Hey, hear dis! Unnu know say even with five decades of levity under mi belt mi can qualify fi di name 'Hot bwoy'?

Yeah man! One little young miss call me 'hot bwoy' as she was trying to make a move on me the other day. Well, me tell har dat me is neither hot nor bwoy, and further more me really too old fi she. What did she do in response? She laughed me to a scorn.

roar of laughter

But tell me though, when is old really old, and when is old too old? A very dear friend of mine called me yesterday to share how the giggles grew into chuckles and the chuckles morphed into a gentle roar of laughter in her quiet office as the news was read that Merlene Ottey, the legendary Jamaican sprinter, who later became a Slovenian, and who turned 50 a few days ago, plans to run again.

Of course, everybody was laughing because they're thinking 'poor Merlene, why shi nuh siddung and rest, shi nuh see shi too old fi dat? Hear how I see this thing: the law can determine, or parents can decide that a person is too young to do certain things, but you and only you alone can decide when you are too old for something. I was planning to go to get wild at ATI and bruck out at Spring Break but I have a few nieces, nephews, children and grand who will insist that I'm too old for that. Well, maybe dem right.

But who to tell? Merlene may just surprise the world and silence all those people who laughing and saying she too old. Dem couldn't bring dat kind of derisive 'too-old-fi-dat' laugh to Edward Seaga though. He proved that age is no impediment when he became a proud father at age 72. There's also a woman from India named Rajo Devi who, after 50 years of marriage, gave birth in 2008 at the tender age of 70. Another person who defied those 'too old' laws is Nola Ochs. She's in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest person to get a college degree. She did it in 2007 at age 95.

One of my favourite songs is a nice lickle tune called Never You Change by Toots & the Maytals. That song was released in 1965, so to many of you young buds it is an old song. It's still a wicked song though, because when you're a song or when you blazing like me, you're never too old to be hot!

box-mi-back@hotmail.com

'Of course, everybody was laughing because they're thinking 'poor Merlene, why shi nuh siddung and rest, shi nuh see shi too old fi dat?'