My 85th birthday was wonderful…lots of online greetings, and several real cards…however the highlight was being taken out to lunch by me best friend. He arrived bearing gifts that included a beautiful hand engraved vase clearly influenced by the organic designs of Art Nouveau. The drive through Staffordshire and Cheshire lanes was enchanting and the meal was exquisite. We sat at a corner table next to a window overlooking the terrace and the green wall of the woodlands beyond. The return home by a different route was no less magical with tunnels through overhanging trees and sudden vistas that stretched as far as the Welsh mountains.
Reaching 85 seems like a landmark moment…a milestone that I hope might be a watershed…a turning point towards fresh endeavours, new challenges which open up untapped potential. It also presents a challenge to archive a lifetime of memories and artefacts…both personal and of organisations with which I have been significantly involved. I guess my first step is to cut back on activities that consume so much time. But, how much time do I have to write and record all that I wish?
Although I have few serious health issues in older age compared to many of my peers…nonetheless, enlarged prostate, elevated lipids and long term HIV are declared as preexisting conditions on my travel insurance. In daily life this translates to having to pee more frequently and having to put up with the diminished sex drive of an elderly snail on Valium. I also have to cope with insomnia…probably related to the other health conditions. What matters is that I appear to have the resilience and energy to lead a very demanding workload… albeit, unpaid.
Since writing the previous paragraph, I was referred by my optician to the University hospital ophthalmology department for further examination. Issues with vision that I have tolerated for some time have deteriorated… I now have age related macular degeneration (AMD) in my left eye. It is a serious condition for which there is no cure. However, the lovely people at Stafford County hospital are arranging a treatment path that should delay the progress of the condition. Everyone at the hospital was friendly and helpful…especially the senior clinician who said it mot be a problem to organise the necessary injections to fit in with my travel plans to revisit Argentina.
Because AMD affects the central vision…I struggle to bring musical scores in focus…particularly on the organ. I am grateful to friends who have offered useful advice about reading aids, increased lighting and larger text. I have already joined the Macular Society and no doubt will engage with local support groups soon. I cannot yet judge how AMD will affect my daily life and my present busy schedule of commitments ..but I intend to carry on with as many activities as I can.
In writing this post, I am already engaging in goals I wish to achieve before… in the words o Shakespeare… I shuffle off this mortal coil. My recent AMD diagnosis has somewhat shifted the goalposts.
I am proud to have been instrumental in organising or assisting in projects undertaken by the North Midlands LGBT+ Older People’s Group. Most recently with Rainbow Revivals, Voices Unheard exhibition at the Brampton Museum Without doubt the biggest project the group has ever engaged with is in our partnership with GRAIN Photography. The culmination of this major project ALWAYS HERE...has resulted in four exhibitions and a book. It has also helped to address some personal archiving intentions… as will also an upcoming filmed interview with Duckies deep-dive oral histories in London
It will come as no surprise that another of my aspirations from now on…is to travel more. The Norwegian Fjords cruise …mentioned above…happened before a turned 85…but the circumstances were right…so I enjoyed my first ever cruise with my old mate Dave from Derby. Dave and I have been friends for over 60 years…but this was the first time we had been on holiday together. We were discussing the holiday this lunchtime after the organ prom at the Victoria Hall Hanley. Although I enjoyed the whole experience…the two highlights would by the Art Nouveau architecture of Ålesund and the stunning views from the summit of the Sky Lift in Olden.
You already know the outcome of the Thursday 24 September appointment at the eye clinic in Stafford. I now have to learn to live with AMD …let us hope that I achieve similar success to living for over 42 years with HIV. Of course, I do not expect to survive for the same time span … I cannot honestly conceive that I could live happily independent at the age of 127!
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