By Angela Bensemann
Now I’m not sure it ever entered my mind before that one
could reach that magical age. My husband’s Grandfather is the only person I
know to have achieved this goal and it got me wondering about what changes he’s
seen during his time.
The year was 1912 and a lot was happening. The Titanic sank
with 1500 lives lost. The formica
kitchen worktop was invented as too was the electric blanket, the zipper and
traffic lights.
Top of the pops was ‘When Irish eyes are smiling’ and ‘It’s
a long way to Tipperary’. The kewpie doll was first produced along with ‘Life
Saver’ lollies (sweets) and heated hair straighteners.
Scott and his party made it to the South Pole (but not back
again), the Republic of China was founded and the first neon advertising light
appeared in Paris.
Been there seen it done it
Since then there’s been all manner of things for Grandad to
contend with including two world wars, the great depression, women getting the
vote, man landing on the moon, the dawning of a new century, the invention of
computers, the internet etc etc etc. Phew.
It’s easy for us to get caught up in the here and now of what’s
happened in our lifetime and think we’ve seen the biggest changes with the
massive leaps in technology and globalisation over the past couple of decades. But can we really compete with the
suffragette movement and putting a man on the moon?
So now it’s your turn.
Imagine you’re going to live until you’re 100. That means you’ll be retired for as many
years as you’ve spent working or even more.
Imagine financially supporting yourself for another 40 years after you
retire? What’s the likely impact on your
bank balance and what will you do with yourself? For one thing you’ll need to get some new and
younger friends as all the oldies tend to pop off along the years.
It puts a different perspective on middle age and means we’ve
got lots more time to achieve our goals than we previously thought. Will we use it wisely?
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