What 'old lady' things you will refuse to do

[Auburngal]

Following this thread https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5253796-your-old-lady-habitstastes?page=28&reply=141706023 it was things like doing puzzle books, wearing big knickers etc.

What 'old lady' things would you refuse to do now and in the future?

Mine include wearing beige and brown. It does not look good on me. My skin tones and personality love bold bright colours.

Wearing skirts. TBF I cannot remember the last time I wore a skirt - perhaps to a wedding nor my 74 year old DM.

Have the same foods each day of the week. I know/knew of old people where they ate the same foods each day of the week. Pork chops on Monday, pie on Tuesday etc. Had upset customers asking me if we had any pork chops in as "always have them on Mondays". Plus if their birthdays/anniversary fell on a certain day of the week, their meal plans don't change!

When there is the word snow mentioned in the weather forecast, clear the shelves of tinned soup. Don't get this at all as there are better warming things than sodding soup.

What's old lady about skirts?

Glasses on a chain around my neck. Absolutely refuse. Though I might get one of those magnetic sparkly hooks that go on your top, they're quite pretty.

Watch countryfile. Enjoy hiking or whatever it is they do with those poles. Have a padded lap tray

Oh yippee. More opportunity to be Ageist. Just what MN needs

Wear hideous American tan rights or stockings. Black purple or navy for me! Or groovy patterned ones.

Get a blue rinse.

take up bingo

Drink sherry. I prefer a dry white and a glass of Ballycastle

I really hope I'm not going to do the thing where I talk at great length about a third party when the person I'm talking to doesnt know them and has no interest in them.

My mum (in her 80s) does this a lot, and has been doing it since her 40s. However, I've noticed one or two of my friends in their early 50s have now started doing too...

This. I only ever wear dresses and skirts and have done since my 20's other than at work when trousers were part of the uniform.

Wear briefs/granny pants. Thongs for life!

I'm in my 40s and I like Countryfile. And Heartbeat!

Nope I am going to fully relish in being an official "old lady". I would possibly be an eccentric one and poke people with a walking stick.
At what age can I start this? I'm 50 this year. Is that too young?

Elasticated waist band.
Velcro shoes of the Hotter/Ecco type

However, I do appreciate that health issues may conspire and when I broke my wrist a few years ago I could not do up my trousers.

Becoming rigid in my habits and tight in my spending.

I've done loads of these things since I was a child...

Yeah, if anything I'd say it's the other way round - at population level I'd say older women (say over 70) wear skirts less frequently than younger women.

There no such thing as “old lady things”.

My nana had a perm, as did all her friends, because that was the fashion in the 50s. She wore skirts and tights, ditto.

My mum and all her friends, the new generation of older ladies, have a short stylish chop and wear jeans.

When I am an old lady, wearing black leggings and white trainers, eyebrow pencil and curled hair will be “old lady things”.

You cannot escape the march of time, or of ageism.

Ageism and misogyny in one thread. Bravo OP.

When I qualify as an old lady (currently in my 50s) all the other old ladies will be fellow Gen Xrs, so the 'old lady' things to do will be different from what they are now, we will be reliving our heydays of the 80s/90s.

Wear animal print.

Have the same foods each day of the week. I know/knew of old people where they ate the same foods each day of the week. Pork chops on Monday, pie on Tuesday etc.
Ah OP I see you have met my parents!

I will hopefully not reach the point where the only topic of conversation I will welcome is that of my own aches, pains, illnesses and hospital appointments.

apparently they're back in fashion- you can get some really nice ones. Like, I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be for sunglasses rather than reading glasses but that's not going to stop me jumping on the bandwagon and saving myself the 30 mins a day I currently spend looking for my glasses

all these things have not been seen since Adam was a lad - in those colour tights/stockings, you must look as though you have tumbled down a set of concrete steps - about 108 of them

The OP is presumably from a generation who can personally remember previous generations for whom a woman in trousers would have been unthinkable. I knew two of my great grandmothers (both born 1903) and I don't think either of them ever owned a pair of trousers. The longest-lived died aged 94 and her "look" was rather Miss Marple - sensible wool skirts and jumpers. I think that's the stereotypical "old lady" skirt look that the OP refers to. Personally I love that aesthetic, and the Boomers' aversion to dressing like their grandparents means that there aren't many elderly people left who actually look like Miss Marple!

So I'll keep my thrifted woolly skirts, but I can't bring myself to wear a plastic rain bonnet. (I saw them displayed in a supermarket recently, so such things clearly still exist.(

Surely you don't reach a certain age and start liking different things because of your age do you lol.
I do not know any old people that like drum and bass but I have always liked it and I'm confident that when I'm 85 years old I will still like it because it's what I like lol.

When referring to skirts, do you mean those mid-shin length heavy ones I see all the old dears wear when they walk to the shops with their little wheeled trollies? Paired with thick beige stockings and sensible shoes? It's a uniform for the elderly women in my area and it looks very wartime to me. It's kind of cute.

You'll change your mind. Take it from one who's been there!