The funny thing about getting older and writing this Blog, is that I am increasingly aware that my readers will not “get” all the things I teference from the 1960s, 1970s etc.

Of course I am 64….and you might be 24, 34, 44, 54. You are interested in Politics and HIstory so if I reference Barry Goldwater, Geoffrey Howe, you wont have to turn to Wikipedia. Likewise if I reference the Beatles, Bob Dylan, I wont have to provide references. Or if I mention Sport….and George Best, Dennis Law and Bobby Charlton, there is no need for Footnotes.

But in Life….we are not just influenced by major figures in History. There are a lot of small influences. If you are younger than me and dont live in Norn Iron, politically the name Desmond Gillespie or Austin Ardill will mean nothing. Nor will pop stars Freddie and the Dreamers, the Searchers and Gary Puckett and Union Gap. Nor will (footballers) Ron Yeats, George Cohen and Paul Madeley.

Over decades we accumulate knowledge, most of which will never be used. We get left with the choice of just forgetting things. It is easier to just forget things than long explanations in conversations and blogs to support a position.

You might be 24, 34, 44, 54….and able to converse with your contemporaries but eventually you will be in the position of having to waste your time explaining references. So twenty or forty years from now, you will have to explain that reference to Mario Rubio and Mairtín Ó Muilleoir in politics, Lady Gaga and Daniel O’Donnell in music and Jamie Vardy and Jose Mourinho in Football.

For you also have been accumulating knowledge on a daily basis all your life and you too will get to the point where you can hardly be arsed to talk to people around you. It wont be worth the effort.

The other side of the coin is that you wont be arsed learning new stuff…like how to set up your computer or how to put the £10 top-up from O2 into your phone. Thats why you have children and grandchildren.

Or….this new word I saw a few weeks ago. “Mansplaining”. I have seen it a few times, enough to guess its meaning. But yesterday I was officially told via Twitter. “A a man unhelpfully and patronisingly explaining something to a woman” (thank you Áine).

When you are content with the stuff you already know and really cant be bothered learning new stuff….you are officially old.