Released On 18 June 2026
Dolly's blog: Alive And Kicking
Dolly shares a witty take on getting older: Good Housekeeping and cruises.
I’ve been thinking a lot about getting old. Does that mean I’m getting old? There are signs…
For starters I've become increasingly aware that Apple Music keeps playing me Ed Sheeran. I'm trying to block out the fact that I qualify for Saga insurance but can't pretend not to notice that I feature in HRs succession planning report. Also, whilst I've never been fitter, I fear I may be developing… jowls.
But the true realisation came from three profound moments of escalating concern:
Epiphany #1: At work there's a palpable sense of the mantle being passed to the next generation. This has, of course, always been the case. It's just that suddenly I'm approaching the top of the escalator, a fact brought home at the office summer party when a partner just a couple of years ahead of me noted in horror that he was the most senior person still present. He went home, which left… me.
Epiphany #2: Whilst shopping in Waitrose for an interiors magazine, a strange force compelled me to buy the discount pack that also contained… Good Housekeeping. On a conscious level I hadn't really intended to read it. But obviously I did and therein discovered both similar aged journalists I'd read 15 years ago and had forgotten existed, and a load of great content. I confessed my purchase to Mr D. "I assumed my mother bought it" he said, fixing me with a stare and adding "I'm not ready to be old yet".
Epiphany #3: Whilst reading Good Housekeeping, I heard a Times Radio advert for Viking cruises. "The thinking person's cruise," said the mellifluous Nordic voice. "That's me!" I thought, as I skimmed an article entitled "I covered for my friend's affair. Now we don't speak". "Exploring the world in comfort" continued the silky-toned promoter. "Even better!" I thought. Once a die-hard backpacker, there's no way you'd find me in a lice ridden hostel these days. But don't cruises = old people? I interrogated ChatGPT, which told me with the confidence it's known for that "Viking's marketing almost never focuses on age. Nobody wants to think of themselves as old. Many people do want to think of themselves as curious, discerning and intellectually engaged" . Well said, my computer overlord.
So where does that leave me, as someone who is both seriously contemplating a cultural river cruise but also considers themselves able to enter a club and hold their own? Am I an aged in-betweener? Most existential of all, is it ok to enjoy reading Good Housekeeping?
There are of course consolations, not least that with two kids now through school we're down to our last crushing load of school fees and hence the possibility of living in the same country as my husband. There are also many sources of inspiration. My Mum for one, who gives Joannah Lumley a run for her money in the style stakes and is sharp as a pin. Unless she's talking to a bank or utility company, at which point she outrageously plays the Little Old Lady card. Flagrant, and yet somehow aspirational.
As I returned to Apple Music to create a new playlist for my morning run (a now unremarkable fact of life my younger self would have considered utterly implausible) I found myself adding "Alive and kicking".
After 19 years of fee earning, Dolly now works in a management role in a London law firm. Working four days a week she is supported by a wonderful (though often absent) husband as they attempt to bring up three teenage children. A lockdown puppy adds to the chaos but keeps her sane.
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