So How Old Do You Feel?

This weeks news that Top Shop is attracting customers who won't see their fifties again and the regular sight of Jeremy Clarkson wearing jeans on prime time television made me think about age, fashion, popular culture.

I remember when I was in my late twenties, I was dreading the imminent arrival of my fourth decade as I assumed it would mean I would have to put away those albums by The Clash, The Smiths etc and start buying George Benson or Phil Collins. These days the generation gap has not so much blurred around the edges and merged into one big generation from 16-60+. Baby boomers (those born between VE day in 1945 and 1955) have more disposable income and more choices of what to spend it on than any generation in history, but when you've bought the second and third home, the expensive car, the mistress and the kids have grown-up what do you do next?

Well more and more people it seems are returning to the joys of, if not their youth, the years when they were struggling financially and bringing up a family. Some are starting up businesses, some are building extensions to the family home(s), the days when Granny and Grandad were just there to look after the grandchildren are disappearing, the grey pound is a tangible and valuable part of the economy. There is also the news that parents are funding their Children's house buying to the tune of £18,000 on average, I'm not quite sure where that average figure comes from because in the small Hampshire town where I have worked for the past twenty five years the average house price is now £300,000 - one bedroom flats are £170,000 +.

I have clients who have built up their businesses over a number of years, sold them, retired to France and Spain only to return to the U.K because they need something to stimulate their minds. People who don't need to work for financial piece of mind are becoming 'business angels' and using their expertise to help businesses who have lost their way.

There used to be a time when parents would embarrass their offspring by listening to Pink Floyd on a Sunday morning, now the kids are buying it, and not in an ironic way. What is the currency of youth these days? MTV? Playstation? X-Box? Language is something that younger people can colonise and call their own, but only until some young hip gunslinger comes along and introduces the language of youth into the mainstream - by the way if Martin Amis does it, it doesn't make it trendy, it renders it obsolete.

I can remember the years of my youth with clarity and affection, I had an inclusive world that my parents couldn't enter - different fashion, different music, different television programmes. That last part essentially changed with The Simpsons, a cartoon that had jokes for the kids and a subversive undercurrent that adults could laugh and nod knowingly to, Nathalie listens to my music and I introduce her to some bands I think she'd enjoy. The latter has included The Killers, The Fray and The View in relatively recent times.

Of course fashion is an area where one persons mistake is another persons statement of intent. I'm actually stubborn enough to believe that there's something fundamentally wrong about a woman over the age of say 30 walking around with her midriff exposed and as for the female equivalent of builders bum and the obsession of showing your knickers, well what's so attractive about a huge whale tale appearing out of a the rear of a woman's jeans?

I certainly don't feel that the big 50 is just around the corner. That's not because I'm a big kid, well not interntionally, but because I've never slipped into that world of Antiques Roadshow, National Trust Breaks or Comfy Cardies. I'm too inquisitive, too hyper, I need mental stimulation, and the odd bit of physical stimulation as well! I haven't had a middle aged crisis yet, unlike a neighbour who has just bought himself an MG, I don't really care for cars to be honest so that's unlikely to happen. I want to see as much art, listen to as much music, visit as many places as my wallet will allow - that doesn't mean I'm unhappy with my lot does it?

In a way it's great that people have shaken off the shackles and are saying 'look, I don't care if I look a prat to you, it's my life,I've got the one chance and I'm going to do my thing.' That's great, but remember sometimes you need to look in the mirror and think if it's such a good idea.