14th July 2010

I have a vague memory of my paternal grandmother lying on a day bed in the front room of my Aunt's house.

I have a stronger memory of my maternal grandparents but my Grandfather Frank Oswad died when he was 63, still working but in my chidlhood memory an old, old man.

But times change and I keep hoping that at 66 I can swap the A66 for Route 66, Chicago to L.A..

But the dream remains frustratingly just out of touch, perhaps next year, Route 67 from Iowa to Texas and on into Mexico a strong hint of Easy Rider there I think but with a slightly different soundtrack?

This morning the new Office for Budget Responsibility announced that the more older people there are in the population the higher the costs of Health Care, State Pensions and Long Term Care.

I guess that you didn't have to be a genius to work that out but they have costed the increase to return public sector debt to 40% of national income by 2060, at an extra £22bn or 1.5%  of national income by 2016, the equivalent of VAT increasing to 24%.

Phew!

Well by 2016 I will be 71, if I live that long and my recent health check indicated that I stood a reasonable chance plus the death meter web-site suggested that I should be Ok until February 2019 although a competitor site thought I should have died in 1996 so I don't place too much faith in that forecast.

Route 68 would be Ohio to Kentucky and 69 well apart from the obvious connotation, which is why its sign is regularly stolen, it is known at the Eastex Freeway and is an evacuation route.

But I may have to sell the Harley before 2016, a seventy year old on a Harley will probably not only be a danger to himself but to every other road user as well.

So I may have to face the prospect of VAT at 24% or an increase in the tax I pay on my pension assuming that either my pension provider or indeed the Government itself can continue to afford to pay it at current rates.

The increase in life expectancy was meant to be one of the great achievements of the 21st Century but now it feels like a burden imposed on future generations who have to stand by and watch the baby boomers frittering away their inflation proofed pensions on holidays and sports cars and Harley Davidson's.

But this is a big society isn't it?

Aren't we 'all in this together?'

And older folk can still be useful, in fact some organisations have gone so far as to estimate the contribution that older people actually make to the economy as consumers, tax payers, child care providers and volunteers and it is considerable although whether it amounts to 1.5% of national income I am not qualified to say.

But I'm afraid that I can't really do anything but apologise for being the age I am, blame the NHS it did its job too well.

So I will continue to dream of life on Route 66, the open road, the bars and the fast food lifestyle of the nineteen year old on a Harley that I still secretly imagine I am (as long as I avoid looking into the bathroom mirror) ............