I had the pleasure of buying Ronald Blythe lunch yesterday. He wrote Akenfield in 1969, an iconic work that gave a unique insight into rural Suffolk life. He has written widely on social history and is one of the inspirations behind a book I'm currently researching. (A collective biography that explores how 50 people's lives have been shaped by the prejudices of others)
He's still writing and remarkably fit at 85. In fact he has clearly decided that old age and retirement are for other people, not him. ('Painters and writers never retire,' he told me.)
It struck me as I drove home afterwards that retirement is one of those things we are all encouraged to aim for, yet if you love your work, stopping to spend 20yrs reading the paper and watching daytime TV in an increasing state of poverty is not an ambition worth aspiring too.
Meeting Ronnie Blythe reassured me that potentially I still have 30 years of my writing career left. Now that is something to look forward to!
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