Becoming Corpse-Like.

I was massaging my temples earlier and thought I detected a slightly increased depth there. Being highly conscious of the physical consequences of ageing, I’ve noticed that different people change in different ways.

As I understand it, the universal fact about ageing is that muscle and fat deposits move as you get older, but they do so in different ways. In some people they sag, producing fleshy jowls and sometimes thicker necks. In others they seem to move in waves and produce a plethora of deep wrinkles. The third type is characterised by a general sinking where fat deposits used to lie, producing hollower temples and cheeks. The actor Peter Cushing was a prime example of that type, and it’s the way I expect to go. We are the gaunt people, the ones to whom the adjective ‘cadaverous’ might be applied.

Well now, I’ve had a lot of adjectives applied to me through my life, some of them complimentary and some pejorative. I wonder whether ‘cadaverous’ will be the last of them. At least it has the benefit of being neutral.

 

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I’m clean out of DVDs, you know, and I’ve finished the Paul Auster book. How am I going to wile away the long, dark evenings now except by finding inconsequential things to ramble about on this blog?