Today — we’re lucky! Listen as oral historian Judith Fyfe shares insights and tips from her experience of recording older voices and stories. She says these recordings are like photographs: they capture a moment in time.

She answers questions such as, why even do it? Why are older people more valuable subjects than teenagers? Best process? Potential problems? And what to do with that precious recording? I also get some personal advice about recording interviews for this podcast.

I hope she'll inspire you to sit down with an older person, maybe a family member, maybe a friend. Establish trust, agree in writing about the purpose, get a good microphone, record in a quiet place, ask questions and above all ... listen. (Because "Tomorrow is too late.")

I’m Rachel McAlpine and I’m 84. Like you, I'm Learning how to be old.

PS If you enjoy this episode, please Subscribe to my podcast and give it some stars. This is all the reward I ask for my work.

Hello, I’m Rachel McAlpine, I’m 84 and I’m learning how to be old. I want to say a few words about this podcast. It was sound asleep for a couple of years. Now I am reviving it, with a new mission!

This podcast is a friendly guide to the pleasures, perils, and possibilities of your future old age.

It seems to be humanly impossible to imagine ourselves much older than we are. In fact, we all tend to think of ourselves as YOUNGER than we are, a lot younger. Our Dad was absolutely typical when he said, in his 80s, No, he didn’t want to go to a retirement home because they were full of old people. He wasn’t one of THEM.

But sooner or later, if you’re lucky, you’re going to become that peculiar creature,

Look, the alternative to being old is being dead. You know that, don’t you? And yes old age is weird. It's not what you signed up for. But you will discover that being old is mostly, most of the time, for most of us, heaps better than being dead.

So why not be really alive? Why not make the most of this great gift?

When you start to suspect that you will be old one day, this podcast will keep you company. We will soften the blow. We will be friendly. We will share tips and tricks and insights.

Just try it, listen to a few episodes. It takes a while to warm up to a new podcast.

Hit the SUBSCRIBE or FOLLOW button now so that you don’t lose track of us, and take it easy. (Don't worry, it's just as easy to opt out.) Some terrific guests are lined up ready to join us. They'll help you to get used to the idea of being old, and to flourish well into the third act — or fourth or fifth act — of your life.

A word of warning: I’m inclined to get a bit earnest. On the other hand, I giggle a lot. You have been warned.

We're all learning how to be old, and knowledge is power. Anyway, that’s the plan. Welcome aboard!

We're all learning how to be old and old people are walking books of knowledge (Image: public domain, Wikimedia)

Today I’m lucky — you’re lucky!—because Lois Daish is here to talk about how food habits change in old age. Our choice of food and style of eating necessarily change as we start to get old. In Lois's long life as a food writer and cook, two things have changed radically: our national food culture and her personal food habits.

If you’re a Kiwi, you will be very familiar with the work of today's guest. She is one of New Zealand’s most distinguished and beloved culinary guides, actively involved for darn near 50 years. She has been a restauranteur and a regular writer for the New Zealand Listener. She has always been a splendid cook. Her most recent honour occurred in 2023, when she was installed in the Hall of Fame for Women in Food & Drink, Aotearoa New Zealand. Lois Daish is an essential ingredient of our national memory of food.

From her long experience, Lois has a long and comprehensive view of how our national food habits have changed over the decades. She also talks about the most mundane effects of aging, such as farting as you go up the stairs. Can you guess what nursery rhyme fits today's story?

I'm one of 6 sisters who will all be over 80 by the end of September this year (2024). I quizzed us all about age-related changes, good things about aging, and tips and tricks for dealing with life in old age. Some answers surprised even me! And guess which nursery rhyme goes with a family of six girls?

Popular fitness instructor Trudi Fleetwood says that exercise is all about moving — in old age, too. And having fun at the same time. She remembers her grandmother doing Jazzergetics and her mother following a Jane Fonda LP, wearing leg warmers, leotard, and a belt. Rachel talks about "the Taylor legs" and sings a nursery rhyme, appallingly. That did at least involve moving her mouth, and after all, it's all about moving in old age.

At 75, Rachel made multiple attempts to find a gym that suited her. Again and again a gym would move, or close, or change so that she had to try again. Finally she joined a community gym, Club Active, run by the Wellington City Council. This one suits her down to the ground for mixed ability Pump and Pilates classes and a shower after swimming in the sea. There she found a variety of great instructors, including Trudi.

If you're learning how to be old (and whether you know it or not, you are), you know that exercise performs miracles. If "exercise" is a scary word to you, change the word to "moving." That includes walking. Getting off the chair, if you can, nodding your head, scrunching your shoulders, bending your knees or wiggling your toes.

With the current rise in research on ageing and longevity, there's a flood of news and tips about living long and well. If you feel overwhelmed, you're not alone. The results are intriguing, encouraging, and revolutionary. But why did ageing became a hot topic thirty years ago? And how can we deal with this information overload? I've been thinking about this and have come up with a couple of suggestions. And a poem. And one woman's impressive vision of how her life will be at 95 years old.

It's time I began reviving and revamping this podcast. I feel sad whenever a favourite podcast stops — yet I let mine lapse. This episode of "How To Be Old" explains a shift in my attitude to podcasting. Once I did it for my own amusement. Now I'm focused on you, not me. Because we're all learning how to be old: no expert has all the answers. Welcome to the second life of How To Be Old, the podcast! Let's chat.

For an approximate transcript of this podcast episode, go here