Seven things that tell you you're getting older...

I’d like to add a few more things to the list which usually begins with You go into a room and forget what you went in there for…

1.     Strange things start to bother you

 There’s a whole new world of surprises out there once you get past your 60^th birthday.

For example, I kind of expected my eyebrows to start greying. What I didn’t expect was one of them to go grey and not the other. OK, I exaggerate a bit. What is happening is that the left is going grey a lot faster than the right. I used to lie awake at night imagining what a fright I’m going to look with one white and one almost black eyebrow. A trivial worry, you might think, in the grand scheme of things, and so it is. So thank goodness the next phase of getting older kicked in…

2.     You don’t worry much what people think of you

This is one of the nicest things about being a senior. Such a liberation!

3.     It takes you two hours to get ready to leave the house

 I’ve started to notice this recently, and I’m surprised! Goodness knows why, I should have expected it really. It takes me absolutely ages to get ready to leave the house in the morning.

4.     It’s normal to have some aches and pains most of the time

 Somehow we never quite believe it will happen to us, do we? Maybe some people do get lucky, or have discovered the secret to pain free ageing. I’m working on it myself but so far without much success.

I just didn’t expect it to creep up on me so soon.

BTW, the pic is me with a splint on my hand in an attempt to bring my arthritic thumb into place.

5.     You become convinced the world is going mad

Businesses, utility companies, councils – none of them seem to be able to get their act together. Governments don’t know what they’re doing. Parents don’t know how to bring up their children. In fact sometimes the world seems to be going to hell in a handcart.

Smart phones, iPads, laptops etc. – no problem using them yet. But now a lot of technology IS getting bewildering. Trying to follow instructions online can be like trying to understand a foreign language. Nothing makes sense any more! 
How do ordinary people understand this stuff? And as for a disembodied voice called Alexa telling me it isn’t going to rain today when it quite obviously is doing just that, and heavily – well, the world is going mad.

6.     You fit grab rails in the shower

 Or go the whole hog and install a wet room. This would have been my number one choice had space permitted. But I’ve settled for the grab rails, with an extra one outside the front door, just in case.

7.     Checkout girls start calling you ‘dear’

 Yes, it is now that obvious I’m a granny.

Also, I was having a bit of physio last week and was handed a self help leaflet with an old lady pictured on the front. As if to say, ‘You are experiencing the sort of problems associated with being old, dear’.

Just a few points. There are plenty more.

What has really surprised me is how much I’m enjoying the over-sixty years. Maybe all these constant reminders are a wake-up call not to slide quietly into oblivion. Not just yet anyway…