Granny P writes:

It's Granny's birthday tomorrow. And no, she is not telling you how old she will be. She is old enough. Such an event these days is not an event for rejoicing in - or only in the sense of a wake. She can in that sense rejoice in still being alive. She does. Mostly.

But the rest of it....A little while back Granny read a complaint by a New Yorker of how, what with gyms, plastic surgery, facials etc etc, all women of a certain type there look the same, more or less, no matter their age. And how boring it is. Granny understands that complaint. A certain lack of wrinkles, a visual sameness might be boring to look at all round. On the other hand she's not so happy about remaining - as a Brit of a certain income, as well as age, without access to the above benefits - part of other people's visual stimulation. She really would like her teeth, her hair, her smooth skin, her smooth limbs back. Yes please, yes please. She'd like to experience still that sharp, sweet passing shock of mutually appreciative glances between her and a man in the street, in the tube, across a room - a man she'll never see again, let alone meet, but still warms to in passing; such glances pass right over her now. Looking in the mirror - especially in certain lights - she knows why, She also knows why wrinkles etc are interesting to painters...

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