Farewell, comrades, ’til I see you again in the colours of a Rainbow

NEXT week I’ll be 55. So I hope you’ll indulge me in a personal statement. When I was younger, I used to think that ages ending in seven were always the turning points in life.

Fourteen is puberty, 21 is adulthood, 35 is the age of being established in whatever you’re trying to do, and you shouldn’t still be demonstrating unrealised potential at 49.

As I’ve got older, however, I’ve come to think that every five years is an important milestone. That may, of course, just be a function of getting older. But as it happens, the day I’m 55 is also the same day I start working for Barnardos. I’m a bit in awe of that because I’ve met a lot of the people who work in Barnardos, and they’re really good.