Elderly Mr Men…

Yesterday 38-year-old journalist Kate Wills wrote about getting old: ‘Viewing care homes for my dad made me realise how badly we treat our elderly… (one) study found that ageism is rife in the UK, with older people seen as incompetent, hostile and a burden… ageism is not discriminating against people who are different from us, but against our future selves…’

I’ve now become that ‘future self’ I might have thought of as a 38-year-old…

I love the Mr Men books. Characters were named by their dominant characteristic… Mr Greedy, Mr Sneezy, Mr Strong… Ghastly stereotypes – that make me smile.

I wondered which elderly Mr Men Kate might meet in Lowestoft…

Mr Forgetful… I’ve heard: ‘I know him well; I just couldn’t remember his name…’ ‘I walked into the kitchen. I couldn’t remember why I’d come, so I made a cup of tea whist I was waiting…’ ‘What was that word I couldn’t remember?’

Mr Slow… Friends talk about slowing down in body, mind and spirit…Yesterday’s road-works caused Lowestoft traffic to crawl along nose to tail (one lady said ‘toes to nail’). Sometimes I’m content to go slowly in a queue of traffic; I don’t feel desperate to overtake…

Mr Awkward… Robert’s 59. Yesterday we were talking about getting old. ‘I want to live to be 100,’ he said, ‘so that I can be the grumpy, awkward old man who annoys everybody… my wife says I’ve had years of practice.’

Mr Regret… Andy was looking back with regret… relationships that had gone wrong, never getting married, poor business decisions, treatment for his current physical condition. Andy’s memoirs could be written in an ‘ought-a-biography’.            

Mr Faith…  Yesterday in church Mark was talking about faith. He mentioned 75-year-old Abraham who left home, setting out on an adventure, travelling to a place he didn’t know, just because his God had told him to.

Musing on times when I’m Mr Forgetful… Mr Slow… Mr Awkward… Mr Regret… Mr Faith… my adventure into the unknown of elderly-ness…