Too old to become an astronaut

 

I'm at my summer house and it's very, very hot. Since it was not possible to come here last year at all, the mice had taken over indoors and someone had broken the window to the front door. Been here for a week and a half now and most of the time has gone to cleaning and driving stuff to the recycling station.  The other day I did however take a short stop and took a dip in Sweden's largest lake Vänern. Besides cleaning up after the mouse party inside the grass on the yard is now so high and diverse that it's no longer a lawn, it's a meadow. Which is great for the bees, butterflies, wasps, killer snails and snakes, not to mention the flies, spiders, mosquitos and other types of completely wild insects. Today something giant and shimmering flew by, size of a bumblebee but larger, sounding like one though, but metallic turquoise, maybe a giant fly or dor--beetle? A cat has come by four days in a row and befriended me. It was hungry so I have been feeding it, or him actually. Also posted on Facebook if someone is missing this cat, otherwise I will see it as he has chosen me. He instinctively located a single woman over 50 and realized he would be set for life. Other than that, being over 50 is really old and it's too late for many things. For example I can no longer become an astronaut, not at the European Space Agency anyway. If you are over 50 they will not consider your application because they have estimated that the astronauts must undertake at least two missions and if you are over 50 that would not be possible. I think this is ageism and discrimination of course. Age is not just a number, people age differently and I think personal prerequisites should be considered. I'm not a mechanic though, and I can't even fix the lawn mower. Well, a tube has dried up and loosened from its attachment. I think that could be the problem. Nothing a hefty amount of Duct tape wouldn't fix, but then again, do I have the heart to massacre all those snails and snakes, and perhaps lizards too? The cat killed a snake and ate it right before my eyes on the second day and that was horrible enough. The clip is from the Jim Jarmusch film Only lovers left alive from 2013, that I just saw. I would label it low key vampire noir. Really liked it. If I had not been over 50 it would also have been a relationship goal idealization. I hope I will have time to do some more serious research soon and not just clean and hunt bugs.

All the best

Angelina