Rockin’ Our Lives Away
A group of 1950s-style rock’n’roll and Roots Music fans meet up in central London once a month for a drink and a meal out, and for the occasional outing and gig. Some of us have been on trips to the USA together, visiting venues and places of interest associated with the music we love, most of which comes from the Southern States aka ‘Dixie’.
We had a meet-up and meal last Friday. Most of us are around the same age, mid-60s, some a bit older, some younger. A remark was made that we probably had another 10 years of active life ahead of us if we were lucky.
As we get older, and see others get older (my mother is 95), we naturally get to thinking about what happens when we slow down, perhaps get more forgetful and/or decrepit, and if we are on our own, who will take care of us.
While rock’n’roll tends to keep us young, we know we cannot bop around like teenagers for ever, but we’ll have a damn good try. Many of us are now single, having either never had partners or they have died. So unless we strike lucky and find a younger person to look after us, if we do get incapable of looking after ourselves properly we’ll probably be relying on carers or care homes of some sort.
Wouldn’t it be a great idea if some of us on our own could live in close proximity to each other, a Rockers’ Retirement Home or something, with our kind of music and DVDs playing in the communal lounge, and carers to look after us?
Impractical I know, but at least we should keep in touch and continue our monthly meet-ups, etc. Picture the scene: 2045 or thereabouts, a group of centenarians are celebrating another of their number reaching 100 with an email from the President of the United States of Europe and a big party in a pub. Walking sticks and Zimmer frames clatter to the floor as the golden oldies jump to their feet to the sound of good old rock’n’roll. Wheelchairs spin round the dance floor dangerously as the oldest teenagers in the country have a ball.
At the end of the evening, they make their way outside, strap on their anti-gravity belts and zoom off home. (The wheelchairs and Zimmer frames incorporating their own anti-gravity propulsion systems of course.)
Ten years? No, another 30 or 40 years of rockin’ ‘n’ boppin’ if we are lucky!
