with it. A lower centre of gravity would help and
more grip on the notional driven roller. It also tries to shake itself
to bits from time to time so better lockbuts would help.

Regards,
Martin Brown

I'm now feeling really grateful for my shortsightedness. I wear varifocals, because with glasses my near sight has gone, and I can't read anything closer than about 3ft. But I've still retained my very close vision, so for anything very small, I take my glasses off and read it at about 6inches. And I can still thread needles and see to take splinters out.

If you watch older people who wear glasses when they're looking at something small, like trying to read an OS map, a good few of them will bend their head and peer over the top of their glasses - they're the short sighted ones, making good use of their close vision. (The others will just push away and mutter about the small sized print).

"hugh" ] wrote in message
...
In message
,
Steerpike writes
On Feb 8, 4:33 pm, "'Mike'" wrote:
--

"Simon Foster" wrote in
message

...









Hello everyone.

I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering
department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an
engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling
system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find out
what
difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.

If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max), please
have
a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the
design
as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over the
age
of 50.

The survey is at:www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening

I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,

Simon

--
Simon Foster

I suppose that to nippers at Uni, anyone over 50 is "old" :-(


According to the powers that be anyone over 50 is an "Elderly Person"


Do you have a reference for that?
Google seems to think that you are an 'elderly person' when you reach state
retirement age.

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

In message , David WE Roberts
writes

"hugh" ] wrote in message
...
In message
,
Steerpike writes
On Feb 8, 4:33 pm, "'Mike'" wrote:
--

"Simon Foster" wrote in
message

...









Hello everyone.

I am a student currently studying in the Mechanical Engineering
department at the University of Sheffield. For my dissertation an
engineering company has asked me to review their lawn mower handling
system design, and part of the preliminary research is to find
out what
difficulties people face when performing tasks in the garden.

If you have a spare 5 minutes (that's all it will take max),
please have
a look at my online survey and help me out. In order to make the
design
as ergonomic as possible, we're looking to focus on people over
the age
of 50.

The survey is at:www.kwiksurveys.com/?u=gardening

I look forward to reading your opinions. Thanks very much,

Simon

--
Simon Foster

I suppose that to nippers at Uni, anyone over 50 is "old" :-(


According to the powers that be anyone over 50 is an "Elderly Person"


Do you have a reference for that?
Google seems to think that you are an 'elderly person' when you reach
state retirement age.

If you get involved with issues affecting older people you will soon
find out.
Your local council will probably run a Senior persons network for those
over 50 - or they may have off-loaded it by now to a third sector
organisation. All part of the Strategic Partnership/Local Area
Partnership type crap.
--
hugh

A well known provider of insurance and other services for older people sets the lower limit at 50. And a newly discovered cave in the Yorkshire Dales has been named "Saga Pot" in recognition of the age of its explorers .

"kay" wrote in message
...

hugh;949876 Wrote:

Your local council will probably run a Senior persons network for those

over 50 - or they may have off-loaded it by now to a third sector
organisation. All part of the Strategic Partnership/Local Area
Partnership type crap.


A well known provider of insurance and other services for older people
sets the lower limit at 50. And a newly discovered cave in the Yorkshire
Dales has been named "Saga Pot" in recognition of the age of its
explorers .




--
kay

I'm going to apply to McCarthy and Stone for a home when I am old enough ;-)

Mike

--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................

"hugh" ] wrote in message
...
In message , David WE Roberts
writes

snip

I suppose that to nippers at Uni, anyone over 50 is "old" :-(


According to the powers that be anyone over 50 is an "Elderly Person"


Do you have a reference for that?
Google seems to think that you are an 'elderly person' when you reach
state retirement age.

If you get involved with issues affecting older people you will soon find
out.
Your local council will probably run a Senior persons network for those
over 50 - or they may have off-loaded it by now to a third sector
organisation. All part of the Strategic Partnership/Local Area Partnership
type crap.


There may be a lot of difference between a Senior Person/Citizen and an
Elderly Person.
It is very difficult to pin down a definition, but Age Concern talk of
'older workers' when they are discussing people who want to work beyond
retirement.
Elderly is often linked with infirm, and certainly to me implies people who
are starting to fail physically and possibly mentally and becoming frail.
Certainly someone of 50 may qualify for some benefits aimed at the more
mature citizen but much of this is probably marketing led.

If you are elderly at 50 what comes next?

50 = elderly
60 = really really old
70 = completely decrepit
80 = ARE YOU STILL BREATHING?? I SAID ARE YOU....oh, forget it.
90 = Sir Cliff - you look so well preserved.
100 = "You've been on an index linked pension for 40 years? You absolute
Ba**ard!!"

Cheers

Dave R
--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

Radio 4 PM last night said something on the lines of someone having suggested "elderly people should return to work in order to have social contact" and then morphed straight into an interview with Maud, aged 86.
Despite her evident alertness, I found myself wondering how many employers are falling over themselves to employ the over 80s?

In message , kay
writes

'David WE Roberts[_4_ Wrote:
;950558']
It is very difficult to pin down a definition, but Age Concern talk of
'older workers' when they are discussing people who want to work beyond

retirement.


Radio 4 PM last night said something on the lines of someone having
suggested "elderly people should return to work in order to have social
contact" and then morphed straight into an interview with Maud, aged
86.
Despite her evident alertness, I found myself wondering how many
employers are falling over themselves to employ the over 80s?




--
kay
Our local B&Q did employ a lady well into her 80s

However I have to confess I think I have made a mistake here by saying
"elderly" was over 50.
It's "older people" who are over 50.
Retired people are those who have reached state pension age which of
course is still different for men and women.
Elderly IMO are those whose declining physical capabilities and
appearance are becoming more obvious, typically over 80.

--
hugh

In message , kay
writes

'David WE Roberts[_4_ Wrote:
;950558']
It is very difficult to pin down a definition, but Age Concern talk of
'older workers' when they are discussing people who want to work beyond

retirement.


Radio 4 PM last night said something on the lines of someone having
suggested "elderly people should return to work in order to have social
contact" and then morphed straight into an interview with Maud, aged
86.
Despite her evident alertness, I found myself wondering how many
employers are falling over themselves to employ the over 80s?




--
kay

It ironic -and not a little infuriating that the people comment on the
needs of older people - are never older people.

That includes all the so-called experts who work for corporate
organisations such as Age UK and Saga.
--
hugh

Did they give her a job when she was in her 80s? Or did they continue to employ her as she reached her 80s?

I've seen several press articles about people working well into their 80s and beyond) - but they've all been people who have been working a long time for the company and haven't yet retired, rather than people who have joined the company at that age.

They're working on it. Women becoming eligible for a state pension now are almost 61 years old, and women reaching 60 this month will have to wait till 2014 for a state pension.

Yes, I remember reading that, although life expectancy is increasing, so is the expected length of the period of terminal decline. It's not a prospect I relish.

In article , David WE Roberts
writes
If you are elderly at 50 what comes next?



What a cheek!! In the gym over 50's can very often outpace, outlift and
outstay those in their teens!

--
Janet Tweedy

No problem, I'm sure I can come back on and let you guys know what we can gather from this.

Simon.