Only four more years. I can hardly wait. New research shows that we are happiest when we are 74. According to a new study in the journal Social Indicators Research, our morale starts going down in our teenage years and carries on sliding until we hit 40, then starts to creep up, reaching a peak in the mid-seventies, when, among other things, we have fewer responsibilities and financial worries.
To reach this insight, more than 21,000 British men and women were surveyed, and regularly asked how happy they were. I wonder if I was one of them? Can't remember now; I'm becoming forgetful. I might have misheard or misunderstood; the old hearing is not as good as it was. Sometimes I'm asked a question, and I take a chance and say: "Yes." Maybe that's what happened when a researcher inquired after my sense of well-being. Goodness knows how many surveys we pensioners must have mucked up over the years.
Still, I must agree that the seventies are looking pretty good so far. It's great to be past the moody rebelliousness of the forties, the insecurities and shyness of the fifties, the frustrations and volatility of the difficult early sixties. Obviously, one of the explanations for this contentment is that we septuagenarians no longer have many parental responsibilities – allowing us to make the invigorating and liberating discovery that our children (and even sometimes our grandchildren) are more grown-up than we are. And it's a wonderful time for marriage. My wife and I spend the time helping each other remember the names of close friends, films, books, streets and even towns and cities. It's competitive, it's fun and it's so satisfying when you finally come up with the answer at 3.15am.
Then there's my renewed Freedom Pass, which arrived yesterday. It gives me free travel in London and now also on buses throughout the country. It's a really pleasing thing to have, and I enjoy it more every year. There's a photograph of a weird old man on it: the thinning grey hair is wild and the eyebrows are out of control; he has taken off his glasses and he stares out in a bemused sort of way. My God, if that is me, I'm not surprised that kind people offer me their seat on the Tube and that young women sometimes smile at me in the street, encouraging me to keep going.
What was especially interesting about this survey was to learn that this particular pattern of happiness is strictly a British phenomenon. The German Institute for Economic Research found that in their homeland, levels of satisfaction remained pretty stable throughout their life. Poor old Germans, with nothing to look forward to.
On the other hand, as a septuagenarian, one has a licence to make the odd stereotypical observation. So I may be allowed to suggest that Germans, on the whole, go in not so much for happiness but more for jollity. This is something the British try to avoid – particularly in old age. Our special skills lie in being grumpy, cranky and crotchety. And the research that surely must be undertaken next is to discover the age at which British men and women are at their most grumpy. I daresay it will show us reaching our peak at 74 – which helps to explain why we are also at our happiest then, given that grumpiness can be one of the great pleasures of life.
All that's left, then, is to work out how I'm going to celebrate this landmark occasion. Maybe I'll take a free prescription and meet a few friends for happy hour at the local chemist. I'm a bit of a regular there. And as we celebrate, we can spare a thought for all the poor miserable so-and-sos who have to conduct this kind of survey.
Activities Co-ordinator who provides a timetable of activities that are both enjoyable and stimulating for all the patients. Activities take place in group or one-to-one sessions and include indoor gardening, painting, reminiscing, board games, gentle exercise, music hall and other individual interests.
