‘WE BOTH STILL FEEL THE URGE TO EXPRESS OUR FEELINGS BY MAKING LOVE’

Linda Kelsey, 68, is a journalist and author. She lives in London with her partner.

This is how it went the other evening. After a gin and tonic, followed by a fish supper, we settled down to watch the penultimate episode of Unforgotten. My partner was massaging my ankles as he always does when we sit on the sofa – me sideways on, with my feet in his lap. During the ad break, he said to me, ‘I’d like to make love after this.’ ‘Oh, all right,’ I replied, wondering if, when it came to it,

I would muster up the enthusiasm. Muster I did, and it was more than nice. My stiff neck decided not to bother me, and afterwards I felt profoundly peaceful. And young again. Young I am not. I’m 68 and I still like sex. This is not showing off or boasting, it’s simply a fact. Not only do I like sex, but I’ve enjoyed it more in my late 50s and throughout my 60s than at any time ever before. And the reason I’m talking about it is because I want to break this taboo about older people having active sex lives.

When I was young, it was more the idea of sex than the actuality that appealed to me. There was plenty of quantity, not so much quality. I knew everything there was to know about orgasms, except how to achieve one. I was self-conscious about my perfectly adequate body. Some men simply didn’t know how to give, as well as take pleasure.

The things that slowed down my sex life, from my mid-30s to my mid-50s, were childbirth, juggling parenting with a high-powered career, and a big bout of depression. Eventually my husband and I separated and it wasn’t until I met the man I’m with now, at 56 and bang in the middle of menopause, that I rediscovered my libido and my sex life began to sizzle.

If I’m no Aphrodite, my partner is certainly no Adonis, but he accepts me – saggy bits and all. To my astonishment, he continues to fancy me 13 years down

‘I’M 68 AND I STILL LIKE SEX’