I’ve long been aware that I’m old before my time. Even during my university days, I was always asking what song was playing in the clubs and was never one who could stay up much past 2am. Nine times out of ten, I was the first to call it a night once I’d hit my limit.
But now I’m nearly 30 and have my daughter, I’m embracing my OAP status wholeheartedly. Luckily, my husband has never been much of a clubber either and more often than not, a wild night for us involves opening a bottle of wine when Isla has gone to bed.
But I admit, there are some things which make me seem older still…
I hate listening to Radio 1
No offence to the DJs, but I really can’t stand Radio 1. To me, all the music sounds the same (more on that later) and most of the time, it just seems like the rest of the shows are just the DJs having very shouty conversations with each other! Give me Radio 2 and the soothing tones of Ken Bruce and a decent variety of music any day!
Get home, put PJs on!
I like to think that most people do this, not just me! But once I get home, if I’m not planning to go back out again, I’ll change out of my jeans and either pop my comfy lounge trousers on (which are an old pair of Hubs’ pyjama bottoms!) of just go all out and put my PJs on. I think if I don’t need to go anywhere, there’s no need to be uncomfortable in jeans while slobbing about! Having said that, signing for a parcel in my pyjamas at 2pm doesn’t make me look good…
What is she wearing?!
Honestly, the youth of today! Hubs and I will see girls walking down the street wearing those high-waisted jeans and tiny crop tops that show off their stomachs, all I can think is “she must be freezing! She’ll get a chill in her kidneys!” And during the summer when girls were wearing denim hot pants and crop tops, we both agreed that Isla will NEVER leave the house looking like that. You heard it here first.
Modern music? Pah! Pass the Queen CD
I’m really, really not a fan of modern music, something my cool, childless friends find hilarious. My musical taste leans more towards rock like Muse, Within Temptation and Evanescence and the most modern song I have on my Apple Music is Runnin’ by Naughty Boy and Beyoncé. Seriously, I look at at the charts and I’ve probably only heard of about half of the artists (who the hell is DJ Snake?!) and most of the club music sounds the same to me. Beat, beat, electronic auto tuned voice, beat, beat, blah blah. I was raised by parents who are very into their 70s glam rock so have grown up listening to Queen, Slade, ELO, Dire Straits etc etc (ask your parents kids) or as I like to call it, proper music!
I read newspapers and paperbacks
Most people get their books and news by downloading them, whereas I’m old school and love to turn the pages of an actual book or newspaper. That’s why on holiday (before child of course) my suitcase weighs a ton because I bring about seven books with me!
I mother my friends
I’m constantly making sure my friends have eaten/drunk enough when we’re together, and my handbag is a goldmine of tissues, paracetamol, lip balm, nail scissors, a mini sewing kit (yes really, I pinched it from a hotel room and it’s come in handy on a few occasions!). One of my friends never eats enough so I’m constantly trying to feed her up.
Nights out? Nope! Nights in!
Before Isla was born, if we had friends over we’d either start the night with a few drinks and maybe a meal in our local restaurant before making our way back to our and getting stuck into a few bottles of wine. To be fair, not much has changed here, except nowadays we tend to cook for our guests (as you can see) before getting stuck into the wine and I’m normally ready for bed after 2 or 3 glasses of wine! Recently we had some friends over and I managed to stay up until 11.30, and bloody hell I felt it the next day!
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About Rachel Armitage
I’m a writer turned stay at home mum, raising our little redheaded beauty out in the sticks and documenting journey along the way, the good, the bad and the very very ugly!