A picture of ageing

Don't age yourself on FaceApp. It is like peeking at the end of a book. Maybe it's better to let the pages run out slowly

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Read the Quran. Alongside the Bible. Possibly at Serengeti. Grow flowers and listen to The Doors at rudely high volume. When old age comes, somewhere down the distant road, I have a vague plan. Dying is not included.

Learn to tell a Monet from a Manet. Try James Joyce's Ulysses for a fourth time. Finally put together an Ikea bookcase. Lecture my granddaughter on Muhammad Ali. Hold a Robert De Niro retrospective in my living room.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on July 28, 2019, with the headline A picture of ageing. Subscribe