Snowdrops and hazel

Nothing to say just now.

Too much internal chatter going on.

The joy of old age*

While Kondo-ing I found one of those little books,
so easy to give and briefly, quite amusing to receive at Christmas
but otherwise destined to languish in the loo or guest room.

It was a compilation of quotes under the title
Old is the New Young.

Some of them raised a wry smile
but not enough of a spark of joy to merit keeping.
Do any of these resonate?

Inside every older person is a younger person

wondering what the hell happened.

Cora Harvey Armstrong

(I certainly wonder what the hell 
happened between 50 and 60.)

You can't turn back the clock

but you can wind it up again.

Bonnie Prudden
I looked her up. She was a force to be reckoned with.
Use it or lose it is what I suppose she is saying.
Well I'm aching from today's Pilates class.

When they tell me I'm too old to do something,

I attempt it immediately.

Pablo Picasso

The key to successful ageing is

to pay as little attention to it as possible.

Judith Regan

alternatively

I don't plan to grow old gracefully. 
I plan to have facelifts until my ears meet.

Rita Rudner

The older I get, the older old is.

Tom Baker

To me, old age is always 15 years

older than I am.

Bernard Baruch

Forty is the old age of youth;

fifty the youth of old age.

Victor Hugo.

I do wish I could tell you my age but

it's impossible.

It keeps changing all the time.

Greer Garson

I refuse to admit that I am more than 52,

even if that makes my children illegitimate.

Nancy Astor

Eventually you will reach a point

when you stop lying about your age

and start bragging about it.

Will Rogers

All would live long,

but none would be old.

Benjamin Franklin

Old age aint no place for sissies.

Bette Davis

Interviewer:

To what do you attribute your advanced age?

Sir Malcolm Sargent:

Well, I suppose I must attribute it 

to the fact that I have not died.

Exercise daily. Eat wisely.

Die Anyway.

Anonymous

Seize the moment.

Remember all those women on the Titanic who

waved off the dessert cart.

Erma Bombeck

My only regret in life is

that I didn't drink more champagne.

John Maynard Keynes

* See also Oliver Sacks here

Hell for leather

What with one thing and another

I completely forgot to have a mid-life crisis*.

I'm making a start on one now before it's too late.

There was a ridiculously beautiful supple leather 
biker jacket on sale in Sainsbury's today.
(My boutique of choice.)
I've never owned a leather jacket.
I stuffed it in my trolley with the butternut squash.

The woman at the checkout held it aloft and kept telling me
(and all the interested people in the queue), 
how much it cost, as if to give me a chance 
to come to my senses.
I gave her my stoniest stare.
Then she asked if I had tried it on.
I said no.
She asked, did I think it would fit?
I chickened out.
I told her it was for someone else.
She asked if it would fit them.
I said I hoped so, through gritted teeth.
Then she asked if it was cheap for a leather jacket.
I said I'd never bought one before.
She said, make sure you keep the receipt.

Then as if the Universe was quite determined 
to make me see the folly of my purchase
the alarm went off as I tried to exit.
The security guard took me to one side.
He took the jacket out of the bag
She hadn't taken off the tag.

I produced the receipt.

It was there between rice noodles and gingernuts.

He took it back to the till and waved it around a bit more
for everyone to see.

Then he brought it back and smiled.
It's a nice jacket he said.

Somehow, it had lost some of its allure.

*The expression was coined in 1965 and analysis showed 

it could start anytime between 40 and 60

but it is thought to start much earlier now,

which is odd when you think of our increased life expectancy.

Flashback

I bought this book on a whim (61p)

but wondered why the cover seemed so hauntingly familiar.

And then I remembered this dress.

My favourite dress, now about fifty years old.
Hard wired into my memory.
Here are the some of the songs forever playing in the background.

The vanishing point

This is my vanishing point too for a little while.

We're off to see our son in Japan

and when I come back I will be roku juu.

If it is your birthday soon,

this is for you -