Royal Mail’s recent spate of deliveries offered a sign that plenty of companies had twigged I have a “special” birthday approaching.
Look, there’s one for a Caribbean cruise… another for a funeral plan… and a third for the sort of warm, woolly clothes which went out with syrup of figs and firelighters.
But, and wait a minute, here’s one with a nice-looking building on it.
Until you take a closer look at the pamphlet and realise it’s for an old folk’s home.
Are they trying to make me feel old?
These are the not-so-subtle methods employed to remind me that I am turning 65 on April 12, and, therefore, officially entering the ranks of the pension brigade.
The slight problem, of course, is that the Government keeps pushing back the date when they actually start paying the state pension, so I’m not going to be ordering a celebratory pack of Werther’s Originals or Empire biscuits any time soon.
But I’m still not sure how to feel. I mean – sixty-bleeding-five. What does it mean, how do others respond to it, and what lessons have I learned in reaching this far?
I’ve reached out to six different people from across the north and north-east who are over 60, to hear their advice and lessons for growing old[er].
1. Listen to what youngsters are saying, says Lorraine Kelly, 65
One cardinal rule is to keep up with the news. If not in minute detail, then at least pay enough attention to know the difference between Sabrina and Karen Carpenter.
As Lorraine Kelly, TV host and author, who recently turned 65, told me: “I’m lucky to love my job and it keeps me young, because I need to do my homework and watch new films and TV shows, see new plays and read new books.
“My team are younger than me and keep me up to date with music and social media trends, but it also helps that I’m curious about everything.
“I don’t exercise as much as I should and, at weekends, I eat too much and enjoy a glass of wine. But becoming a grandmother has brought me joy and a new lease of life.”
2. Sort out your will and power of attorney, says Peterhead lawyer, 71
Peterhead lawyer, Doric stalwart and P&J columnist Gordon Hay, 71, has witnessed significant advances in medical provision, which are keeping many people alive longer and providing a better quality of life than our grandparents could have envisaged.
And yet, he believes the state pension system is now “creaking at the seams”. And that’s not the only issue which he has warned about.
Gordon said: “In my working life as a lawyer, I was constantly urging people to make wills. ‘I’m ower young tae mak a will,’ was a constant reply.
“To which my response was: when we get up in the morning, none of us can be sure we will be going back to bed that night, and I cited my loss of a sister in an accident at 18.
“The deciding factor for most clients came when I said: ‘But please yourself, we lawyers make more money sorting out the mess when there’s no will.’
“Another essential is a Power of Attorney. It’s like an insurance policy. I made one in favour of my children about 25 years ago.
“It sits in a drawer unused, but will be there if it is needed should I be unable to conduct my affairs through age, dementia or any other sort of incapacity.
“If you own any assets, such as property, shares, cash, you should have a Power of Attorney – just in case. It is too late to make one after you lose your mental faculties.”
3. ‘Don’t let the old person in the room’ says Western Isles film-maker, 61
Western Isles-based film-maker Patricia Macleod is adamant that people should forge their own path in later life rather than be swept along by events.
The 61-year-old said: “Something that inspired me was a quote by Clint Eastwood. When he was asked how he does so much at his age [94], he said: ‘I don’t let the old man in.’ That’s key. I live by that advice: ‘Don’t let the old woman in.”
Pat added: “I also feel strongly that people should start doing the things they plan to do after they retire, way before they retire.
“For starters, they get the chance to see if these are things they actually enjoy doing and will be excited to get on with doing once they retire or semi-retire.
“That’s much better than finding themselves in a vacuum the day they stop work.”
4. Find a cause and never vegetate, says Islay author, 75
That is never an issue for 75-year-old Islay-based author Les Wilson, who admits that his working life has been “more of a series of hobbies with a pay cheque at the end”.
And his philosophy is summed up by a story which came his way while he was researching his book Putting the Tea in Britain: How Scots Made our National Drink.
He told me: “I was visiting a tea plantation in the mountains of southern India and discovered an ancient Michie’s Patent Sifter rattling away in the factory.
“On it was a plaque showing it had been made in Ceylon by a Scots engineering firm called Walker, Sons & Co Ltd. I proudly pointed out to the man who was showing me around it was an almost century-old piece of Scottish engineering – and still working.
“He said: ‘Never resting, never rusting.’ I thought: ‘Bingo. That’s my motto from now.”
5. Appreciate our good fortune, says UHI professor, 76
Jim Hunter, emeritus professor of history at UHI, 76, has delved into the days when many Scottish children died in infancy and when the average lifespan, particularly in the grimmer parts of urban Scotland, wasn’t much above 40.
And, as a baby boomer – those born between 1945 and 1960 – he realises how his generation avoided so many of the crises which bedevilled the previous one.
He said: “What I’m increasingly conscious of, as the world becomes an ever more uncertain and perilous place, is how lucky people of my age have been.
“My parents and grandparents had to deal with two world wars, a runaway economic catastrophe and the perils of diseases such as tuberculosis and polio.
“I was born three years after the end of the Second World War – into an era where, thanks to an expanding economy, the emergence of the NHS, the welfare state, free secondary schooling, generous student grants and much else, I was provided with opportunities of a sort no previous generation of my family had.
“Being in one’s seventies, of course, has its drawbacks. But these are nothing, I feel, compared with the difficulties and hazards confronting today’s young people.
“They have next to none of the advantages made available to me when I was young.”
6. Live every day to the fullest, says Doric quine, 77
Doric Quine Sheena Blackhall has seen the transformation at close range. And, in typically idiosyncratic terms, she explained how the world had turned on its axis since she entered the world in 1947 – and survived Aberdeen’s typhoid epidemic in 1964.
The 77-year-old said: “Some days I feel 100, other days I feel 20. I’m a Buddhist. I still do supply teaching in primary schools. A day here, two days there.
“And, as I get older, I find that I like children more.
“The grannies I see nowadays are punks, they have tattoos and ring binder earrings. And, by the way, I sorted out a Power of Attorney for when I turn dolly dimple.”
There’s a message. 65 isn’t the new 55, it’s 65, but with a lot of fringe benefits and a reminder that age is just a number for those who ignore the calendar.
And above all, it’s a damn sight better than the alternative.
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