Jean's Journal: Memories of The Crescent in Athlone
I remember well the first time I ever went to a dance in The Crescent. I was 17 years old and had previously gone to hops in The Rugby Club.
The next morning, my father asked me how I had enjoyed the dance. I told him it was awful. “Only old men, as old as 25, asked me to dance,” I said, feeling very disheartened indeed.
Well, he roared laughing. He told this to my mother and then he told it to the milkman who came into our kitchen. They laughed heartily, too. My brother told me that he told it to every customer who came into his bar for the rest of that day, and they all laughed as well. I was embarrassed and raging!
I was still raging that night, as I lay in bed listening to my transistor. Pop Call was on. Val Joyce played a Beatles song that I hadn’t heard before. It was called ‘When I’m 64.’
“That is really really ancient,” I thought to myself. My parents were only in their early 40s back then. I couldn’t imagine ever being as old as 64!
Now I am 74! I am a septuagenarian, and so are many of my friends and readers! Where, oh where have the years gone!
When I was 8, a neighbour celebrated her 18th birthday. I though her very old indeed! Oh, isn’t age so relative, for now I have decided that 80 isn’t too old at all!
Some famous octogenarians, alive and well, are Tom Jones 85, Cliff Richard 85, Mary Robinson 81, Helen Mirren is 80 and Penelope Keith is 85. I know that some of you reading this may be octogenarians too. Keep smiling!
Indeed, some famous folk are alive and well in their nineties. These nonagenarians are David Attenborough 99, Mary Berry 90, Joan Collins 92, Julie Andrews 90 and Judi Dench 90. My aunt, in Carrick-on-Suir, is hale and hearty at 97.
This lovely aunt told me recently that she feels the very same inside as she always did. It’s only when she looks in the mirror that she realises she is an old woman. I feel the same, a lot of the time, too. It’s when I try to do certain jobs that my body lets me know I am not a young one anymore!
I laughed when I read what the writer Anne Enright had to say on this subject. When she and her husband return from a walk they have ‘a joint account!’ She wrote, “We discuss our shoulders, knees and hips." Then they have an 'organ recital.’ They discuss their hearts, stomachs and more! I know exactly how they feel and I’m sure you do too! But, I keep smiling!
I want to mention some famous folk now.
I wrote about Hyacinth Bucket lately and her ‘notions’ of grandeur. Penelope Keith, in her role as Margo Leadbetter, in ‘The Good Life’ was another ‘Lady Muck.’ She was as ‘posh’ as Hyacinth any day! Do you know that Queen Elizabeth was a great fan of ‘The Good Life?’ I came across a programme where she actually visited the set. It was great to see her greeting the actors. (I bet Margo was in her element!) The queen sat amongst the audience and watched a live production of the lovely funny show.
The actress Pauline Collins, died recently aged 86. I am a great fan of hers. My favourite television series of all times is ‘Upstairs Downstairs.’ Filmed in the 1970s, Pauline Collins played the part of Sarah in it and she was wonderful.
My favourite film is ‘Shirley Valentine,’ again starring Pauline Collins. A famous quote from it is, “I have lived such a little life. I have allowed myself to lead this little life, when inside me there was so much more. Why do we get all this life if we don't ever use it?"
‘Shirley Valentine’ was written as a one-woman show, to be performed on stage. I was amazed when I heard that a man wrote it. This is because it really gets into the mind of a bored woman, wanting more. I discovered that the writer, Willy Russell, was a women’s hairdresser. Doesn’t this explain how he understood women so well? Willy Russell also wrote ‘Blood Brothers.’
Some thoughts on ageing. A bit of weight on our faces definitely helps to make us look younger, as we get older. I know two sisters (aged a year apart.) One is stick thin and looks a decade older than her sister, who has a lovely full fat face. So, keep eating those cream buns! (Or maybe not!!!)
The clothes we wear, as older folk, nowadays, are so much better than the whalebone corsets and heavy tweed skirts that our grannies wore. Remember the expressions they used? They talked about ‘vim and vigour’ as well as ‘having backbone!’
We’re told we need to exercise our old bones. However, be careful. I read that, ‘The leading cause of injury in old men is them still thinking that they are young men!’
Whilst of course exercise and diet are very important, social contact is more so. I heard an eminent person say recently that the social contact you have is a higher prediction of how long you will live than your diet or exercise.
My favourite song is ‘Downtown,’ sung by Petula Clarke. She is alive and well, aged 94. I love the lyrics because they sum up my philosophy of life, which is ‘Get up and get out.’ You’ll always be the better for it!’
And, remember, keep smiling!
jeanfarrell@live.ie