I’m in my 60s but don’t call me a pensioner! – Helen Martin

Helen Martin says people in their 60s today are more like those in their 50s in the past.

Many young people seem to lose respect for old folk, says Helen Martin

FOR over-65s, it’s been a “topical” week, which is an unusual experience for pensioners.

Many of us watched the three-part documentary on BBC2 about GP Dr Harold Shipman killing off hundreds of patients, most being older women. He started in 1975 and went on murdering until 1998 before being charged and jailed when aged 55, 20 years ago. It didn’t have as much effect on me at the time as it did when I watched this aged 67.

Thursday was the International Day of Older Persons, established by the United Nations ten years ago. That was interesting too, but I’m not sure how many younger people were aware of it.

And right now, over-65s are the priority for flu vaccines because flu combined with Covid-19 is more likely to cause death, especially in older people. That’s not surprising given the number of aged who died because of the initial mishandling across the whole UK of Covid-19.

But there’s been a big change in the attitudes of over-65s now, especially women who, unlike most of Shipman’s victims, have had a modern and more affluent life. They don’t feel very “old”.

In our era young women started careers in medicine, law, teaching, investment, journalism, the music industry, science, politics, and anything else. We weren’t as dependant on men for financial support so weren’t desperate to find husbands, except for love and the need to have children. We had access to the pill unlike women in previous generations, were more independent, and spent more on clothes, make-up, cars and holidays than our parents and grandparents. Women who didn’t earn much still developed the same modern outlook to life.

There are still some feminist and equality goals to be achieved but the ’70s decade was the biggest first step.

Women over 65 don’t now switch to grey-haired perms or old lady buns, high-buttoned blouses and thick wrinkled hosiery. They wear jeans and T-shirts, knee-length skirts, slim-tight trousers and stilettos or Doc boots. There are even online dating sites for single 60-somethings! But we can’t pretend to be young.

My mother died aged 98. People are living longer but there’s no guarantee we all will. And crossing the 65th birthday can still create the challenge of accepting we’re now as old as we remember our grans and great-aunts were. Seventy years isn’t far away. Even if we feel “not old”, it’s worrying that we are creeping closer to a “bye-bye” day.

I think that might have been clearer for previous generations. Average life expectancy in 1960 was 70.61. In 1975 it was 72.21. In 2020 it’s estimated at 81.15. What will it be in 2030? One of the aspects of being regarded at over 65 and retired is that many younger people lose respect for such old folk, as if our lives are based in the past and any wisdom we had doesn’t relate to the world today.

I’d like to think that today’s 60s are more like 50s. It’s good to have pensions but I don’t want to be a “pensioner”. I’m glad to get vaccines early but that means being in the same group as “elderly”.

I’m not surprised if some people think this is all a bit weird. I’m just sharing the mental challenges of going through the 60s.

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