Dear LPG, 

I am old, and I know that most of the people who read LPG are old but I think that, in the same way that we old people have a lot to teach the pre-retired younger generations, there is relativity and experience that we older old people have which is worth passing on to the younger members of the older generation, and I feel the need to pass on a little myself today. 

I have chatted about this with some of my friends and, although half a dozen opinions do not make for an exacting statistical sample, I think that there is quite a lot of wisdom in what we octogenarians said on the day. 

We were talking about the importance of keeping in touch with your friends.  It is so easy to lose touch.  We did a bit of a survey and the statistics that came out of one simple question got us all thinking. 

After an average of 15 years since any of us worked, we all agreed that we now hardly ever see the friends that we were once so close to when we saw them every day.   We all agreed that we phone them occasionally, especially the ones which are closer to your age, but when we first retire and they are still busy working for a living there seems to be little time to keep in touch.   

But the years slip past quickly and one thing that I have no doubt of is that every person who is 80 plus begins to learn what it is to lose friends much more often than perhaps during any other decade of life.  

We often develop new acquaintances but they are different from close friends and it is so easy to find yourself very alone in this world.  Lockdown is all in the past now but it has left so many without the impetus to get out and about, and it is so easy to decide that all the effort it takes to get ready to go out is not worth the bother.

Phone calls are good, but there is no substitute for getting out there and seeing your friends face to face even when it really feels like too much of an effort.  

The friends who are poorly need us too.  Being able to get out and about today does not guarantee that you will be able to tomorrow and, without trying to depress any reader, we never really know when it will be our turn to become the poorly friend.  

We all need to make the effort, get together, and make it our business to keep each other’s spirits up.   

RT, Forest Hill.