I see that "Desert Island Discs" is celebrating 80 years on air with a festival special featuring various international celebrities who will share which 8 recordings, book and luxury item they would take as a castaway on a desert island.
As a child I looked forward to the weekly episode and we faithfully tuned in, eager to get a glimpse into the idiosyncratic pleasures of another life. Now, I am surprised at my young self; the irony of a desert island with the means to play a record escaped my childish imagination. Instead, the very thought of being somewhere with nothing to do and no-one to speak to, was unthinkable, and not a little scary!

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Now in my 'senior years', aka old age, the idea of solitude has become synonymous with peace of a very particular kind -  peace that is a deliberate choice to withdraw from the energy-hungry busyness of modern life. Being able to side-step the inevitable question, " So, what do YOU do?" with a smile and a "Whatever I like" gives me unreasonable pleasure these days.

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With no-one to dictate my day other than myself, a book teases me  with the blissful temptation that, should I so choose, I can read it through in one sitting. Sometimes I  throw paint at a canvas, write a story or poem, play my piano and worship my spirit into glory! Or -  if Best Beloved is not in the house - I can play Edgar's Cello concerto so loudly that the speakers rattle:-)!!

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One of our favourite poets wrote, "I'm terribly pro old age really. You just go around doing what you like." This sounds so self-indulgent, and I suppose it is, but it is also little enough to make up for the creeping-creaking of advanced years.

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Blessedly, though, it is also true that the older I get, the more the Word of God that is in me from years of loving and serving Him bubbles up, often at the most unexpected times. And I am reminded of one of my fourite scriptures: "I was young and now I am old but I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their seed begging for bread."
This is my great comfort.

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