Old age cometh – better shoot us all now

Have you ever noticed how well-turned-out the elderly are? You see them in town struggling with their shopping, clearly finding the very act of putting one step in front of the other a major effort. But their shoes are immaculate, their clothes beautifully pressed and every hair is in place. I’m full of admiration. Now look around at the younger generations (and for the sake of argument I’ll include myself since you haven’t seen a picture yet). Scruffy jeans, old trainers, sloppy jumpers, crumpled T-shirts….I know that’s just me, but I’m certainly not alone. The very young with their brand new bodies can get away with sub-standard, crumpled clothes. But we older people with our sub-standard, crumpled bodies need a smarter outer layer to compensate. I can’t help wondering what will happen when we scruffy middle-aged people become elderly ourselves. We’ll be down-at-heel, messy, still wearing our ancient jeans and trainers – give us a couple of placcy bags and sympathetic passers-by will be throwing us the occasional 50p for a cup of tea. Now there’s a thought.