Active - and loving it

Gordon McLauchlan. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Merv Cull, who wrote the accompanying essay, may be getting on but his sense of humour remains intact.

When author Gordon McLauchlan heard that Cull was down with a suspected heart attack, he made inquiries at Whangarei Hospital.

Put straight through to a patient's room, McLauchlan asked about the late Mr Cull.

"You've just missed him," came the reply. "They've taken him out with a tag round his toes."

The voice, of course, belonged to Cull who, along with the other 31 contributor's to Loving All Of It, is still with us.

But his cheerful spirit is a thread which runs through this lively collection of eminent New Zealanders writing about growing old.

"I wrote to people who I felt had something to say," says McLauchlan of his pitch.

"I looked around at a whole lot of my friends and it struck me how well they, how bright they are." He tossed the thought around with a few others and the book was up and running.

Adds McLauchlan: "I thought it would be interesting to find out how my generation approached old age because if by the time you get to 70 and haven't thought about dying then you're a moron."

He settled on a list spread across the nation. Not all were writers, and a couple turned him down, partly because they their own memoirs in the pipeline. He encouraged frankness and honesty.

The result is an entertaining assembly of autobiography, reflection, even a little inspiration. What is remarkable is a lack of bitterness or disappointment.

"The people in this book are all active, busy and contributing."

Their lives were in stark contrast to some elderly New Zealanders - mainly men, argues McLauchlan - who "blame others or the world for the fact they haven't done as well as they thought they might or deserved to."

The author himself is something of a poster-boy for the heavyweight lineup in Loving All Of It.

Now in his 80th year, McLauchlan swims regularly - one of his partners is a sprightly 95 - eats wisely and keeps busy: "I think it's really genes and plenty of luck."

The book seems to have struck a chord and a further edition has been mentioned.

McLauchlan's considering it, but it's not something, he laughs, that he wants to leave too long.