The nineties

         You can look on it as an achievement to reach ninety, or as a mistake.   In any case, it's likely to be not so much of an achievement  as a matter of luck.   You didn't, in the end, drink or smoke too much, you weren't struck down by disease, maybe your family were generally long-lived.   Whatever the reason, here you are, at ninety - if you can walk, if you can talk, if you can hear and see, there's nothing to stop you getting on with your life.  But there isn't much of it left to get on with, is there?  You're on death row, in spite of  diligent efforts by friends and family to suggest you might go on forever.
         So what to do with that time?    If you have enough money, you can enjoy it and go on holiday wherever you want.  If you are feeling useless, you could try to get work.   But who will have you?  There are charities calling out for much-needed helpers, but you might not be accepted because of your age, and certainly you are no good at going round knocking on doors anymore.
     We have one shining example, even for republicans, and that is the Queen.   Ninety next spring, she has already stated an intention to hold a 90th birthday party for all in the Mall, leading to Buckingham Palace.
     There she is, dressed in the formal clothes with a hat (which for some reason she feels she has to wear though we know she prefers riding clothes) going round from one formal event to another, giving charities and good works her gracious patronage, standing for far longer than most of her age could manage, banquets and speeches which even the young find tiring.   Yes, she has expert medical help at the ready - we suppose - and bands of dressers and helpers and food supplies without the worries of shopping and cooking.  But all that assistance requires her overall supervision.   Having help can actually be demanding, and dressing up every day certainly is. 
       The rest of us have a drawback - with the retirement age set at the far too early 'sixties, we often have an uneasy place in society and go looking for charity work, though age does not usually stop artists and writers, working independently.  Isolation can bring loneliness.  In some other societies, the nineties are valued, not discouraged. They can be useful with their experience of life.    It's hard for those in the middle, but it could be harder later.