Old Age Amble

O what a beautiful morning, morning Howard! So to be certain not to waste it I was up and out nice and early, plus Mr Grumpy woke me up because he couldn't sleep. Thanks for that.
For company this morning I had somebody different join me, it was Johnnie Walker, appropriate name, I had rather hoped for Terry Wogan but he's on holiday. Never mind, Johnnie would do and as it turned out he was rather nice to have around.

As I had left home so early, it was quite a different mix of people that I came across today. There were the inevitable workers doing their daily commute into Peterborough, but along the way I met about half a dozen people of an older generation that had obviously been to fetch their morning newspapers.
Seeing these folk going about their normal daily routine and combined with the fact that I was listening to Radio 2, old age became the subject wafting around my head.
Just two weeks ago it was my eldest son's 17th birthday, though with the way he acts you'd think he was 27! On his big day I commented on how quickly time was passing and that he was now getting on a bit, to which he said “I don't want to get old Mum” I tried to explain that getting old is better than the alternative.
We then had a discussion about age and the fact that on many occasions when asked my age, I will always reply honestly but will also add that I still feel like a 17 year old. No, not that I feel like I want a 17 year old, but mentally 17, naughty readers. When people tell me that their children make them feel old I fail to understand, sometimes my boys drain me of all my senses and energy but actually they're what keep me young at heart.
It was at about this point in my walk that Johnnie reminded me of the famous line Pete Townshend once said “I hope I die before I get old”. This also got me thinking, though momentarily it was of Horatio Caine as the music blasting into my ears was “Won't get fooled again” by The Who, how different it is being 41 now to how it was back in the 1970's.
When I was 10 my mother was roughly the same age that I am now, she seemed much older. Sorry Mum, though I don't really need to apologise as she doesn't read these, in fact she doesn't even know they exist.
Why was life so different for them back then? Could it be because she had quite a demanding job as a nurse working permanent nights? Maybe it was the stress of having 4 children? I think the hardest thing for me, had I been her, would've been that twin tub washing machine that used to take up half the kitchen twice a week. Oh how I loved that smell of the hot soapy water swirling around.
I guess when I compare her to some of the other women that were in my life back then she wasn't that old fashioned, or old in her appearance, in fact she was actually quite liberal and gave us lots of freedom. Although I do remember that in order for her to have a bit of a break now and then I would get shipped off to stay at my Aunt's bungalow in Thorney and my other young Aunty would come to stay at ours in order to help look after my brothers. I can't speak on their behalf of what it was like for them, though I know I was always jealous when I came home and found that she'd bought them pink and white almond nougat while I'd been staying at what I thought was the equivalent of a prison. That may seem a little harsh and in fact over the years my older Aunt has softened somewhat, but as a child she terrified me, I truly thought I'd been naughty and was being punished when I was sent there. She looked much older as her hair had turned grey many years earlier, she had some odd ways too, like setting the breakfast table every night before bed and when we had tinned fruit for pudding you had to have bread and butter with it. Whatever amount she'd buttered, it had to be eaten.
She was quite hard to tolerate for a week, sometimes two but all these years later I find we actually have something in common, we both like Radio 2, and over breakfast listening to Terry Wogan all those years ago, who'd have thought history would be repeating itself.

So I do want to get old, but I want to be young at heart, I want to enjoy my children and nieces and nephew and I don't want to be the scary Aunty that they never want to visit. Most of all though, I am going to grow old disgracefully, throw caution to the wind and to hell with anyone that doesn't approve.
You're a long time dead.