I had a letter recently from an old friend who's also godmother to my two kids. She's a definite member of the GODS (Growing Old Disgracefully Society)and shows how we should never streotype the 'mature' generation.

Cabs has just truned 60, she's married to Tony who's in his seventies and is a 'retired' professor of English who now writes dictionaries and is working on three books full time. They have 6 grown-up children - three from Tony's first marriage and three they adopted from the streets of Colombia - and 9 grandchildren.

Cabs is a fantastic artist and has recently completed a fine arts degree. She writes:

"What I most enjoy about reaching sixty is that it is a licence to become even more eccentric. Long live my second adoloscence. I love having purple hair and being the art group jester (as well as being the art group granny). We held three group exhibitions, two of which were more concerned with experimental work."

That's what the GODS is all about.

Incidentally, Growing Old Disgracefully was a course run by the Workers' Educational Association, who my wife works for. It was run by a wonderful lady in her seventies (sadly now deceased) and was one of their most popular courses in the York area (and probably the reason there are so many tattooed 70-year olds in York).