Over the Hill

The elderly, like the poor, are always with us, and there's more of us each year. The world we grew up in has long gone, and with all the progress comes frustration and exasperation. There seems to be a move to demonize old folk; it's a kind of odd envy for the fact that we don't seem to have to face the challenges younger people have to face in a consumer society which is ruled by greed and bereft of old fashioned morality. Yet getting old isn't the walk in the park most people think. These few verses are written by a man facing his 70th birthday. 'Wrinklies' often get hold of the wrong end of the stick, and some of us admit it. Here, then, in 'Over The Hill' are all the misinterpreted 'facts' of life as we see it, blended with longing, nostalgia and anger. This is also a reminder to any younger reader that they, too, will one day feel the same.