Officially Ancient
So here I am, now officially ancient, although I’ll have to wait another 6 years until I qualify for a free bus pass.
I’ve always assumed I’ll feel a bit depressed when I reached 60 years old, but as it turns out it doesn’t bother me at all. I feel more grateful that I made it this far! I suppose it helps that I’m in pretty good health, we’re having lovely weather, most of the stress of the academic year is over, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend, and I have a sabbatical to look forward to.
Anyway, I’m not going to spend my birthday sitting at the computer – it’s far too nice outside – so I’ll leave it there, except to say thank you to everyone who sent birthday greetings and to ask you all if you haven’t done so already please to consider giving to my birthday fundraiser.
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In the Dark 
June 4, 2023 at 10:17 am
Happy Birthday!
June 4, 2023 at 10:21 am
Up in NI you get a free travel pass (bus and train) when you turn 60, which is for NI only. When you turn 65 you get one that is for the whole island of Ireland. it costs a lot of money, so there are discussions at the moment about options to save funding – such as increasing the age you get get the NI one from 60 to 65, and the all-Ireland one to 66. Or having some small annual fee for it.
June 4, 2023 at 10:25 am
I just looked and in Wales you can get a free bus pass at 60 too.
June 4, 2023 at 11:58 am
Happy Birthday!
June 4, 2023 at 3:41 pm
In England you can buy an over-60s railcard for about 30 pounds/year that gets you one-third off off-peak fares. I got these on an annual basis until I reckoned to save money on a 3-year card for 70 pounds a little before all the lockdowns… doubt I got my money back on that one.
Congratulations Peter!