Strictly Boomers

It's Autumn and time for a new series of Strictly Come Dancing. I'm rooting for Felicity Kendall, Peter Shilton and Ann Widecombe, all 1940's baby boomers. Some of them may not look elegant on the dance floor, but I love their chutzpah.

64, but feeling 34

Maureen Lipman is reported to have said recently that she still expects to be looked at when walking down the street. "I still think I am 34."

There is no doubt that, in spite of what we see in the mirror, we can delude ourselves about the effect of the passage of the years. It is the reaction of others that brings the truth home.

Technology that spans the generations

It seems the new iPad is a hit with the elderly - and anyone else whose eyesight is not so good. The fact the text can be enlarged, and is backlit, makes reading a pleasure again.

Too old at 35

According to Disneyland you are too old to dress up after your 9th birthday.
A 35 year old and her 8 year old daughter dressed up as princesses for a day out in the theme park. The woman was wearing a wedding dress from a charity shop, but Disney would not allow her in until she had changed into jeans and a shirt.
Shame on Disney: we need to nuture our sense of fun at any age.

Dress sizes

A comment seen in a fashion article about the unreliability of dress sizes: "A size 12 for a 25 year old is not the same as a size 12 for a 55 year old."
At first sight this seems nonsensical, but, on reflection, perhaps it is merely observing that we change shape as we age? Instead of being 36-26-38 is it possible that the average woman becomes 26-36-38?

Heather Hosking

Kontakthof

Pina Bausch has been described as one of the most influential choreographers of our time.
Until her death last year she was Director of Tanztheater Wuppertal. Kontakthof is a piece of dance theatre she created in 1978, but in 2000 its creator decided that it should be performed by ordinary people aged 65 or more. Then in 2008 the performers were teenage school children. Both versions were performed in London recently. In a review I read by David Dougill he said the teenagers were admirable, but acting their parts. The "oldies" brought their "lifetimes of experience" and lived the performance.
I like the way this piece of theatre recognises that the feelings and desires of older people are just as worthy of exploration as those of the young. In using these performances in counterpoint it seems that a new level of meaning and emotional response can be found to them. A lesson to be learned from this then?

Heather Hosking

Happy Endings retirement living

When I read to an audience a fictional piece I had written about the Happy Endings Retirement Village, the name got a laugh. So did my description of 80 year old women, stringy and brown from endless Pilates classes and tanning sessions. But it's no joke.
Writing in a Sunday supplement Fred Redwood tells of a retirement development called Memory Lanes and of the "lively programmes...about interaction and stimulation, not leaving people to sleep through their days." I'm an advocate of not writing people off as too old to do interesting things, too early, but sometimes it concerns me as well that there could be pressure in the other direction. Maybe some of us just want to take it easy after a lifetime of work, and should not be made to feel guilty about it?
Talking of guilt, the same article quotes a property analyst reporting that few elderly people downsize their homes. The suggestion is that they should be prepared to do so for the benefit of younger people. Link this to the idea that elderly people need a lot of medical care that could otherwise be used for the problems of the young, and we are on a slippery slope.
Every life, young or old, is as important as any other. If the old want to rattle around in large properties rather than cram their possessions into a studio flat, we should let them.

Heather Hosking