This blog is about ageing which is a tricky topic for a 26 year old to write about, especially one who can still dismiss a charity mugger with a, disturbingly believable, claim to be 16. Anyway, next week is a significant event. My young person's railcard expires, I got it extended during my dip back into studentdom in 2008. Whilst not exactly the end of a free ride, 1/3 off journeys are over for me and a world of borderline reasonable train fares becomes a world of depressingly inflation-hit limitations. So yeah, it feels like a good time to take stock. A lot of stuff is changing, my first two girlfriends are now married, my best friend growing up is engaged, and me, well my young person's railcard has expired.
When I was growing up, I thought my life would be sorted by the age of 25. At the age of 21 I rapidly readjusted this figure, changing it from a number to more of an abstract concept.
The way I judge age is how it sounds in your mind to hear your Dad saying the following sentence: 'Thom [or insert your own name here] you're 26 now...[insert your own age here]' before calling you up on some mistake you just made. I'm nearly 27 and
'Thom your 27 now, you can't spend a month writing a tv pilot about a detective duo called 'Health and Safety''.
That's just hard to argue with
I went to Bestival, after receiving a free ticket in exchange for driving a van. Three of my favourite things there were as follows
a) Mr Motivator (58 years old, birthday on 14/11, happy birthday for then Mr Motivator) - it was incredible b) David 'RamJam' Rodigan - (60 and absolutely SMASHED his ragga-tipped dubstep set) c) The Women's Institute Tea and Cake tent (impolite to ask age, but what an awesome bunch of ladies!)
David Rodigan particularly is an example of the importance of mindset. And Motivator is a the exception that proves the rule about men and spandex.
I recently heard the word 'screenager' once I had stopped vomiting all over everything, I composed myself and thought about what sort of difference a few years can make. I probably don't count as a screenager, because google wasn't around when I was growing up. Some people had mobile phones but not many, and they didn't do much.
I'm pretty sure that Facebook would have made an impact on my life if it had been around, but I didn't join until I was 21. If I'd been on it from the age of 16 it would have been full of me writing complete crap [I know it is anyway, but even more so]. My diary is testament to that. Here is a verbatim quote from the old diary when I was about 16
'when I look back at life I want to say, I lived the bitch'
What in the name of sweet crimities was I thinking?
I would probably have looked after my appearance a bit more, as reams of tagged photographs poured in, and my ability to construct my persona became a more tangible project.
With regard to homework, something like google translate, quora, and wikipedia would have been everything I'd dreamed about, and a desire to mendaciously benefit from various sources would have been pretty strong, I wonder how I would have adapted.
I recently explained defriending to my nan, she said I should get off Facebook, I said she should stop reading the Daily Mail, we are probably both right.
So yeah no more young person's railcard, if I want to avoid having to spend like £100 to get to Swindon then I need to organize myself. I'll now need to book in advance, and hence plan. These are two of my least favourite activities. (this does not apply to work stuff though, I'm totes a professional OBVS)
That's probably not worthy of a blog post, but I raise a glass to the people who have multiple babies and husbands/wives and are younger than me, and the 60 year olds dropping heavy dubstep beats of a Saturday evening, and everyone in between. No excuses, whatever the digits are let's push things forward.
x
Advice from my Dad
1) 'Never wear a hat that's cooler than you are', as you may remember from a previous blog post about radio baseball caps - I ignored this advice 2) 'Buy the best mattress you can afford - If I ever do buy my own mattress I will certainly think about heeding this advice'
Things I didn't enjoy about Bestival 1) Driving a van, I'm not a van driver, as described above I look a bit like Michael Cera's younger brother, I did not earn the respect of the white van community'