Are you turning into your parents?
Shocking news this week with the results of a poll which has found that adults officially start behaving like their parents at 43.
The tell-tale signs, according to those surveyed, are complaining about the weather, nodding off on the sofa in the evening, and heading to bed before 10pm. Others include dressing for comfort not fashion, thinking gardening is fun and – perhaps the biggest giveaway – having a favourite chair.
I think the problem is that I’ve been doing most of these things since my 30s.
But something not on the list, which I think might be a bigger indicator of the fact that I’m hurtling towards ‘late middle age’, is how particular I’ve become about certain details, for example, drinks. I simply can’t abide anything less than very hot tea. (But not scalding.)
Drinks quirks are something I’ve started to notice in the older generation too
My dad, for example, refuses to drink coffee unless he has cold milk served separately, which makes for a very nerve-wracking period between ordering and receiving as we wait, silently hoping against hope that the waiter took the order correctly. If it arrives without milk, with milk already in the coffee or – don’t even go there – hot milk, we’re doomed.
Meanwhile, I’ve noticed some of my friends’ mums insist on lemonade in their white wine – something I might previously have considered bonkers, but which now, makes a lot of sense.
This is why I was particularly intrigued by one of the latest inventions at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Among the displays of TVs with stretchable screens and outsourced memory devices (yes please) were robots for every possible purpose, including a little cat-shaped device that perches on your mug and quietly blows air to cool it to the perfect degree.
Fufu ensures there’s no time wasted between receiving/making the drink and drinking it, which totally has my vote. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’d have to remember to take it with me everywhere I went (until I get that outsourced memory thing).
It used to be that people with special preferences were treated suspiciously. I distinctly remember a dinner party once where someone brought their personal pot of mustard, explaining he took it everywhere with him. How we laughed on our way home. But now this kind of thing is very much welcomed.
Perhaps instead of fighting them, we should embrace our funny little quirks. Afterall, it’s what makes us real, and the more reality in an increasingly robotic world can only be a good thing.
Now, get out of my chair.
Shameless plug
Part 3 of my ‘money story’, and what it was like to grow up in a chocolate shop in the 80s, is out now over on Substack. I cover the boom then the bust of Thatcher’s Britain.
Suits you
New research suggests that £23bn worth of clothes across the country are hanging in wardrobes unused. While 21% keep clothes due to emotional attachment, 77% said they kept items hoping eventually to wear them.
Bad boss
What makes a leader inspiring or infuriating? This episode of the FT’s Working It podcast analyses the dilemma.
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