There’s a half-finished oil pastel painting of a turtle that’s been hanging on my way for longer than I care to admit. Somewhere in the middle of painting it, I made a decision. I was going to see the real thing, giant turtles, on the Galapagos Islands, in the flesh. Not in a magazine, and not in my imagination.

Today I turn 86. And instead of marking it with a quiet cup of tea, I’ll be boarding a plane bound for the Galapagos Islands, ready to tick another extraordinary experience off my bucket list.

What is an expectation, really? I’ve been turning that question over, and I’ve landed on a definition I rather love.

And if I had to name the single quality that separated those who truly thrived from those who merely survived, it wouldn’t be ambition, nor intelligence, it wouldn’t even be resilience, though that does matter enormously.

It would be curiosity.

I want to say something about this phrase “lived experience.” It doesn’t simply mean “being old.” It means something much richer and, I’d argue, much more useful.

Founded in 2014, Music at Stow in Stow-on-the-Wold presents world-class artists at St Edward’s Church, a stunning 12th-century building just a short walk from where I was sitting.

I was at Elstree Film Studios by 8.30am for the Buzz Talent Model Masterclass. Fifty of us in the room, ages ranging from eighteen to the eighties. I loved that. I really did.

COVID took a lot from all of us. The freedom to move and mingle, to pop out for a coffee or a glass of something a bit stronger with a friend.

There are evenings that remind you exactly why you keep saying yes to life. The 4th of March was one of them.