I got more years.

You’re only old when you stop learning and trying new things. Till then, you just got more years.

Or so I was told this week by a lovely young gentleman who’s a rap artist and a street artist. In return, I shared my definition of a lady and a gentleman, which is someone who cares enough about other people not to trample all over them or let anyone else do it to them either and values themselves enough not to let themselves be trampled over. By those definitions, he was happy to be a gentleman, and I am never, ever going to let myself get old! Having more years sounds so much nicer, doesn't it?


We chatted about how many people react to you on the basis of what they think they see, whether it’s colour, ethnicity, gender, disability or age. He thought I was going to be a Karen when I stopped to look at what he was doing. I said I am a Karen when the situation demands it, by which I mean that if you pay for a service or are legally entitled to it, then you should get it, and part of the service is that it is delivered professionally, even when the person doing it is having a bad day. It’s not up to anyone to tell you that you’re making a fuss over something small when they’ve got it wrong, and to me, the whole Karen business ties in with a lack of respect and a way to put others down. Yes, I am entitled. I’m entitled to be treated with respect and if you don’t do that, I won’t engage with you. By that definition, he decided that he’d like to be an honorary Karen! I said that was fine by me, and I hope you agree.

His work wasn’t finished when I left, but I’m going back to see it when it is, and I’ll photograph and share it because it was gorgeous. Lovely bright colours in a previously dingy space, with what I now know are called tags, which are stylised signatures but in this case were about how the world should treat people. Interestingly, what he felt was important were peace, love, respect and kindness. I can buy into that, too, whether or not there are forty years and a world of different experiences between us. At the risk of being ick, we both stepped a bit forward and talked rather than assumed, so the divide became a ‘hey, that happens to you too?’

So over to you. Do you feel seen and heard? Do you feel disrespected? Are we doing enough to see and hear people? I can’t claim to be wonderfully inclusive. I’m just nosy, and when someone’s doing something interesting, I tend to tell them, and you never know what it’ll lead to.

Speaking of that, a sneaky little plug for next week's new books which are due out on Thursday 3rd July. They’re ‘It takes a village’ which is the first in a new trilogy of Windy Bay books, and Happy Never After, which is set over at Oldcastle, with visits to Windy Bay and follows childminder Ellie, who’s the sister of the hero of a Whole New Life, and looked after Gemma’s daughter in ‘Having it All. I’ve got my usual pre-release nerves, and they’ll be worse when I see you again on Tuesday. Ah well, I’ll think about my little bit of beach and the sea and hills as much as I can because they’ll be there come what may. I hope you think nice thoughts too.