She was 42?! I’m 44

[AmIoldbutdontrealiseit]

Shirley Valentine. Sat watching it on Channel 5, obviously seen it before but when very young so it didn’t have quite the same impact.
Cannot believe she was 42, I’ve just turned 44 and whilst I don’t feel young, I’m surely not frumpy and middle aged, pretty as she was, if you know what I mean?
The anorak wearing, egg and chip making and very mumsy, almost grandma feel?
I realise it was set in the 80’s but is it that we look/act younger now, or that we’re really middle aged and frumpy but don’t realise it 😬
In comparison, I have a 3 year old Dd, a career, live abroad, have longer hair, wear converse, parka and Gucci bag (just example today’s outfit) use Instagram, have many interests. My life is mainly centred around Dd so isn’t wild as in before, clubbing, festivals, travelling etc…but..is this what my age is really like inside?

Hope that made sense 🤣

Egg and chip making 😂😂🍳🍳.

I 44 and I made ham egg abs chips tonight, for dd!
And a black garlic rissotto for dh and I. Have I redeemed myself?
Incredible how those old clothes and hair dated her also.
I don't own a mmac but I'm sure I look frumpy even though I still feel 27.

Casual ageism has a lot to answer fir!

Yes I know that might come across as a bit po-faced, but really ditching the stereotypes benefits everyone

It’s 2021. In 40 years time people the same age as you are now will probably laugh and think you dressed and looked old for your age, so it all evens out.

Just different times, wasn't it? Women married younger, had children younger...and got older younger.

I do think she's got incredible skin though. So fresh looking.

She is a fictional character OP.
I think she looks bloody great in or out of her anorak whilst cooking egg n chips.
Too busy for Instagram though.

She’s gorgeous! It’s just the whole *Middle aged, boring life thing

We have egg and chips too 🤣it was just the having egg & chips instead of the routine every Thursday night steak thing.

Everyone seems to look super old in older films. I thought it was just me watching it through young eyes - but no, they still do. It's obviously the hair /makeup /eyebrows /fashion etc.

Exactly this.
I was born when my GM was 50. She declared herself to be an old lady, and stopped driving. She hadn’t worked for years at this point.
I’m now 51. I have a 10 year old and a teen and a full time job. And I drive about 250 miles a week. A very different time.

In the 80’s even 20 year olds looked a bit frumpy thanks to the fashion. Also I believe that Pauline Collins was more like 48 when it was filmed.

I’m 46 and still having amazing sex with 36-year-old man with abs, have no interest whatsoever in an old fella with a moustache !
I do obviously still eat eggs and chips though we mix it up a bit and have beans on toast occasionally as well.

I should say I’m also single !

Lives were shorter in the past and people "felt" older younger. I remember seeing people from Belfast in their 40s when I was growing up who had fully embraced the perm, blue rinse and Vilene floral dress stage, whereas now a 40something just looks like a 20something with a few more laugh lines.

I'm watching now! Adore this film.
I'm 49 and a few bits emotionally resonate with me, but agree - she seemed so old to me when I saw this in the '80's and the way she dresses still seems old, despite having a nice figure and lovely skin!

So what do you think they do next once the sun has gone down and the dawn breaks?

Would you have stayed or gone back home with the husband?

The '80's was the last generation of youngish people to look old. All those perms and mullets. In contrast, everyone in the 90's started straightening their hair and looked like All Saints (ok, maybe not everyone, but fashion changed and mothers and daughters started to look closer in age I think.)

The fashions back then were really ageing! I look back at photos of my mother when she was my age (41) and she looks a lot older!

I’m 28
Women age like wine.
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise

She didn't make egg and chips though.

She made chips and an egg.

Lol I've just finished watching this and did think the same thing till the boat scene where she's standing up naked from behind and I thought she looked great!

@AmIoldbutdontrealiseit

Would you have stayed or gone back home with the husband?

I actually did a Shirley Valentine once, though I was in my 20s! I was in a crap relationship, living in a place that I hated, doing a job that bored me to tears.

I remember looking out of my office window, and thinking "god, I'm so unhappy." Then a voice in my head said "you don't have to be."

I saved up a bit of money, dumped the boyfriend, and left for Greece, all alone. I spent six months living out there on Rhodes, working in a bar. I did go back afterwards - but not to the crap boyfriend, place or life. I'd realised these things were in my control, that I didn't have to be a passive observer of my own life.

Hopefully Shirley came to the same realisation.

There was more distinction of fashion by age
Looking back at 80s/90s films/ programmes, it surprises me now how young some of the seemingly middle-aged characters actually looked.

It’s just av strip with some stereotypes in it.

I'm literally asking dh to sit down with me this week to make a weekly menu up as I think it will save us money!!
I'm feeling very old

When the Golden Girls started I remember how shocked some people (men) were that they wore super fashionable clothes because they were “old” and was that appropriate. 🙄 I’m now older than they all were and think they looked like my gramma.