My mum is 85 and has difficulty breathing, can't walk more than 10 feet and has about 10 medical appointments a month that take up a lot of time, picking her up, going to the appointment, waiting around, taking her back home etc. She appears to have her marbles but refuses to wear her hearing aids and gets confused very easily, I often have to do things on the computer for her like her tax etc. but then out of the blue she will do something like claim a medical expense successfully. Dad on the other hand is 87, still plays table tennis, can still walk up the hill behind the house that is a fairly steep dirt track probably about 2km up and the same back, he certainly has his marbles investing on the stock market etc. I was going to retire last year but we plan to move house to somewhere flat before we get too old and will need a bridging loan, I am paid by the hour and the boss is happy to have me around so puts up with me taking a lot of time off for appointments. My sister does mums washing and said she feels sorry for me knowing that mum prefers me to take her to the doctors and how many appointments she has. My sister commented that mum had a great retirement looking after nobody but it doesn't appear we are going to be that lucky.
I think your simple barometer is a good one, when it comes to people talking about the car you are right it is my age or the very young. I feel due to the modifications people from about 50 onwards are interested in my MGB and impressed by the finish, although there are always some generally much older than are not impressed by a modified MGB stating the original was perfect. The others are the 5 year old kids that love it. Like you I think anyone between 10 and 40 seems not interested at all.
