I hit 65 last month. Let’s try interviewing me.

How does it feel?

Well, pretty much the same as when I was younger. You know, 64, 63…

It happened to me while I was in the UK, so I could celebrate my birthday with my mother for the first time in too many years. She enjoyed the cake. She has no idea who I am.

What does being 65 mean to you?

So many things to choose from…

• Free public transport and higher car rental insurance rates
• A higher percentage chance of something nasty like Alzheimer’s or some other terrible thing we now live long enough to suffer from
• The ability to look back on long experience and offer wise advice that everyone gladly takes
• A vast inventory of amusing anecdotes to share, to everyone’s delight, even after so many repetitions

Maybe not. Okay, let’s try another tack. Was the past year special?

Oh, yes!

• One daughter got engaged
• Another graduated
• The third starting her university degree studies
• I escaped from the Madeira forest fires (not much of a story there, but I’m working on it)
• Three more short stories published
• Two more small parts in movies

And what do you hope for in the coming year?

• Another birthday
• Sanity to infect the world’s governments and electoral systems
• More anthology acceptances
• Huge sales of my upcoming novels
• Fulfilling my birthday resolutions

Birthday Resolutions?

• Spend more time writing
• Spend more time on social media (which I sadly neglect)
• Sleep even less so I have time for the above

I wish each of you a great birthday when it arrives and a wonderful twelve months following!

(And more birthdays after that…)