Thursday 26 January 2017

Fifty.


I’ve been feeling a bit ropey for the last few days. People in the village say there is a bug going round. But I don’t have time for bugs: I have work to do and livestock to look after. (At one point, I decided that I was feeling slightly ill because of the Trump bug. Every time I saw the footage that is going round the internet of him ignoring his wife on the steps of the White House I felt faintly sick.)

Today, the buggery bastard bug got me, so instead of soldiering on I went back to bed and slept and slept and slept. My kind friend saw to the horses and I could cancel everything. I am typing this with palsied fingers and a rather swimmy head but I’ll be better tomorrow.

In the swimmy head, some random thoughts twist and dive. They are mostly to do with the fact that I am fifty in four days. I’ve been practising for this milestone for the last six months by saying in life and writing on the page ‘I am fifty years old’.

The rational part of me knows this is just a number and does not really mean anything. The irrational part is going: holy fuck, I am FIFTY YEARS OLD. The zeitgeist, which must always have its say, tells me that fifty is a big deal for a female. It is the age, apparently, when you become invisible. I’ve never had a problem with this. I think it’s because I was never a beauty. I’m exactly as visible now as I was when I was twenty because my schtick is not a dewy complexion and ravishing cheekbones, which may be ravaged by age, but bad jokes and antic conversations about the meaning of life and eccentric hats. The hats are getting more important as I get older and nobody can ignore a woman in a hat.

What I do have a problem with is the slightly odd idea that being fifty means I should be a grown-up. I don’t really know what this means, but my Mary Poppins voice is telling that it is something to which I should aspire. I’m not quite sure how to be a grown-up. Today, in the spirit of adulthood, I decided to deal with one of my piles. Even though I was feeling very tottery from the horrid bug, I stared beadily at the pile and thought I had its measure. My life is made up of piles – papers, laundry, clothes, things I can’t always identify. I shove the piles into baskets and corners and the Cupboard of Doom and tell myself tragically that because I am a creative I simply don’t have the organising gene.

This pile was of clothes. Why I can’t fold them up and put them away like a normal person I have no idea. Anyway, I dragged them out of their muddly basket and sorted through them, and there, to my delight, was a very old friend. It was my favourite cashmere cardigan. It was the one that never bobbled and never got moth and never shrunk in the wash and never lost its shape. ‘Oh,’ I said, out loud, ‘there you are.’

It’s about fifteen years old and I could not remember where I’d got it. Was it one from the glory days, when I had some cash and used to indulge myself? Was it from Harvey Nichols or that chic little boutique in Cirencester where the Beloved Cousin and I once bought the most elegant Danish coats? (Best coat I ever had. Nothing like the Danes for coats, I discovered.) I looked at the label, and laughed and laughed. It was from Marks and Spencer. Dear, dear old Marks and Sparks, in the days when they weren’t trying to do fashion, but simply made lovely, honest basics, the kind of clothing you really needed rather than thought you should wear because some magazine said so.

I don’t know why this made me so happy, but it did. I’ve never been a fashiony girl, although very occasionally I would go mad with a famous name. I have a Dolce and Gabbana coat that I bought when I was twenty-seven and it is so beautiful that it hangs now on my bedroom door and I gaze at it as if it were an artwork. I have a Vivienne Westwood jacket which is so groovy that every time I put it on I feel as if I am a character in a novel. But I never had the knack for modishness and now I spend most of my time surrounded by mud and hay and live in a uniform of Gap jeans and sensible jumpers and sturdy gumboots. It felt right that my favourite lost garment was not from some storied designer but from a shop which is as plain and British as Marmite and talking about the weather.

I thought about the plans I had for my landmark birthday. I was going to write a best-seller and give a huge party in the cow barn opposite my house and all the old friends would come and we would dance like we used to when we were eighteen. The rather shaming part of me thought they might bring loot. There might be more cashmere cardigans and the Fairfax and Favor boots I yearn for and perhaps a jewel. Because you know, fifty requires some serious presents.

As it is, I’m on an economy drive and there will be no party and I found my favourite old garment so I don’t need any presents. The family is scattered all over the place and my mum and dad aren’t here any more and it will be just like any ordinary Monday. Two of the people I love most in the world are going to give me a cocktail and that’s all I want. The only present of which I dream, I suddenly realise, is a lifetime supply of the good hay from the kind farmer. (Although if Amigo suddenly rang up and said they were choosing the red mare as their new model and giving her a set of their unbelievably smart rugs I would die of happiness.)


I won’t be dancing and I don’t think I’ll suddenly turn into a grown-up and I won’t stare at my face and cry because it has wrinkles on it. I think perhaps I might feel a little more galvanised: time is shooting past me and I’ve got to write all those damn books that dance in my head. The anticipation of fifty is a thing, but then I’ll be it and it won’t really be a thing after all. I’ll ride my sweet mare and watch the dogs race along the burn and I’ll discuss with my friend in the feed shed when we should ring the kind farmer and get more of the good hay. I’ll feel passionately grateful that I have this Scotland and these hills and these trees. It wasn’t where I expected to end up, when I was young and wild and urban. I found my way here quite by chance. But the peace and the beauty are perhaps my best present of all.

10 comments:

  1. Must say, peace and beauty really are the best presents of all. Early Happy Birthday -- do enjoy.

    Humble observations: if 50 is when you become invisible, enjoy it. One can look less than one's best and no one pays any attention -- although, I've found that if I venture out looking perfectly godawful, I'm dead certain to run into someone I'd rather not look perfectly godawful around, and invisibility is so much hogwash. :)

    As to the numerical age, I'm older than you and still view myself as some variable number which has no basis in reality. Old is a state of mind and with your mares and your dogs and the trees and countryside around you, I can't imagine it will ever be a factor. Mary

    ReplyDelete
  2. 50 is glorious ! It began a whole other phase of my life. Old enough to say yes or no, strength to stick with yes or no, freedom like you wouldn't believe ! My life as an artist went beyond my wildest dreams. I'm just an ordinary woman and I turned 75 a few months ago...it isn't over till it's over. Charge on, my dear..and give the mares a kiss from me. Judith in California

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely blog and truth from Judy in California. I can truthfully say at 57 that creative life just gets better and better as we care less about the unimportant. You will write your novels in this decade. The clothes thing is also so true. Last week I gave my old trainers away to some Nairobi street boys. I loved those trainers. They were my happy shoes- when I wore them I felt like 'tigger' - all bouncy. I wore them in at least 20 trips to Africa, swam in rivers, climbed moors and ran on beaches in them. It's silly to be sentimental about shoes and it was a wrench leaving those memories! I understand your joy in finding your cardigan! I may even visit my 'tigger' shoes next year! Send in the men with white coats...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, I love this. I read an article in the Guardian today that depressed me because it was all about middle-aged women feeling invisible and minding. I've been invisible all my life and once out of my twenties, I ceased to mind at all and enjoyed it instead. Yet articles like the one in the Guardian make me feel oddly guilty, because it makes me feel I'm weird for being happy, despite all my presumed disadvantages. In fact Guardian articles are one long trip in guilt and worry about being weird. Thank you Tania, and thank you annietempest1.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I echo all the other readers as a woman coming up to fifty. I find that feel freer and braver as I get older. I don't care about being visible or invisible to others as long as I am present to myself. And I was considered a beauty - it's not all it's cracked up to be. I'm much happier now I can enter a room without people turning to look at me, and people no longer judge me on my looks but on what I say. Anna,
    ps Happy Birthday in advance, Tania, always love what you write!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This resonates so much with me (as do many of your posts). I was never pretty, and tried to be kind and make people smile instead. I will be sixty in a few months and am hoping to get another twenty years. It doesn't seem enough! Thank you for sharing your thoughts here; I so enjoy your writing. I hope you are feeling better soon, and send best wishes for your special day.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I finally started to learn to ride at 50 and now have a passion for all things equine including your blogs and HorseBack Uk.Wait until you get to my next birthday 62 and you will wonder what all the fuss was about you gorgeous darling Red Duchess, much love Maggie xoxox

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well try saying, 'In 13 months I'm gonna be 70'. 70 now there's a number to get your attention.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Five weeks ago my boyfriend broke up with me. It all started when i went to summer camp i was trying to contact him but it was not going through. So when I came back from camp I saw him with a young lady kissing in his bed room, I was frustrated and it gave me a sleepless night. I thought he will come back to apologies but he didn't come for almost three week i was really hurt but i thank Dr.Azuka for all he did i met Dr.Azuka during my search at the internet i decided to contact him on his email dr.azukasolutionhome@gmail.com he brought my boyfriend back to me just within 48 hours i am really happy. What’s app contact : +44 7520 636249‬

    ReplyDelete
  10. DR EMU WHO HELP PEOPLE IN ANY TYPE OF LOTTERY NUMBERS

    It is a very hard situation when playing the lottery and never won, or keep winning low fund not up to 100 bucks, i have been a victim of such a tough life, the biggest fund i have ever won was 100 bucks, and i have been playing lottery for almost 12 years now, things suddenly change the moment i came across a secret online, a testimony of a spell caster called DR EMU, who help people in any type of lottery numbers, i was not easily convinced, but i decided to give try, now i am a proud lottery winner with the help of DR EMU, i won $1,000.0000.00 and i am making this known to every one out there who have been trying all day to win the lottery, believe me this is the only way to win the lottery.

    Contact him via email Emutemple@gmail.com
    What's app +2347012841542
    Https://emutemple.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete

Your comments give me great delight, so please do leave one.

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin