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 For many Baby Boomers, the news that the BBC has stopped broadcasting Top of the Pops will have come as a shock. The TV show began in 1964 and became a favourite teenage companion of millions for several decades. People who haven't watched it for over twenty years will have assumed it had long gone or that it would never end. Now the pops have stopped - at least in that format.
Only the annual farewell tour by the Rolling Stones has the same ability to make the typical Baby Boomer feel young and old at the same time. Young - with memories of days gone by. Old - with recognition that the years have done the same to them as to their rolling contemporaries.
Nearly all of us are reluctant to admit that the days of our youth have gone. When young, we think we will never grow old, when old, we deny the realities while secretly wondering where the years have gone.
Perhaps the Baby Boomer's ultimate fantasy would not be appearing on Top of the Pops but becoming Dr Who. The Dr Who series broadcast from 1963 until 1989 but last year was revived by the BBC with great success. Dr Who is a Time Lord who never grows old and never dies. He simply changes a worn out body for a new one.
The timeless philosopher of Ecclesiastes would have had sharp words to say about those who want to live such a fantasy life. He had sharp words for those of his time who neglected the realities of life saying "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth" and "Remember Him before the silver cord is broken".
Wise advice. Just look in the mirror if you need a reminder that "time like an ever rolling stream" bears all of us away towards the "breaking of the silver cord". The time when we will all have to face our Creator and account for the days of our youth and the days of our old age.
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