Life coach and author Butwell is appalled by the way anyone over 55 is considered over the hill. According to her: U As soon as I turned 50, I started getting junk mail about warden controlled accommodation. I was stunned and offended. I don’t think 60 is what is used to be. Most of my friends are the same age as I am and none of them plans to slow down any time soon.

But not everyone has caught on to the fact that 60 is the new 40. Recently a book came out on how to use the intemet aimed at the over 50s that really made my blood boil. I don’t know of anyone my age who doesn’t use the internet a lot. Then there’s the way TV soaps may show old people as being old in their ways.”

In reality, people are always likely to seek new experiences when they reach retirement age. Retirement is probably the first time in life when you don’t have anything mapped out for you. You’re free to do whatever you want. But younger people think it’s all about money. Pensioners are either seen as poverty stricken because they can’t get by on their savings and pensions, of filthy rich and spending all their money on travelling.

“You don’t hear much about the in-between, which is the reality for most people. For many, the worst part of being over 60 is being treated as if they’re dim. I find that I’m being talked down to, especially by pharmacists. They talk to you as if you’re 12. They have to ask you if you’re over 60 so that they know if you’re entitled to a free prescription. And if you’re over 60, they start explaining how to take the medicine very loudly and in great detail as if you’re completely stupid.”

So why do we seem to find it so difficult to stop treating pensioners as old fogies who don’t count any more? One reason could be that we’re afraid of getting old ourselves. The reason age discrimination is not going anywhere is that we all know we’re going to get old and we’re scared. We don’t want to know about it. Because we’re scared, we pigeon-hole older people and tend to think that they’re not so valuable.

It’s foolish because if we embraced and celebrated old age, by the time we became old ourselves, age discrimination would be gone.