‘I hate the way over-60s are portrayed in the media’

It bothers me, the way over-60s are portrayed in the media. Are we all like the advertisements would have us? Bubmling, dithering and boring. That’s what I see in the media. They show us either playing lawn bowls or bingo, and not much else. That’s wrong, at least for me. It might suit a particlar market to show these bland humans of indeterminate age, but it’s also off the mark. Not everyone over the age of 60 is sitting at home twiddling their fingers or staring off into space thinking about life as it once was!

I know women and men who defy all the odds — my town is full of them; people who still get out and live their lives. Living that life to the fullest. I have been know to be a little wild myself. I still like an ecclectic range of music, I am a groupie for a local rock musician, and I have a couple of tattoos; my hair has had the odd purple tinge, though now I am a sort of boring silver, but sprays are an easy way to change that in a flash. Spray in pink or lilac, wash out next day. Freaky for a day. That suits me, then I can conform for a week or two and be that nice old lady in beige.

Clothes don’t always need to be perfect. I actually love fashion and love dressing up. I have a couple of ‘smart’ tidy outfits for church parties, funerals and formal dinners. Yet my wardrobe also reflects my love of what some might consider borderline whacky. There is the bolero in see through black, the hippie trousers, and a strong bright jackets in royal blue and orange. I am an oportunity shop devotee, and can scan a row of clothes in an instant, finding the one bargain and swooping to get it. One very smart jacket cost me a very low $2.75. I love off-the-shoulder tops, so have bought two or three this year. Though most of me is crumbling, I still have quite nice skin on my shoulders, and happily live by the motto ‘If you have flaunt it!’

My outlook, too, can be mature or very immature. I will be 79 next birthday, but there are days when I feel about 16. It might be a long way from the visual effect of that age though. I paint, I cook in a very gung-ho fashion — throwing things in, not measuring and very often the result is a whole lot better than the recipe in the book. Trouble is I have no record of what I cooked or how! The cakes I make that I approach with abandon are so much better.

My husband has to put up with my days of insanity, he looks well on my cooking, and we have been together 59 years. We both have bad days, who doesn’t? Whatever the age. We both have heart problems and are not likely to break into a fandango or a foxtrot, but we laugh a lot, and enjoy company, simple outings and a glass of wine.

While advertising seems to overlook the over-60s, or have us measured for a certain kind of box, I’m out there living and am nothing like the pictures they put before me. Life is for living, grab it.

What do you think about the way the over-60s are portrayed in the media? Do you have a similar attitude to this writer?

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