This is the name of a track off the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I listened to this when it came out in 1967 - I was 16 years old then - this year I am 64.
At the time I remember thinking that 64 was really really old and I could not imagine myself getting to that age. How could anyone be that old? After all two of my grandparents had died before they were 64, and they were very old, or so it seemed to me at the time.
When I was young I did not think about getting old and what it would be like, and I am sure you will be no different. One thing I do remember though is being told off by my Mum for 'wishing my life away'. Why was that you may ask, well, I was young and impatient, I wanted to grow up and do all the things the older kids were doing. I wanted to drive a scooter (like a motorbike but very cool in the 60's, search 'Mods') but I had to be 16 to get a license to drive one. When I had my license then I wanted to drive a car, but for that you had to be 17. Then I wanted to be able to drink, well legally anyway, and for that you had to be 18.
You get the idea. There was always something else but to get it you had to be older. My very wise Mum said I should be patient, I should enjoy the age I was and that before I knew it I would be old and regretting my lost years. As a teenager I did of course ignore her advice, that's what being a teenager is all about. We have to follow our own path. While we can learn from the experiences of others, and maybe prepare ourselves for things that will happen, in the end we have to do it ourselves. You will do that, you will experience the highs and the lows, the good decisions and the poor ones, you will be much better people for it and ready to make your mark on the world.
I was 16 and listening to Sgt. Pepper's, this was the time when I felt I was no longer a child. I had lived all my life so far in Southall, Middlesex just to the west of London. A place with a very mixed population and lots of new immigrants from the West Indies and India. Among random memories from those years I remember being allowed to walk to primary school on my own at age 6, it took about 30 minutes and some days I could hardly see my hand in front of my face due to the 'peasouper' fogs of the early 1950's. There's no way children would be allowed to walk that far to school now. Those were times before anyone worried about pollution so houses, factories poured out as much smoke and fumes as they wanted. One day we were told to quickly leave school, we had no idea why, but soon after a plane crashed into houses nearby. Another time there were clouds of smoke approaching the school and we later found out that a factory that made asbestos sheeting was ablaze, only now do we know just how dangerous that was.
Outside of primary school I spent a lot of time either at swimming club or kicking a ball around in the park with my mates. My Mum was an excellent swimmer so made sure that we learned very young, and then we stayed on as members of the Southall Swimming Club. One thing you may find strange is that we were allowed to walk to the local park to play football (remember we were under 11 years of age) and we would be there until dark.
In those days you had to take an exam at the end of primary school to see which secondary school you could go to, either the Secondary Modern or the Grammar. The secondary moderns were set up to prepare children for more clerical or manual jobs, while the grammars were meant to prepare kids for the professions. Looking back this was a terrible system as it labelled children at a very young age and restricted the type of jobs that were open to them. I passed the so called '11 plus' but my sister didn't, so I went to one school and Pam to another, this happened to lots of families. Three of my cousins passed and three didn't. A truly 'comprehensive' system where all children from an area attend the same school is much fairer, but will never work while private schools exist. More on that in another letter no doubt.
Anyway - back to Sgt. Pepper's. When I was listening at age 16 I was at Southall Grammar Technical School and it was the year we would all take the national exams called O levels. The number of passes and grades decided if you would stay on at school for two more years to take A levels. Those A levels were what you needed to get into university, and the grades you achieved were also important.
I got O levels in Maths, English Language, English Literature, French, History, Geography, Art, Economics, and my best grade was in English Lit, the rest were rubbish but at least I passed. The story wasn't so good for Physics and Chemistry which I failed in spectacular fashion. It was touch and go if the school would accept me for the A level course but as I was in the football and swimming teams I got through. My A level subjects were English Lit, History, Economics. Unlike some of my friends I chose the subjects not because they would help me in my chosen career, as I didn't really know what I wanted to do at that time, but because I thought I could get reasonable grades without too much hard work. Not a great example for you I'm afraid.
At that time of my life my education grades, exam grades were never wonderful, I was too busy trying to grow up. Outside school I played lots of sport and had a growing interest in girls. Don't worry though I won't be going into any great detail on that topic. At certain times one thing was more important than the others and it was hard to keep a balance. Great practice I now know for the rest of my life. Little did I know in those wonderful days of (almost) innocence that adult life would be a constant battle to balance all sorts of demands on my time and energy. You have that to look forward to. [more on that later]
Am I sad to be reaching the ripe old age of 64?
Not at all.
Of course there are days when I wish I was younger, usually when I watch people playing rugby or football in a local park. At times like that I think to myself 'I could still be out there', 'I could still play a full game'. But I know deep down that the days when I could run around for 80 or 90 minutes and take all the hard knocks are in the past. They were great days but there are other great days to come. My Dad is 90 this year and still fit, driving a car, and with a twinkle in his eye.
What I will do after 64 is anyone's guess. Maybe a career change, or retirement, or becoming obsessed with a new hobby. Who knows? But what I do know is that there is still a lot I want to do, and there is a lot of time to do it. Just need to work out what it is, but hey, isn't that where the excitement, the magic lies, the not knowing what is around the next corner? I've always been a 'glass half full' kind of person so whatever it is I know it will be good.
Life has surprised me many times so far and will again. It will surprise you too. I suppose what I have learned (often the hard way) is that whatever happens it is not the end of the world. Things have a habit of working out for the best in the end. In your personal and business life try not to worry about things that you can do nothing about, and focus on those that you can. That doesn't mean that big things cannot change, just that like minded people have to work together to make those things happen. If you think something is wrong then you can guarantee there are many others who feel the same way you do, but it takes courage to do something about it.
Just because things seem to have always been that way doesn't mean they can't change. At the height of the British Empire or the Roman Empire it must have seemed that they would go on for ever, they would never fall, but they did. In recent times a company called Nokia dominated the telephone business, now they are a very small player. Blackberry (sorry you Canadians) were the top company for smartphones in business, but no more. Even the once mighty Microsoft is not the dominant force it once was. As I write in 2015 the most valuable company in the world is Apple, not bad for a company that started in 1977 with the goal to produce computers 'for the rest of us'.
At the time I remember thinking that 64 was really really old and I could not imagine myself getting to that age. How could anyone be that old? After all two of my grandparents had died before they were 64, and they were very old, or so it seemed to me at the time.
When I was young I did not think about getting old and what it would be like, and I am sure you will be no different. One thing I do remember though is being told off by my Mum for 'wishing my life away'. Why was that you may ask, well, I was young and impatient, I wanted to grow up and do all the things the older kids were doing. I wanted to drive a scooter (like a motorbike but very cool in the 60's, search 'Mods') but I had to be 16 to get a license to drive one. When I had my license then I wanted to drive a car, but for that you had to be 17. Then I wanted to be able to drink, well legally anyway, and for that you had to be 18.
You get the idea. There was always something else but to get it you had to be older. My very wise Mum said I should be patient, I should enjoy the age I was and that before I knew it I would be old and regretting my lost years. As a teenager I did of course ignore her advice, that's what being a teenager is all about. We have to follow our own path. While we can learn from the experiences of others, and maybe prepare ourselves for things that will happen, in the end we have to do it ourselves. You will do that, you will experience the highs and the lows, the good decisions and the poor ones, you will be much better people for it and ready to make your mark on the world.
I was 16 and listening to Sgt. Pepper's, this was the time when I felt I was no longer a child. I had lived all my life so far in Southall, Middlesex just to the west of London. A place with a very mixed population and lots of new immigrants from the West Indies and India. Among random memories from those years I remember being allowed to walk to primary school on my own at age 6, it took about 30 minutes and some days I could hardly see my hand in front of my face due to the 'peasouper' fogs of the early 1950's. There's no way children would be allowed to walk that far to school now. Those were times before anyone worried about pollution so houses, factories poured out as much smoke and fumes as they wanted. One day we were told to quickly leave school, we had no idea why, but soon after a plane crashed into houses nearby. Another time there were clouds of smoke approaching the school and we later found out that a factory that made asbestos sheeting was ablaze, only now do we know just how dangerous that was.
Outside of primary school I spent a lot of time either at swimming club or kicking a ball around in the park with my mates. My Mum was an excellent swimmer so made sure that we learned very young, and then we stayed on as members of the Southall Swimming Club. One thing you may find strange is that we were allowed to walk to the local park to play football (remember we were under 11 years of age) and we would be there until dark.
In those days you had to take an exam at the end of primary school to see which secondary school you could go to, either the Secondary Modern or the Grammar. The secondary moderns were set up to prepare children for more clerical or manual jobs, while the grammars were meant to prepare kids for the professions. Looking back this was a terrible system as it labelled children at a very young age and restricted the type of jobs that were open to them. I passed the so called '11 plus' but my sister didn't, so I went to one school and Pam to another, this happened to lots of families. Three of my cousins passed and three didn't. A truly 'comprehensive' system where all children from an area attend the same school is much fairer, but will never work while private schools exist. More on that in another letter no doubt.
Anyway - back to Sgt. Pepper's. When I was listening at age 16 I was at Southall Grammar Technical School and it was the year we would all take the national exams called O levels. The number of passes and grades decided if you would stay on at school for two more years to take A levels. Those A levels were what you needed to get into university, and the grades you achieved were also important.
I got O levels in Maths, English Language, English Literature, French, History, Geography, Art, Economics, and my best grade was in English Lit, the rest were rubbish but at least I passed. The story wasn't so good for Physics and Chemistry which I failed in spectacular fashion. It was touch and go if the school would accept me for the A level course but as I was in the football and swimming teams I got through. My A level subjects were English Lit, History, Economics. Unlike some of my friends I chose the subjects not because they would help me in my chosen career, as I didn't really know what I wanted to do at that time, but because I thought I could get reasonable grades without too much hard work. Not a great example for you I'm afraid.
At that time of my life my education grades, exam grades were never wonderful, I was too busy trying to grow up. Outside school I played lots of sport and had a growing interest in girls. Don't worry though I won't be going into any great detail on that topic. At certain times one thing was more important than the others and it was hard to keep a balance. Great practice I now know for the rest of my life. Little did I know in those wonderful days of (almost) innocence that adult life would be a constant battle to balance all sorts of demands on my time and energy. You have that to look forward to. [more on that later]
Am I sad to be reaching the ripe old age of 64?
Not at all.
Of course there are days when I wish I was younger, usually when I watch people playing rugby or football in a local park. At times like that I think to myself 'I could still be out there', 'I could still play a full game'. But I know deep down that the days when I could run around for 80 or 90 minutes and take all the hard knocks are in the past. They were great days but there are other great days to come. My Dad is 90 this year and still fit, driving a car, and with a twinkle in his eye.
What I will do after 64 is anyone's guess. Maybe a career change, or retirement, or becoming obsessed with a new hobby. Who knows? But what I do know is that there is still a lot I want to do, and there is a lot of time to do it. Just need to work out what it is, but hey, isn't that where the excitement, the magic lies, the not knowing what is around the next corner? I've always been a 'glass half full' kind of person so whatever it is I know it will be good.
Life has surprised me many times so far and will again. It will surprise you too. I suppose what I have learned (often the hard way) is that whatever happens it is not the end of the world. Things have a habit of working out for the best in the end. In your personal and business life try not to worry about things that you can do nothing about, and focus on those that you can. That doesn't mean that big things cannot change, just that like minded people have to work together to make those things happen. If you think something is wrong then you can guarantee there are many others who feel the same way you do, but it takes courage to do something about it.
Just because things seem to have always been that way doesn't mean they can't change. At the height of the British Empire or the Roman Empire it must have seemed that they would go on for ever, they would never fall, but they did. In recent times a company called Nokia dominated the telephone business, now they are a very small player. Blackberry (sorry you Canadians) were the top company for smartphones in business, but no more. Even the once mighty Microsoft is not the dominant force it once was. As I write in 2015 the most valuable company in the world is Apple, not bad for a company that started in 1977 with the goal to produce computers 'for the rest of us'.
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