I don't seem to have much luck smooth talking waitresses.
I was in a Restaurant some time ago, with my newly shaven head, very Yul Brynner I thought; with a recently trimmed moustach a la Charles Bronston (the film star!) and a pair of glasses very John Lennon in his round NHS glasses days.
The waitress made a friendly comment to my companion and I responded, the conversation went on to looks and so I enquired, teasingly I thought, as to which of my three possible looks she would notice.
'You', she replied, 'look like Alf Garnett!'.
I was left feeling less like Brynner or Bronson in the Magnificent Seven and more like 'an old git'.
A recent article in my newspaper has provoked a response in The Letters section of the same paper.
Should older people have the vote taken from them and should their votes be given to children, to balance the supposed selfishness of individuals voting instincts?
Apparently this is being tried in Hungary, where the childrens' vote is being given to the mother.
It made me ask myself, do I vote selfishly?
I have just voted by postal ballot because I am currently in Genova and can't vote in person. I thought I was being responsible rather than selfish but then I suppose that is the first stumbling block, the generation of which I am a part, so called baby boomers, can afford to do what I am doing, living abroad for a while with flights paid for by the heating allowance.
How selfish is that?
With the whole raft of generous welfare support, final salary pensions and other benefits life in our mid sixties seems altogether more luxurious than it was in the mid sixties, permissiveness notwithstanding.
But there is another side to this argument over the fifty years between starting work at sixteen on £4 1shilling a week, far and away the most responsible job I ever had because I was a tyre fitter and if I didn't get my job right peoples lives were at stake, and early retirement, my average earnings as a clergyman and as director of a charity were consistently below the national average for earnings per capita.
At the same time we had to play our part as economically active citizens, bring up our family and pay our taxes. So two months in Genoa seem scant reward for the twelve hour days, the camping holidays and years of budgeting and the sleepless nights wondering how to fit in the remaining days of the month after the money had gone.
It also should be noted that part of my selfishness is a concern for my grandchildren and their future well being.
I refuse to believe, and having read both their books, haven't changed my mind, that the fiscal crisis was the responsiblity of either Labour Leaders or their policies, which always seemed to me in terms of youth employment, Academies and welfare were right on the money.
I also don't believe that the coalition Governments policies are necessary or inevitable. The fact is that we know who ate the pies, who pocketed the bonuses and who made personally favourable tax arrangements.
It is interesting to read the bitter comments posted on the internet about the ommission of Brown and Blair from the guest list for last Fridays wedding.
So if I am allowed to keep my vote, I hereby promise my Grandchildren to continue to vote in the interests of them and their generation, to use my vote wisely in seeking a fair future not only for this country but for the wider Europe of which we are a part and which now that i am retired I can now discover more about.
It is still a compliment to describe someone as having an old head on young shoulders, so I can't see why it is so wrong to have an old head on old shoulders, wisdom comes in all shapes and forms and what is crucial is that we continue to cast our votes wisely in order to seek a better future for the next generation, a future in which there is shared prosperity, clean air, clean water and satisfying work for all.
I still shave my head, I still have a moustache, although in Genova I tend to wear dark Ray Ban shades with prescription lenses, so hopefully I look reasonably cool and less of an old git with a postal vote.
I was in a Restaurant some time ago, with my newly shaven head, very Yul Brynner I thought; with a recently trimmed moustach a la Charles Bronston (the film star!) and a pair of glasses very John Lennon in his round NHS glasses days.
The waitress made a friendly comment to my companion and I responded, the conversation went on to looks and so I enquired, teasingly I thought, as to which of my three possible looks she would notice.
'You', she replied, 'look like Alf Garnett!'.
I was left feeling less like Brynner or Bronson in the Magnificent Seven and more like 'an old git'.
A recent article in my newspaper has provoked a response in The Letters section of the same paper.
Should older people have the vote taken from them and should their votes be given to children, to balance the supposed selfishness of individuals voting instincts?
Apparently this is being tried in Hungary, where the childrens' vote is being given to the mother.
It made me ask myself, do I vote selfishly?
I have just voted by postal ballot because I am currently in Genova and can't vote in person. I thought I was being responsible rather than selfish but then I suppose that is the first stumbling block, the generation of which I am a part, so called baby boomers, can afford to do what I am doing, living abroad for a while with flights paid for by the heating allowance.
How selfish is that?
With the whole raft of generous welfare support, final salary pensions and other benefits life in our mid sixties seems altogether more luxurious than it was in the mid sixties, permissiveness notwithstanding.
But there is another side to this argument over the fifty years between starting work at sixteen on £4 1shilling a week, far and away the most responsible job I ever had because I was a tyre fitter and if I didn't get my job right peoples lives were at stake, and early retirement, my average earnings as a clergyman and as director of a charity were consistently below the national average for earnings per capita.
At the same time we had to play our part as economically active citizens, bring up our family and pay our taxes. So two months in Genoa seem scant reward for the twelve hour days, the camping holidays and years of budgeting and the sleepless nights wondering how to fit in the remaining days of the month after the money had gone.
It also should be noted that part of my selfishness is a concern for my grandchildren and their future well being.
I refuse to believe, and having read both their books, haven't changed my mind, that the fiscal crisis was the responsiblity of either Labour Leaders or their policies, which always seemed to me in terms of youth employment, Academies and welfare were right on the money.
I also don't believe that the coalition Governments policies are necessary or inevitable. The fact is that we know who ate the pies, who pocketed the bonuses and who made personally favourable tax arrangements.
It is interesting to read the bitter comments posted on the internet about the ommission of Brown and Blair from the guest list for last Fridays wedding.
So if I am allowed to keep my vote, I hereby promise my Grandchildren to continue to vote in the interests of them and their generation, to use my vote wisely in seeking a fair future not only for this country but for the wider Europe of which we are a part and which now that i am retired I can now discover more about.
It is still a compliment to describe someone as having an old head on young shoulders, so I can't see why it is so wrong to have an old head on old shoulders, wisdom comes in all shapes and forms and what is crucial is that we continue to cast our votes wisely in order to seek a better future for the next generation, a future in which there is shared prosperity, clean air, clean water and satisfying work for all.
I still shave my head, I still have a moustache, although in Genova I tend to wear dark Ray Ban shades with prescription lenses, so hopefully I look reasonably cool and less of an old git with a postal vote.
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