Analysis: I might not canoe at Niagara, but canoodling with Viagra’s fine

THERE will always be a few thoughtless incidents which illustrate age discrimination. But a world in which 820,000 are patronised or refused products when shopping – “Scotland’s dirty secret” in the words of Age Scotland Enterprises – sounds like paranoid hyperbole dressed up as a desperate press release.

Enterprises – sounds like paranoid hyperbole dressed up as a desperate press release.

It’s not a world I recognise. As I sail majestically into the second half of the 60s – or 666 as some might put it – I find, more often than not, allowances being made. I am entitled to a free bus pass. I get winter fuel allowance. There are concessions on all manner of goods and services.

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Concessions are widely offered when none is expected. Only the other day, the delightful Karine from Bulgaria (or was it Kazakhstan? I got confused) extended a generous pensioner discount on a haircut at her barber’s on Holyrood Road. That I have little hair left to cut is a point only ageists would make. At my newsagents, the staff are considerate and never complain when I buy piles of newspapers and the queue behind waits patiently with their one Daily Tabloid and lottery ticket.

No, I don’t go to the travel agents to book bunjee-jumping holidays in the Himalyas or yak-trekking in the Chilean Andes. What travel agent in their right mind would offer me a holiday dangling on the end of a rope in the Grand Canyon? Or canoeing over Niagara? Sorry, did you say canoodling with Viagra? Yes, two weeks, please.

I always smile and say “good morning” to anyone who serves me, even at 10 at night. I find this speeds the service. And supermarket check-out staff are generally kind so long as you speak slowly and explain the complicated discount coupons system to them in simple words.

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