This is not an April Fool joke. I really am ninety years old today. What does it feel like? It’s a mixed reaction.

I know that the people are living longer these days. Even so, most people don’t make it. It’s the average which is going up. I am also conscious today of the downsides of my ‘achievement’.

There is a growing number of things that I used to do that I cannot do now. There is another list of things that I used not to do that I have to do now. I won’t go into details: some of them are quite trivial and others are quite embarrassing. I also feel that these two lists are growing more rapidly as I get older. This trend, I expect, is likely to continue.

So, on the whole I am pleased to have made it so far but I’m not hoping to make it to a hundred.