Dying to do something? Don’t wait!

TWO inspirational friends came to lunch. Both 90, they have razor-sharp minds, impeccable taste, jovial personalities and are as elegant as they are adventurous.

Stalwart Mr D goes everywhere on his mean mobility machine, and he and his wife are planning a trip to the Holy Land, among other things. Nothing can keep them down. Amazing.

By way of thanks, Mrs D posted me a book as uplifting as she is. The title might put you off, but 33 Meditations On Death by David Jarrett was hard to put down. It’s subtitled Notes From The Wrong End Of Medicine — because the author, an NHS consultant in stroke and geriatric medicine, knows all about the dying game.

His brilliant crisply-written book is a series of reflections on death in all its forms, which asks key questions like, ‘How would you choose to live your last few months?’ and ‘Are we wrong to keep people alive when really they’ve had enough?’.

A thought-provoking coda to the time of Covid-terror, it’s my must-read of the year so far.

Jarrett quotes the American novelist Garrison Keillor, recalling his mother’s advice for life: ‘Cheer up, make yourself useful, mind your manners and, above all, don’t feel sorry for yourself.’ Hooray for that!

He then reminded me of the Mail’s important campaign (in 2018) to get people volunteering: ‘Being useful is a beautiful thing. However badly your own life turns out, if you have been helpful to others, or to animals, or to the world in general, you don’t have to apologise. There’s dignity there.’

Such precious wisdom there. So is Jarrett’s advice to get on with the things you long to do (like walk through the streets of Naples — one of my own modest ambitions — or watch the sunrise on a tropical isle) as soon as you can, because making plans for retirement just tempts fate. Remembering mortality urges you to live — just like Mr and Mrs D who refuse to let age stop them.