The Numbers Game

woman&home’s astrologer Penny Thornton discovers some positives as she enters what she feared might be the ‘age of invisibility’

Now, some people look forward to their birthday, but not me. On my 25th, I realised with horror that 30 was only five years away and a kind of panic set in. It was the point at which I decided never to disclose my age, even to myself.

I go into mourning the year before I reach a zero, but the tragedy begins around a seven – 27, 37, 47 and so on. So you’ll appreciate reaching another seven in a decade I can’t bring myself to name is a crisis of serious proportions.

In my misery I looked at the positives. I was still mobile. Most days I can recall the name of our country’s leader and the year, but not, you understand, the year I was born. I still have a good head of hair, and I’m still employable. I spent the day before my birthday giving myself a pep talk about how lucky I was to survive this long without needing a hip replacement, incontinence pads or statins. I knew there were pros to reaching – I still can’t bring myself to reveal the number – so I did what every sensible silver-surfer does and googled: Plusses to old age. Below are the benefits of my research.