When I'm 64

I wondered how many songs mentioning ages were in any way relevant to my life. I think I’d better own up to Dancing Queen at seventeen.  Even though I was still at school, I was aware of which direction my longings were pulling me. I’m not convinced if I was “tragically hip” at 38, and I’m pretty convinced that I had no need for a death cab for cutie at 60.

One song that’s haunted me for years is the classic “When I’m 64” from the Beatles, and tomorrow I will reach that milestone.

So, it’s time to take a look at those lyrics and see just how I have fared.

 I have lost a little hair with a classic bald patch starting to show through in the middle, but at the moment lockdown has more than taken care of that, giving me a full head of tonsorial pleasure. I did get a Valentine, and I’ve already had birthday greetings, and people who know me well remember that I gave up bottles of wine 22 years ago.

I think there’s little chance with the current restrictions that I’ll be out until 2:45am, and I’m happy to say that in domestic terms, I’ve never forgotten my keys.

I think we’ll glide quickly past mending a fuse while my partner knits a sweater by the fireside and while we may take the lovely new car we purchased this week out for a ride on a Sunday morning, we have artificial grass on our roof terrace and nothing will need a Sunday morning dig over.

Although current circumstances limit it, we do try and set our holiday horizons a little higher than a cottage on the Isle of Wight, although last year four days on a boat in the Norfolk Broads with two good friends was sheer heaven.

We don’t have grandchildren to look after, but between us, we have acquired a selection of nieces and nephews and godchildren whom we are keen to watch make their way in the world. Mercifully none of them are called Vera, Chuck, or even Dave.

We will be filling in a form on 21 March with the census and happily stating that we are together. So, I’m hoping that the criteria of being needed and fed is happily met.

Hopefully, Lennon and McCartney would think that I’ve met the necessary lyrical challenge.

I’m very lucky to have a life full of friends whom I can rely on and who bring me joy. Colleagues with whom I work who are inspiring and who push me to better things. To them, I say thank you.

And I’m happy that in my life I was lucky enough to find a special friend. Someone who changed my life just by being part of it. Somebody who can make me laugh until I can’t stop. Somebody who makes me believe that there really is good in the world. Somebody who convinces me that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for me to open it.

It’ll be his birthday this week too…… and the bastard is nowhere near 64!