| Today is the first day of the rest of my life and I | | | | to Europe by train, horizons are much broader. In |
| am not going to squander it by sitting around | | | | the last year I have been as far north as above |
| bemoaning my wrinkles and the wobbly bits of | | | | the Arctic Circle in Sweden and as far south as |
| my body. I am not a kid any more, and the | | | | Spain and Greece by train. (Makes a smaller |
| reflection I see in the mirror still startles me a bit, | | | | 'footprint' that way - and is much more fun than |
| because it simply doesn't look how I expect it to. | | | | being cooped up in a plane). In 2009 I plan to visit |
| And, no, I don't like it much - this looking old thing. | | | | some of the eastern European countries that are |
| But I cannot change it (not without losing a great | | | | now accessible using the Railpass. Hostels |
| deal of self-respect, anyway - and without | | | | everywhere are quite happy to take older people, |
| sacrificing the money I want to spend on travel | | | | and those who stay in hostels are friendly and |
| on plastic surgery, which is at best very | | | | accepting of anyone they meet there. (I expect |
| expensive and at worst could be a disaster). So | | | | there are exceptions, but I haven't met any yet). |
| today I am recognising and celebrating my mind | | | | And now I'm blogging and having a great deal of |
| and all it can do. I am jam-packed with | | | | fun with it. Meeting people like this is easier - they |
| information and ready to go. | | | | cannot see the me I wish wasn't quite so |
| I speak two languages well and can stumble | | | | used-looking. And I cannot see what they look |
| around in two or three more. I play the piano and | | | | like, which is OK too! We will never have to find |
| the piano accordion and teach others too! I sing, | | | | something we can bear to wear and tart |
| less well than I used to, but still in tune and | | | | ourselves up here in this environment. My mind is |
| enjoyably. I can do complicated thinking and can | | | | sharp and shiny and has no fat, no wrinkles, no |
| share this with others. I am a living encyclopaedia | | | | worn bits. It's fine and dandy, and, if I can go on |
| and remember stuff that the kids in the local | | | | exercising it this way (and all the other ways I |
| school think of as history. | | | | choose - like travel, and learning new things and - |
| I am really fairly together and up-to-date with my | | | | well, you name it) then I imagine that at 100 I will |
| knowledge of IT and IT-related stuff. I have a | | | | be planning some new venture in an environment |
| Dslite and a rather young brain age, and am | | | | not yet dreamed of. |
| looking forward to having a Wii and the exercise | | | | I know I'm too old for outer space travel and I |
| games that go with it. I am maintaining a blog or | | | | regret it. So I am travelling in inner space, thinking |
| two, and a website that sells doll house stuff. I | | | | out things, puzzling through the meaning of it all. |
| write for another site and am learning more skills | | | | Each day I get a bit closer to understanding it - |
| from the Cambridge Business Academy, while | | | | and a bit further away. I love thinking - it's such a |
| tracking down the odd spelling slip and misplaced | | | | gentle and harmless activity. Mind you, it could be |
| apostrophe in their test materials. | | | | very dangerous too. Great thinkers change things. |
| What else am I up to? Well, I travel whenever | | | | And change, they tell me, is threatening and |
| possible, to the States, to Australia and around | | | | dangerous. Hmm, I wonder? Watch this space. |
| Europe. Now we people living in the UK can travel | | | | |