About to arrive at the age of 86, so suddenly after being born, I recognize very clearly that I am slowing to a jog, approaching a hobble.
I have good memories of my old days on the courts of tennis and squash when I was pretty quick and agile and how good it felt to test one’s body to the limit. The good tiredness and muscle ache at the end of play was always welcome.
Such days are long gone of course. Yet one should beware of slowing to a halt. My old Welsh friend and very fine poet John Barnie issued the right warning in his lovely poem The Sun Is Shining:
