On the way home from coffeeing with a friend at The Woodlands I stopped at a garage to get a latte as a surprise for a friend whose office I pass on the way home.
The two youngsters serving were chatty and another customer in his 20s appeared, ordered and commented on the terrible loss of Meatloaf.
"How old was he?" the customer asked.
"70" one of the servers responded.
I was just about to correct him and say "74" when the customer said "What did he die of?"
The assistant looked at him and said "He was 70 for heavens sake when you get to that age you're old and you die. You don't have to die of 'something'. "
At this point I felt compelled to have my tuppence-worth so I said something like "Hang on. 70 isn't old. I'm nearly 80 and I'm not old and I'm certainly not thinking of "just dying" anytime soon."
I was reasonably appeased by the look of astonishment about my age but then I suppose if you are walking without a stick and wearing a tie with yellow ducks on it you're not exactly a typical Lewis bodach.
The conversation continued on the agreed merits of Meatloaf until the latte was ready and I drove off into the morning gloom and delivered the coffee and wondered if my friend looked at me and though "Ah well, he's survived another day."
R.I.P Meatloaf. Thank you for all the pleasure you have given to so many of us.
Bat Out Of Hell was my husband's favourite album at the time we first got together. He would play it on car journeys with both of us belting it out at the top of our voices.
ReplyDeleteIt is chastening to realise that at our advanced years, in the eyes of most young people, we are now the walking dead. Best pop another bottle of fizz whilst I still can.
Well, JayCee, one of the things about the bottle of fizz is that as we get older we have fewer years to worry about.
Deleteoh dear LOL funny what people believe sometimes. Meatloaf was and still is a bit of an icon, I like some of his music. Btw I saw your comments on my blog about the pounamu, I've changed the wording to say that you can buy them from a business but it's stealing that gets you the bad energy so you should be safe :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amy, for clearing up my concerns about the pounamu.
DeleteClichés abound, like "Eighty is the new ninety", and so on. I think that by and large they are true. We are living longer and especially do not look as old as "we should" Many of us are fitter and more active too. Especially those who wear ties with yellow ducks.......
ReplyDeleteThat should read ninety is the new eighty not the other way around!
DeleteDavid, I had to read and re-read that to get it the correct way around in my head. I knew what you meant though from the start.
DeleteWhen I was a child, everybody over the age of forty looked old to me. They were all ready for the knacker's yard.
ReplyDeleteHeavens above, YP, you certainly had a rather vivid imagination of the 'old'. Heaven knows how you regarded an 90 year old.
DeleteI regarded them as skeletons.
DeleteSad news, Meatloaf was a character. I remember his appearances on a ghost hunting show, totally delightful man.
ReplyDeleteA yellow ducks on your tie? Are the flying kind or the bathtub style?
Maywyn, they are bathtub ducks.
DeletePeople younger than me look old.
ReplyDeleteThat, Tasker, is one of the most ambiguous comments I've seen. Is that "All people" or just Fred down the road who is a 25 year old ravaged by drink and drugs together with his friends.
DeleteR.I.P. Meatloaf. A wonderful talent gone. Can just picture you in that tie and the number of people who would gain a smile from seeing it. I was talking to a young friend yesterday who had just told me she would have her 44th birthday in a few days and I told I would be 33 years older than her around the same time. She frowned and looked puzzled and said, "But you can't be that old. You're my friend." I better keep her friendship if it keeps me young. On the other hand little Lexis told me her mum and dad are old and I'm really old. Then added another couple of reallys. Perspective, huh?
ReplyDeletePerspective is everything, Pauline. Neither you nor I are old in our thinking and that is a huge part of the battle against the ravages that time wreaks upon the bodies we inhabit.
DeleteI never did listen to Meat loaf but he certainly had a lot of fans.
ReplyDeleteYou missed something unique, Red.
DeleteWhen I was about 50 I remember a check-out girl pressing my change into my hand, and folding my fingers over it. It felt like she was saying "Now don't lose it dear"; as if I was some old buffer.
ReplyDeleteWell, Cro, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As is perception.
DeleteU
Cro, I think that's a hilarious story. I'm not sure how I'd have reacted.
DeleteI don't like the age debate. There are people old before their time, there are people who, by their bred-in-the-bone nature and good genes, are vibrant to the end, belying their "age". By the very definition of age, at eighty you are old just as a teen is young and a fifty year old middle age. That's just timeline - nothing to do with how you feel.
ReplyDeleteTo those "old" in years - take heart. It's called the passage of time. Still, truth be told, when I turned sixty it was the one and only birthday that came as a huge shock to me. I was aghast at the very number: SIXTY. How did that come about? And why are my parents still alive?
I do agree with your shop assistant's take. Wise words of hers: "You don't have to die of 'something'." You just die. Best case scenario: Of old age.
U
Ursula, I agree with what you've said although the age debate doesn't worry me in the least. I was told by my Mother that I was born with my pension book in my hand. I always make the point that I didn't become young until I was just in my sixties.
DeleteI feel old but unfortunately don't think "old".
ReplyDeleteA golden age what with Meatloaf and Dire Straits. Bat out of Hell was a bargain on the Juke box, it lasted for ages.
Adrian, you've just said what my Mum always said. Indeed when she decided to die in her 90s she still had all her mental faculties and declared that, mentally, she was still the 18 year old girl who just left school.
DeleteI agree with Ursula; it's just timeline.
ReplyDeleteMy take on age is that being young is not a merit, but getting old (and still being there!) is.
A tie with yellow ducks on? You really should post about your collection of ties, Graham.
Meike, I take your point. As for the ties I shall regale you all with a display soon.
DeleteI am very much looking forward to the tie display, Graham!
DeleteThere are times I feel old and times I don't. It depends on the day, my mood, my aches, my activities, etc. etc. I often can't imagine, tho, how time has flown by so quickly.
ReplyDeleteEllen, I can't say that I never feel old because I've had moments like that for years. It's a state of mind to some extent. As for the time flying by I realised how quickly it was going when I worked out when I got my car if it was going to be my last.
DeleteGood on you, Graham for making that comment! Take a bow, young fella...I'm proud of you for doing so! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lee. Particularly for the 'young fella'!
DeleteNow I want to see that tie! - oh, I see Meike already made the request... :) About age, the way I see it is that we carry with us all the ages we have so far experienced. The problem with young people is that they're not able to see into the future... Which is why they're still struggling with the concept of "old" :)
ReplyDeleteThis post also made me recall when I was in town some time before Christmas, I think it was a Saturday with quite a few people out shopping. There were various market stalls etc in the square, and among them some people at a table offering coffee. (Turned out to be from some church I think - but what they were representing doesn't matter for the story.) Anyway, one of them called out to me as I was passing and addressed me as (the Swedish equivalent of) "Hey, little lady". That left me pondering all the way back home, not sure whether to feel small, old, or "ladylike"...
Monica, that doesn't sound to me as though it's a particularly complimentary address regardless of your age or size. My ties will appear soon.
DeleteGraham, it did not sound particularly complimentary in Swedish either. I decided to let it pass as an attempt at being polite gone wrong, though! ;)
DeleteI certainly don't expect anyone to just "up and die" until they are in their 90s but I suppose 74 ancient to a young person. My kids refer to 40 as "old"
ReplyDeleteKylie my son is in his 40s so I don't have that problem yet.
DeleteWhen I was 6 I regarded 11 as immeasurably old.
ReplyDeleteHeavens, Jenny, I don't even remember how I thought when I was 6.
DeleteI was going to make an age-related joke.... but I won't do that.... no, I won't do that.
ReplyDelete(Meat Loaf pun alert)
Oh, Marcheline, I was looking forward to one of your sories!
DeleteCertainly to anyone in their teens and twenties anyone older is considered ancient, but good for you graham on setting that lot straight about age not really being important. Anyone who wears a tie with yellow ducks is young at heart and that's what matters.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice, I was born with a pension book in my hand (my Mother always said) but in my sixties I had an epiphany and decided to be young and, so far, I've managed to stay that way.
Delete