Why your 90s is the perfect time to try something new | Harry Leslie Smith
When I was a lad, a Traveller read my palm at a fairground near our doss in Bradford. From a mouth of broken teeth, she lisped my fate and said I would see the wonders of the world and be showered with good fortune, but that I had to be brave and always accept wherever the winds of fate blew me. Her pronouncement sent shivers of anticipation down my six-year-old spine.
Yet it wasn't until my retirement that I had the time or the resources to fulfil some of the dreams and ambitions that had fuelled my imagination and kept me sane during my working life. So I was thrilled to read about Doris Long - nicknamed Daring Doris - who at 101 broke her own record for being the world's oldest abseiler. Her feat of extreme rappelling, descending 94m down the Spinnaker tower in Portsmouth on Sunday, reminded me that the spirit of adventure, of discovery and the need to defy death are innate in all of us regardless of our age.
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