What's the one Big Fact about me that is obvious to all and affects every aspect of my life?
It's that I'm old. A senior citizen. An old age pensioner. A Boomer. I was born in 1952 and I'm very nearly seventy-one - the actual birthday is only six days off.
No other fact looms so large. Yes, I'm female, single, and live alone, with no children of my own. Yes, I'm a sixties' grammar school product. Yes, I'm British, and voted for Brexit. And although not very right-wing, I'm normally a Conservative voter. But none of these lesser facts counts so much.
It's rather odd that despite being old - at least by the standards of not very long ago - there is nowadays nothing terribly special about my having lived seven decades and more. And there are people like me all around. It was once remarkable to be alive at seventy, and amazing to survive even longer. No more.
The old are in fact a major force, still active, still demanding attention, and with voting power that no political party can ignore. We are the ones with the time and the will to turn out and vote. Electorally, the old are a fearsome and highly sensitive majority. We have long memories, common-sense, life experience, and quite possibly a good education. We have been fooled in the past, and are wary of being fooled again. We don't suffer misbehaviour or levity, and we are sniffy about idiotic trends. A politician's nightmare!
So the old get pandered to during and after elections. Hence the absurdity of retaining things like the £10 Christmas Bonus that every State Pensioner gets in December. (A whole host of people on benefits also get it, but it's particularly associated with pensioners) It was worth something when first introduced in 1972. Now it will buy you little more than a large gin and tonic. I'm amazed that it hasn't been scrapped, or absorbed into another benefit or pension, but it continues. It's become symbolic. If taken away, it would cause an outcry. It would be seen a mean-spirited stab-in-the-back for every pensioner. And yet doing away with this very small amount might help fund something worthwhile elsewhere. Better equipment for schools; new diagnostic machines in hospitals. I wouldn't mind, and I'm sure other oldies like me wouldn't either.
All this said, I've noticed a growing trend not to offer admission concessions to older persons. It continues for the young and the disabled, and quite rightly. But increasingly I enquire in vain about having something off for being old.
Not all old-age concessions have vanished yet, but it's safe bet that within five years they will be a rarity. And I suppose the reason is that senior age does not nowadays automatically mean poverty and a disadvantaged life. Indeed, I think that for older persons a life of shabbiness and economic misery has become rather the exception. Not everyone in my age bracket is comfortably off, but compared to thirty years ago there are many more sprightly oldies around who clearly can afford pleasant holidays, nice meals out, and more than one fulfilling interest or activity. None of my friends is totally awash with money; but nobody is so strapped for cash that their life is grey and monotonous.
This being so - at least among the kind of persons who would be interested in visiting museums and cathedrals and stately homes - it has become recognised that the average elderly visitor has plenty tucked away and need not be offered a discount. They even bump the price up, by suggesting a Gift Aid enhancement. (They can whistle for that. I always say that I pay no UK tax - it's a fib, but I'm damned if I'm going to pay over the odds)
It's understandable that age concessions are fading away, and of course it's commercially sensible, but even so I do think it's a pity. Too high an admission price puts you off. If a bit were lopped off to acknowledge one's long super-worthwhile life and years of garnered wisdom, the difference would make the transaction so much sweeter, and the price might well be paid. I know the young think that Boomers don't deserve favours like age concessions, but they are wrong. They might deny it, but in time they will come to see that being old is a very special state, needing adequate recognition.
Being mischievous, I could suggest that anyone envious of a Boomer's life tries out the aches and pains and sagging anatomy that go with it. Why, they can do so in advance, simply by putting on a headset and sampling an AI-fuelled cyberworld in which they can be themselves in fifty or sixty years' time. Cool.
