The fact that I smoke.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 September 2023 source ↗
The question
What worries you about getting older?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
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You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
The fact that I smoke.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 September 2023 source ↗
When my father was in his terminal year, I discussed death with him. I recall very clearly his relief that the cancer that was taking him was at least allowing him "all his marbles". Dementia in its varied forms is not like cancer. Dad saw the cancer in his pancreas as an invader. But Alzheimer's is me, unwinding, losing trust in myself, a butt of my own jokes and on bad days capable of playing hunt the slipper by myself and losing. You can't battle it, you can't be a plucky "survivor". It steals you from yourself. And I'm 60; that's supposed to be the new 40.
Nothing. I survived a cancer scare at 60, so I am just overjoyed to be here.
Nothing: I live in the now.
Every time I play tennis I come back with a fresh injury.
Last week, because of an ear infection: I cried my eyes out when they put a big injection into my arse.
When I was a teenager, I worked in a vegetable shop on Saturdays, and the guy had a rotation of 10 pretty teenagers working for him and was really sleazy. I only went twice because the second time he made me go up to his flat above the shop and clean his toilet, and he was watching me.
My car. I don’t even drive, but I bought a Toyota hybrid for my assistant.
My problem with clothes. I’ve got an issue, haven’t I? I’m not a fella in a band who can turn up in his T-shirt and jeans. I’ve got the whole drama of what I’m going to wear: the hair, the makeup. All that preening and pruning that adds to the stress. I have begun to hate that perfectionist in me.
I recently had a dramatic fall on stage in Hungary. It was a massive stage – I was miles away from the audience – and I didn’t expect there to be two monitors in the middle of it. I went completely arse over tit and landed on my chin. First, I felt shock, pain, embarrassment, and then I felt lucky that I didn’t break any teeth or bite through my tongue. I asked for an ice pack for my chin, got up and finished the set.
Tony Christie, Sarah Perry, Neil Gaiman, Dervla Kirwan, Johannes Radebe, Tamsin Greig
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