The question
What worries you about getting older?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A newer fixed question in The Guardian's rotating Q&A pool.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Not feeling old but everyone treating you that way.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗
I don't want to be called a senior citizen, I feel like a spring colt. I don't want to be called a has-been, because there's things I want to do in life. But, I've been there and I'd say, "Don't let the bastards get you down." And they don't anymore, I don't talk to them anymore, so they don't get me down. I've got my family, and I've got so many blessings that I don't think I've earned, that I'm a very happy man.
I don’t want to get into an early death spiral, when you’re scaling down your life unnecessarily because you’ve already been there or done that. I never want to stop adventuring.
That my nose and chin will touch.
I’m actually looking forward to getting older.
Scruffy, infuriating and kind.
People having really loud conversations on their phones in public places.
“We’d love you to be on the cover of our magazine and we’ll give you a makeover.”
I wanted to be in the circus.
The very first day that I was filming Top Gear, for which I was so unqualified because I’d only ever driven a Fiat Uno. I got into a DB7 Vantage Volante outside the Aston Martin factory, put my foot on the accelerator and bunny-hopped across the gravel because I’d forgotten to take the handbrake off.
The worms get to feast.
Ben Okri, Steve Jobs, Tony Christie, Sarah Perry, Neil Gaiman, Dervla Kirwan
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