I begin with one of my many favourite quotes from “the Great Bard”, William Shakespeare, which has everything to do with what I am about to say.

I have gone past my three score and ten year allocation and, whether I like it or not, I am old and I am finding people around me, friends and contemporaries I knew well, are regularly dying off. Also, unlike some of my compatriots, who appear to be as fit as a fiddle, I am becoming decrepit and can no longer work at the coal face for any length of time or enjoy the various physical pursuits that I once did. My list of ailments is as long as one’s arm but I’m not going doolally, (at least) so I am told, and notwithstanding that having a “senior moment” is a regular occurrence these days, can’t use that as an excuse when told off when I’m doing the wrong thing.

I have a lot to be grateful for, especially when I look around me and see that I have lots of things that my fellow old and decrepits don’t have. While I don’t regard myself as wealthy (and have long felt guilty when I have and around me there are those who have not), besides which, I have long been of the view that true wealth can’t be measured by money or possessions, I have more than enough of that to get by and am blessed having family and friends around me. I live in relative comfort and enjoy the sort of freedoms many long for. I am married to a good wife, even though it sometimes feels like we are chalk and cheese. She is also my carer and is a qualified nurse taboot, but not a stereotypical one, as more inclined to tell me off.  

The task before me now is simple – do as much good as I can while I can, pass on a decent legacy, tell people the Good News, continue with my self/God appointed assignment to be a watchman and to prepare for eternity. Unlike in Frank Sinatra’s song, “My Way”, while I have regrets, in my case they are too many to forget, but the past is the past and the need is to move on. There is much going in the world that fills me with consternation, along with the frustration that comes as a result of being unable to do much about it, and the realisation that we live in a culture where the wisdom of the elderly is not a prized asset. The trick in the days that are left is to do what I can that makes best use of my talents and the circumstances in which I find myself. I end with another wise quote, which is the hymn I have told my dear wife that I would like sung at my funeral.