Party, Party

Increasingly, the celebrations of our friends include 60th birthday parties or retirement festivities.

We travelled to Matlock Bath to enjoy a party for both. It had all the charm of a seaside resort ( amusement arcades, fish and chip shops, lots of tatty goods and ice cream parlours) but strangely enough, no beach or piers. It is a haven for bikers and on Sunday morning the bikes were stacked along the 'prom'. Obviously, they were the gentle fluffy bikers as they and the whole esplanade of machines, perhaps a couple of hundred, were watched over by one rather young, overdressed, community police support person. She did not look as if she was enjoying herself or more than 17.

The town is one of the (many) places visited and commented upon by Lord Byron. Pride of place in the hotel was given to a few lines of, unfinished, poetry written by the great man. I had this thought that he may have dashed them off in payment of the bill after a bit too much claret, or port, or whatever it was that he used to stimulate the muse. In fact our hotel had a display case with artifacts and pictures indicating the literary and royal connections of the place. Princess Victoria as well as the priapic peer had stayed here. Not, I hasten to add, in the same bed and/or at the same time if you get my meaning.

As I watched the disgraceful third age rockers at the party bouncing to the beat of a sound system that was turning my remaining internal organs to water I thought it was interesting that we use the words retiring, elderly, pensioner, old age pensioner even, to denote withdrawal from the world of work. The Spanish use the term jubilado, much more appropriate.
Anyway, it was a very good bash and we wish our jubilada friend well for the next 60. Jubilate deo omnis terra!

Mind you the Spanish have referred to the disabled as minusvalido for some time, maybe not so much now.