The Tick of Two Clocks

''An inspiration to anyone who still finds old age too distressing a prospect to take seriously'' The Times

Old age is no longer a blip in the calendar, just a few declining years before the end. Old age is now a major and important part of life: It should command as much thought - even anxiety - as teenagers give to exam results and young marrieds how many children to have . . . I am in my 80s and moving towards the end of my life. But in a more actual sense, I have moved from my dear home of 50 odd years into another . . . the home where I will be until the end. Writing here of how it has happened is in a sense a reconciliation with what cannot be avoided, but which can be confronted

When Joan Bakewell, Labour Peer, author and famous champion of the older people''s right to a good and fruitful life, decided that she could no longer remain in her old home, she had to confront what she calls ''the next segment of life.''

Disposing of