Waiting for God

There’s an old saying – there’s nothing more certain in life than death and taxes. Living in today’s overtaxed Britain you’re probably looking forward to the day when your lights finally go out – but even then you’re most likely to be taxed. Still, it’s not as if I sit around all day thinking about death, rather than the period before it – more commonly known as old age.

The other day I was sat in a traffic jam and, with not much to look at other than the brake lights in front, I decided to have a look around me. It’s then a spotted a retirement home and its occupants happily sat in a communal room no doubt discussing things from the past. It’s then that my mind fast forwarded another 30 years to a time when I’ll probably be a resident.

Thinking of my grandparents, now unfortunately all no longer around to enjoy their company and tales*, I remembered what sort of things they liked to eat, read, watch and listen to. There was always the good old tinned salmon sandwich, the Radio Times, Songs of Praise and Radio 4 – but it’s what we’ll be enjoying in our incontinent twilight years that made me laugh out loud.

Just think about what you eat, read, watch and listen to now and then fast forward 30 years where your Grandchildren and retirement home staff from latest EU member Mongolia puzzle over why we enjoy Chicken Tikka Masala, Harry Potter, Big Brother and Basement Jaxx so much.

*One tale that always fascinated me was from one of my Grandmothers. She remembered the reporting of the Wright Brothers first flight and then was witness to the space race, jet engines and Concorde.