AofA's Hot To Trot Talking Points
Every Friday
Please do join our discussion on what’s going on in the Oldster world of Advantages of Age.
We love the idea of retaining and carrying on being mischievous as we get older. Antony Hopkins is an advocate, not surprisingly.
‘I am fully aware of my mortality, but at 87 years old, I still wake up every morning with the desire to misbehave. Age is not a barrier when you find passion in what you do. The real secret lies in keeping your curiosity alive, continuing to learn, and not letting the fear of time stop you from enjoying life. Every day is a new opportunity to create, to laugh, and to show that it is never too late to move forward with enthusiasm and joy.’
Journalist Emma Beddington wrote an Opinion piece in the Guardian about how she was relieved that she had older friends that released her from the idea that older people were sorted around relationships, that they had all the same sorts of anxieties etc. And we talked about not just the joys of intergenerational friendships but how useful they are too. Plus not having all your friends dying around the same era, is a big plus.
‘“While we are the most age-diverse society we’ve ever been, we’re simultaneously the most age-segregated by institutions, by infrastructure, by policy. It’s like everything in our lives is designed to separate us,” said one podcast guest, Eunice Lin Nichols (co-CEO of an organisation promoting intergenerational initiatives). She went on to describe how old age became a siloed-off activity, while childhood became more protected and, by extension, distinct.
Nichols and the presenters explored what they felt had been lost: different perspectives; a sense of cultural continuity and community; the village that everyone needs to help raise their children.’
My grandson is often spectacularly full of wonder. And it made me reflect about my own capacity to wonder. I still do a lot of being in that child-like state. I take it back to my eternal village girl aspect - I grew up in a Yorkshire village. So I asked our members if they still felt wonder. I am delighted to report that they do and they gave examples of what evokes this state. Often nature.
Sad to hear that Mike Peters who headed up the Alarm and seemed like the eternal good guy, has died from cancer after living with it, and raising money for research into it, for three decades.
Such a great idea - a Dutch nursing home that it works wonderfully to house college students for free in exchange for company with their older residents. There needs to be more innovation around care homes and the possibilities and this seems to be ideal for both sides.
Susan Valadon is one of those many female artists and indeed women from history who have been ignored. We loved hearing her story.
‘Suzanne Valadon lived a life that defied the expectations of her time, not with loud declarations but with the steady, stubborn power of art and autonomy. Born in 1865 to a single mother who worked as a laundress, she grew up poor in Montmartre, Paris—a world where women were more often the subjects of paintings than the creators. But Suzanne didn’t follow the script. She began as a circus acrobat, but after a fall ended that career, she found herself in the studios of artists like Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec—not just as a model, but as an observer.
While she posed, she studied. She taught herself to draw, to paint, to see the world through her own eyes. Her early sketches caught the attention of Edgar Degas, who not only encouraged her but bought her work—an extraordinary gesture in a world where women artists were often dismissed outright. With his support and her own relentless drive, Suzanne transitioned from model to painter, eventually becoming the first woman admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.’ From Nasty Women.