The best years of our life lie ahead

I’VE often wondered about the athleticism and skill of the greybeards who feature so prominently in the regular bok-bok competitions of the Street Shelter for the Over-Forties.

They come flying through the air as if mere 15 year olds, landing with utmost precision on their opponents’ backs.

The success of the oldies seems to be explained by a study in the US.

The most productive stage in human life is between 60 and 70 years of age, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Yes, between 60 and 70 – that’s about the age of many of the denizens of the Street Shelter.

The second-most productive stage is between 70 and 80 years of age and the third between 50 and 60. That’s fascinating. It explains the bok-bok greybeards. Most of the 50 year olds are mere spectators at the bok-bok tournaments.

The average age of Nobel Prize winners is 62, the study reveals. The average age of the presidents of the prominent companies of the world is 63. The average age of the pastors of the 100 largest churches in the US is 71. The average age of the popes is 76.

This tells us, in a way, that the best years of our life are between 60 and 80. At 60 you reach the top of your potential and this continues into your eighties. Therefore, if you are in your sixties to seventies, or seventies to eighties, you are at the best or second-best levels of your life.

This explains the spring chicken atmosphere of the Street Shelter, the gals of mature years enlivening proceedings by constantly dropping out of the rafters.

How it happened

SUEZ drama … a visual comes this way of the fully laden container ship Ever Given.

First speech bubble from the bridge: “I bet you can’t do a U-turn in the Suez Canal.”

Second speech bubble from the bridge: “Hold my beer!”

Strange science

DISCUSSING the reliability or otherwise of economic data in the Zoom and work from home Covid era, in his latest grumpy newsletter investment analyst Dr James Greener expresses his doubts.

“And then there was the unwarranted and lethal prohibition on the sale of smokes and booze which clinically diverted tax revenues into crime proceeds for large portions of the year. This hammered conventional statistics of consumer spending into oblivion. “And if rumours are to be believed, further banning may happen over the coming Easter period for no other reason than it is a demonstration of power.

“The pandemic has yielded some strange science but none that links Christian holidays with virus transmissibility.”

Tailpiece

A PICKPOCKET is in the petty crimes court. He’s found guilty.

Magistrate: “I fine you R500 or five days in jail.”

Lawyer: “Your Worship, my client has with him only R400. I request that the court adjourn until after the tea break, allowing him to mingle with the crowd.”

Last word

TURN the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.