[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1496308816' post='3310346']
Getting serious for a moment, and picking up on a couple of comments about being one age while 'thinking' much younger, something really has changed.
I'm 60 (but 17 inside) and I have pretty clear memories of my parents and grandparents back in the 60s and 70s, plus of course people like teachers and neighbours and shop assistants etc.
When they hit 40 my parents were definitely "middle aged" with all the accompanying cliches. They were already going out of shape physically at depressing speed, their minds were travelling in some pretty deep grooves (I'm trying not to call them ruts), they dressed and acted like their own parents, they were increasingly concerned about behaving in an appropriate manner.
My grandparents were in their 60s by my earliest clear memories of them and they were, inevitably, even more so. In his mid-60s my grandfather (after whom I'm named, and who lived in the flat above us) was, quite simply, old. He dressed and moved like an old man, talked like an old man, and already had - at least metaphorically - one foot in the grave. I was amazed that he made it through to 76.
Like I say, something has changed. Maybe it's medicine, or lifestyle, or attitude, or everything, but in every way that matters I have a more youthful outlook at 60 than my Dad had at 40. I'm in better shape physically, more flexible and open-minded in attitude, and I still barely think of myself as being even middle-aged, let alone getting old.
My parents were unusual people for their time; they were considered to be forward-thinking and perhaps even a bit risque. If I then think about the people the same age as my parents - teachers, neighbours, shop assistants, etc. - it just gets much worse.
At one level I find myself thinking - like so many others - where did it all go. But at another level I more often find myself thinking "Gone? Who says it's gone?".
[/quote]I've [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][color=#545454]read and heard on the radio recently that up to two thirds of [/color][color=#6A6A6A][b]babies born[/b][/color][color=#545454] in the last year – more than half a million newborns – could live until they are 100.[/color][/font][/size]