Ruth Flowers aka Mamy Rock is a year shy of being seventy years old, but you won’t find her watching her “Last of the Summer Wine” box set on a Saturday night. Instead, you might find her in the steamy atmosphere of the latest trendy nightclub.

Is it the sheer novelty that she is an oldie or is she a good DJ?  Whatever the reason it’s pretty nifty to see someone that age living it large. Imagine being in a nightclub where grannies and their husbands mingle with the youth, making shapes to a techno track, dropping E’s and showering anyone who passes with a handful of boiled sweets.

I’m sure not everyone once they hit a certain age wants to stick to the usual slow wait for death. There is a reason why people who end up in nursing homes reasonably healthy and mobile, just seem to deteriorate rapidly and die. People that are surrounded by fun and family live longer and healthier lives.

Getting old is obviously a bit of a bitch, things are stretchier, getting up is a bit harder and falls are scary, but that doesn’t mean you have to wrap yourself in cotton wool and huddle by the fire. I don’t think when I’m 85 I’m going to start watching Emmerdale and playing bingo. Or pay for groceries in pennies. Old people seem to exist in their own universe, pushed out of life, non existent to magazines or movies. Most advertisements aimed at older people are usually for incontinence pads or prune juice. Apparently when you are old you have to be less visible, and be safely home by 5pm. So it’s great to see people giving the finger to how society expects you to act at a certain age.

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