Kate Livingstone: Why I believe age is only a number ...

But no-one ever likes to think that they are too old to do anything.

My old mum gets quite indignant if I tell her that she isn’t young enough or able enough to take down curtains to wash – or worse still, the other day I found her with the loft ladder ready to go looking for something!

“What on earth are you doing?” I shrieked as I came through the front door and spotted her on the upstairs landing.

“Looking for a photograph that your Auntie Annie was talking about the last night,” she replied. “I’m sure she had the date wrong about when we all went on that holiday to Southport.

“And you know how I always used to put photographs in albums with the place and date listed.”

Indeed I do, and didn’t she always love bringing out said books of pics at the most inopportune moments. How many boyfriends did she chase away by insisting on showing them photos of me as a baby!

“For goodness sake mum, I’ll go into the loft and get the albums down. Your too old to go up there.”

“I’m fed up with you always telling me what I can’t do. I remember the day when I could do whatever I wanted and no-one ever batted an eyelid.”

And all this said with the same petted lip that her great-granddaughter Sophie uses whenever she isn’t getting her own way.

But her words came back to me when I was reading all those comments on the poll about people wanting drivers over 60 to resit their test and even be banned when they reach a ‘certain age’.

Personally I believe that most, shall we say, more mature drivers are the best on the road, but like anything, there are always a few exceptions.

It’s just the same that not all young drivers are speeding petrol heads flouting all the rules of the road.

And I was trying to bear all this in mind earlier this week as I drove through Falkirk at 20mph behind an elderly driver.

There was certainly no danger of him hitting anything as he drove down the middle of the two lanes but still managed to pull over into one lane at the last minute as he approached traffic lights.

I hope other motorists are as tolerant of me when I reach my dotage!