Today is a very big day for me. It is exactly 21,915 days since I was born. Yes today I have reached the grand old age of 60. When I look back at when I was a kid my grandmother and grandfather were in my eyes ancient. They were elderly people and yet when I work it out they were probably only in their early 50s when I was 10. I do not care what 10-year-olds think today I am not yet a crinkly. I still consider myself to be early middle aged. Sixty is the new 40.
There is no doubt that we are not only living longer than our preceding generations but are far more active for longer. This is undoubtedly to do with improved medicine and healthcare and far better information about diet, lifestyle, nutrition and exercise. I have been monitoring blood pressure and cholesterol for many years now, but my father would not have even known what cholesterol was. My parents and their parents ate chips fried in lard and drank whisky, whereas my chips are air fried, I eat plenty of vegetables and have even been known to eat some fruit. I drink red wine which as we all know is incredibly good for the heart; in fact I drink so much I will probably live forever. I do hope I am not tempting fate here. Keep an eye out to see if I have a column next week.
For my 40th I had a big party because that’s when life started. For my 50th I had a big party because I had reached the half century, but as 60 indicates the beginning of the pension age, this time just a quiet occasion with a few friends. It was brought home to me last year when I was in the United States and as we were paying admission to a museum, the cashier told me that I could have reduced rates for the elderly. Apparently they start being elderly at 55 over there. I was a bit shocked and a bit miserable for the rest of that day. In the last few months I have had one pension start, and just the other day I received a package from another pension company telling me it was time.
Last month I also became a grandparent for the first time and I don’t know whether to be happy or sad, so I have indicated that my new granddaughter should just call me Grumpy. Don’t despair though dear reader, I am not ready for the scrapheap just yet. They’re not carting me off to Elysian Fields any time soon. I still have a few good years left in me and I can still teach these young whippersnappers a few things about computers. Do you know that most IT professionals nowadays can’t programme in Assembler or even read Hex! I can still DJ, I can still compere and I can still programme so as they sing in Monty Python and the Holy Grail “I’m not dead yet”.