LIFE IN A RED HAT

Woke up this morning thinking thank goodness I won't be getting any more electioneering junk mail through the letterbox. Does anybody actually read this stuff anyway? I was getting to screaming point as every day I had to wade knee deep through leaflets to get out of the front door.

Why do these little things annoy me? A sign of your age, I hear you say. Well, maybe. I have noticed a certain tendency to irritation sometimes. It's only the little things though – litter louts, people walking their dogs on the beach where it's not allowed, people who park inconsiderately – that sort of thing. But the things that matter I take calmly. Anyhow, on the whole I do feel I'm entering a new free and easy phase of life.

Here are a few tell-tale signs I've noticed recently…

1. I’ve started muttering. This is the next stage on from talking to yourself. I know what I'm saying but anybody listening won't understand a word. And I don't care if nobody listens or understand either.

2. I don’t mind going out in scruffy clothes. In fact, I do it on purpose most mornings. I get dressed into what I call my dog walking clothes (because that's what they are). I deliberately do my hair how I think a mad dog lady would do it, as close as you can get without chopping it off in a straight line at chin level. I put on battered old trainers and a raincoat I've had for over ten years and I'm good to go. I don't give a tuppenny toot if people think I'm a bit odd. In fact, I rather hope they do. It's my way of enjoying myself.

3. I’ve started to Say Something if necessary. Yesterday a cyclist whizzed up behind me and the dog on a shared pedestrian/cyclist path and made me jump out of my skin. I found myself calling out after him, you've got a bell, why don't you ring it? Luckily, he didn't stop and thump me. I find myself Saying Something before I've had time to think. This is happening quite often now.

4. I'm prepared to take my camera out and about and take photos from strange angles and not care if I look silly! And I probably DO look silly, believe me.

 So I realise I must be practically into Red Hat* territory now. This brings a new freedom and its great! I've been looking forward to this for years, and I intend to enjoy it.

*See the poem by Jenny Joseph ‘Warning’