Acting like a Grown Up is overrated. And I'm 61 tomorrow and I still haven't got the hang of being middle-aged. For example: I've just got over some trouble with my foot. Once I realised it was clearing up on its own I was glad I didn't have to go to the doctor and explain what had happened: at the Sidmouth Folk Week, on the Friday afternoon there is a "ceilidh" English style (which I suppose is really a barn dance) in the ford of the River Sid. Whatever dance we start it always turns into "Look, he's got a dry teeshirt, let's soak him!" and I pulled a muscle in my foot kicking water over somebody. The previous day I had,with a bunch of like-minded people who sing regularly in one particular bar, paraded through the town and along the sea front with a tankard of beer in my hand singing "Roll the Old Chariot Along" and right into the sea (leaving my tankard behind) for more singing and dancing the Hokey Cokey, which gets difficult if you are out of your depth.

But exercise and writing are good at any age. And maybe I should consider meditation.

Re stretching: one year at Sidmouth we had a workshop run by a sports physiotherapist who told us emphatically never to stretch until we were warmed up. She said stretching first, exercising after was the cause of most of the injuries she saw: stretching involves making microscopic quasi-tears to the muscles which then repair themselves extending the muscle, but if the muscles are cold the tears aren't microscopic and there's nothing quasi about them. Kicking watere at people when you've just gone into cold water after coming down on the bus is a prime example.