It’s been said that some people are old at 18 and others are still young at 80.
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Topics reckons Charlestown’s Laurie Bowman is a good example of this. The 81-year-old still plays tennis twice a week.
He was at pains to point out that he’s not the only person in his 80s who still exercises.
But Laurie, we said, we’re not worried about that. Your story is inspirational. We want to share it.
Nowadays, Laurie has the honour of being the oldest member of Adamstown Rosebud Tennis Club.
“We lost one of our members, Neville Venables, last year. He got to 82,” Laurie said.
“I told the fellas I’ve got to at least get as far as Neville got. That’s my goal.”
Laurie recently had a birthday.
“I’m getting there,” he told his tennis mates.
You might imagine that Laurie plays tennis for half an hour or so, but he’s a bit more sprightly than that.
“The tennis we play is still good strong tennis,” he said.
His tennis mates don’t give him any leeway because of his age.
“We play doubles and four sets of an afternoon from 1pm to about 4.30pm.
“Then we head down to the club, have a couple of drinks and talk all sorts of garbage around the table.
“It’s my men’s shed, put it that way. It’s my outlet from problems in life.”
He does get a bit sore the next day, but says “that’s part of being a bit old”.
He’s always sought to maintain his health.
In his earlier days, he played cricket and did a lot of bike rides for charity.
“I’ve always kept fit,” he said.
“I’ve got arthritis all through me, it’s chronic. Last year I had a hiccup when I had to get a pacemaker. And one knee had to be replaced. You’ve got to keep rolling.”
My little boo thang
Topics wrote yesterday about basketball superstar Ben Simmons, who was raised in Newcastle.
The 21-year-old is setting the NBA alight with his team, the Philadelphia 76ers.
His romance with R&B singer Tinashe has also been setting the gossip columns alight.
TMZ recently asked her about the romance, to which she replied: “That's my little boo thang”.
Topics isn’t completely up to speed with African-American slang, so we checked the Urban Dictionary.
Boo thang: Someone who is more than your booty call that you spend time with but not 100 per cent committed. They know they’re not your boyfriend/girlfriend.
This example was given: Is that your boyfriend/girlfriend? Nah, that’s just my boo thang.
The African-American community really is good at making up cool words.
