How do you manage to hit the spot every time? When I read your pieces, no matter which topic, i spend most of the read simply going “ yes!! Someone who understands, at last!”
The pupgrade on airlines I would definitely pay for. Your latest work on either being too early or too late at being in the right moment. Like a zeitgeist-free zone in your dna.
I too adopted stuff before it was trendy & people wondered what I was on. Or I turned up far too late to enjoy a craze that would have been a perfect fix except I was 50 years too old.
Bingo. How many years have I been a bingo snob but, last November over in the USA visiting my son in Napa he took me to a bar for cocktails & it was a charity bingo night. The charity aspect gave me licence to drop my snobby attitude & embark on an evening of squeals & shrieks of unbridled mirth. I think the cocktails caused that relaxing of my British reserve.
Thank you for all your lovely witty perceptive pieces. Enjoy your retirement.
As a child who went to her first opera at 4, and sang along, this is so bloody relatable. I’ve recently taken up crochet. I’m very excited that the wild mint in my front yard is back because i love making it into tea and I’m running low after the long winter. I’m super jealous of your bingo nights and sadly don’t think there’s a hall near me but I’m motivated to look into it further.
I am also 43 and pushing 70! I'm an old soul in a 43-year old body that also functions like it's 70. So basically I'm 70 except for that whole birthday thing.
I’m over twenty years older than you and live the life you described, except the work part. I was finally able to shake that addiction. I can read two books in succession. I used to be lucky to read two books in a year. Life is slower, and that’s fine. The mind needs to spin its wheels once in a while. Go to the beach more often. Bored doesn’t get to the beach; you can watch the waves for what seems like hours then realize it’s not even lunchtime (although those late breakfasts and earlier dinners really crowd lunch). Enjoy yourself.
Can I share this quote in other socialedia, or do you already have it available in your handy stack of self-quotes ready for posting?
"People say life just gets boring as you get older, but I’m not sure that’s true. It’s not that life gets boring, it’s that exciting stuff gets annoying. And that’s particularly true for my generation, who has rightfully learned to equate excitement with anxiety after a lifetime of breaking news alerts. So, for a lot of us, the boring stuff has become the exciting stuff, because peace of mind is now considered exciting, because it’s damn near extinct."
I’m over 70, never been interested in Bingo, but am an avid reader/movie watcher/dog walker/political junkie —all of which I was looking forward to spending the bulk of my time doing. But things did not turn out as I’d hoped, so now in addition to daily doomscrolling I lace up my HOKAS and head to demonstrations and political meetings at least twice a week. “Relaxing” just doesn’t seem to be in the cards in the near future, though keeping informed/meeting interesting people/and, yes, having fun are.(Plus the books and movies and dog time, of course.)
OMG, I so badly want to come play bingo with you and your friends!!!! You didn't mention blue hair dinner, but I'm a big fan. Also, the rye chips are the best part of the party mix.
I retired a year ago at 66 and love it, but for some reason decided I should work very part time, on an 'on call, part time, temp basis' as non- committal as could be, so I was basically working 4 hours a week and even dreaded that for no reason, so after one month of this grueling schedule of showing up to 'work' for 4 hours a week to work in an easy job in a field I loved in a place I could walk to from my house, I realized my issue and had to tell them 'I just don't want to work.' bingo. that was it and life opened up.
Well...I had only played Bingo a handful of times in my life but every year at the shore for a week with 3 of my girlfriends we would go to Bingo one night at this fire hall because we heard they had a good jackpot. Most people were regulars and had like 25 cards to follow. I was playing 4 and racing to keep up. And what should happen? Bet you can guess...I won the jackpot! Those people really take their Bingo seriously...they were not happy. And I couldn't blame them. We got out of there fast. We went back several years but never got that lucky again. But it was fun!
Unstuck in time is the perfect description for us "old souls". Enjoy retirement and don't be surprised if your 20s or 30s come out to play in your 70s. There's nothing quite like living outside of time
How do you manage to hit the spot every time? When I read your pieces, no matter which topic, i spend most of the read simply going “ yes!! Someone who understands, at last!”
The pupgrade on airlines I would definitely pay for. Your latest work on either being too early or too late at being in the right moment. Like a zeitgeist-free zone in your dna.
I too adopted stuff before it was trendy & people wondered what I was on. Or I turned up far too late to enjoy a craze that would have been a perfect fix except I was 50 years too old.
Bingo. How many years have I been a bingo snob but, last November over in the USA visiting my son in Napa he took me to a bar for cocktails & it was a charity bingo night. The charity aspect gave me licence to drop my snobby attitude & embark on an evening of squeals & shrieks of unbridled mirth. I think the cocktails caused that relaxing of my British reserve.
Thank you for all your lovely witty perceptive pieces. Enjoy your retirement.
My soul, and my body, are both pushing 70, and there’s nothing I look forward to like your articles for a hearty laugh. Keep up with the retirement 😂
As a child who went to her first opera at 4, and sang along, this is so bloody relatable. I’ve recently taken up crochet. I’m very excited that the wild mint in my front yard is back because i love making it into tea and I’m running low after the long winter. I’m super jealous of your bingo nights and sadly don’t think there’s a hall near me but I’m motivated to look into it further.
You sound so fun.
I am also 43 and pushing 70! I'm an old soul in a 43-year old body that also functions like it's 70. So basically I'm 70 except for that whole birthday thing.
I’m over twenty years older than you and live the life you described, except the work part. I was finally able to shake that addiction. I can read two books in succession. I used to be lucky to read two books in a year. Life is slower, and that’s fine. The mind needs to spin its wheels once in a while. Go to the beach more often. Bored doesn’t get to the beach; you can watch the waves for what seems like hours then realize it’s not even lunchtime (although those late breakfasts and earlier dinners really crowd lunch). Enjoy yourself.
This. Right here. Is everything.
Can I share this quote in other socialedia, or do you already have it available in your handy stack of self-quotes ready for posting?
"People say life just gets boring as you get older, but I’m not sure that’s true. It’s not that life gets boring, it’s that exciting stuff gets annoying. And that’s particularly true for my generation, who has rightfully learned to equate excitement with anxiety after a lifetime of breaking news alerts. So, for a lot of us, the boring stuff has become the exciting stuff, because peace of mind is now considered exciting, because it’s damn near extinct."
I "retired" at 48. I've never worked so hard as I do now. 🙄😬👩🎨✍️🤣🤣🤣🫂
Say hi to Marge and Karen for me.
I’m over 70, never been interested in Bingo, but am an avid reader/movie watcher/dog walker/political junkie —all of which I was looking forward to spending the bulk of my time doing. But things did not turn out as I’d hoped, so now in addition to daily doomscrolling I lace up my HOKAS and head to demonstrations and political meetings at least twice a week. “Relaxing” just doesn’t seem to be in the cards in the near future, though keeping informed/meeting interesting people/and, yes, having fun are.(Plus the books and movies and dog time, of course.)
OMG, I so badly want to come play bingo with you and your friends!!!! You didn't mention blue hair dinner, but I'm a big fan. Also, the rye chips are the best part of the party mix.
I related to so much of this it was scary, down to the fued with Home Depot. Sounds like I might want to look into Bingo.
I retired a year ago at 66 and love it, but for some reason decided I should work very part time, on an 'on call, part time, temp basis' as non- committal as could be, so I was basically working 4 hours a week and even dreaded that for no reason, so after one month of this grueling schedule of showing up to 'work' for 4 hours a week to work in an easy job in a field I loved in a place I could walk to from my house, I realized my issue and had to tell them 'I just don't want to work.' bingo. that was it and life opened up.
Well...I had only played Bingo a handful of times in my life but every year at the shore for a week with 3 of my girlfriends we would go to Bingo one night at this fire hall because we heard they had a good jackpot. Most people were regulars and had like 25 cards to follow. I was playing 4 and racing to keep up. And what should happen? Bet you can guess...I won the jackpot! Those people really take their Bingo seriously...they were not happy. And I couldn't blame them. We got out of there fast. We went back several years but never got that lucky again. But it was fun!
Excellent, congratulations. I’m retired, too, except for the job part.
Unstuck in time is the perfect description for us "old souls". Enjoy retirement and don't be surprised if your 20s or 30s come out to play in your 70s. There's nothing quite like living outside of time
My dad became Middle-aged Mall Man. There is no higher society than that!