Susan Hill Susan Hill

Can I really be turning 80?

iStock

A princess of Hanover wrote in her diary: ‘My 30th birthday. There must be some mistake.’ Substitute 30th for 80th and you have how I feel this week. But age is all relative, being dependent on your genes, immune system and how it was primed in childhood; on your location, your income and luck. I had long-lived grandparents on both sides; had measles, rubella, mumps, chicken pox, whooping cough and scarlet fever before five; and in spite of semi-permanent tonsillitis was 20 before any antibiotic entered my body. I spent the years until 16 on the north-east coast of Yorkshire, through bitter snowbound winters, my lungs loaded with fresh sea air. Attitude and expectations are important too. In the north Cotswolds, where I spent 25 years, local men and women had been farmers and vegetable pickers for generations, working in all weathers, bent double, earning pitiful wages. Fresh air doesn’t compensate for prematurely worn-out bodies, where 40 is the new 60, not the other way about.

My oldest friend turned 80 before me. We entered kindergarten holding hands, aged four, then walked to school across the bridge overlooking the sea, eventually followed at an interesting distance by a boy pushing a bike. Margaret made me check if he was still behind us, which he always was, until he peeled off to the boys’ high school. They have now been married for 58 years. She is the friend who reminds me that I was made to sew and re-sew my Girl Guide badges on until they passed muster, and that I was suspended for eating chips in the street in my GG uniform. We have had entirely different lives and meet infrequently, but when we do we can pick up anywhere.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in