I have always thought that lifeguards were brave people but surely none was as brave as New York’s veteran Long Island lifeguard who, at the age of 61, is suing his employers for age discrimination because they, allegedly, insist that he wears that most notorious of uniforms, the speedo. He says, with some justice but maybe a little too much modesty, that men over 50 just shouldn’t wear those briefest of brief swimming trunks when they are saving lives at the seaside. Whilst the case is going through a New York court, everyone round the world is looking at Mr Lester’s body just when he was trying to cover it up.

Maybe he forgets that if we are drowning in choppy waters, we are not always that observant of the finer points of the guy saving our lives.

What I suspect he means is that the human body doesn’t always improve aesthetically with age so there is an element of vanity here too. Mr Lester, and who can blame him, wants to look as good as he can when doing his bit on the beach. If though, with age, we are encouraged to cover up the worst bits of time’s cruel damage, I am not sure that he is right to emphasis the crotch area. Generally speaking, age is pretty undiscriminating when it comes to the body and most of it ends up sagging and bulging before you’re done.

Having said that, I’m with Giorgio Armani on this one – why not wear what you want? No matter what your body looks like.

Boris Yeltsin too – who cares!

Rod Stewart was never cool anyway…..

…and Jack Nicholson always will be….

….as will Diego Maradona.

Other guys, even when young, never manage to look other that stupid in or out of their swimwear….

…poor Cliff Richard never cut it…….

…and Prince William was born looking a prat, speedos or not….and, let’s be honest, most of us have the odd embarrassing speedo photo tucked away somewhere so I’m shutting up now.

I wonder if I still have them somewhere. Hmm. If I find them, I’ll send them to Roy Lester. Maybe, though, he would prefer something more, er, traditional.

STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

It is now available as a paperback or on Kindle (go to your region’s Amazon site for Kindle orders)

You can order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:

http://wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm 

…or from Book Depository:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stephen-Dearsleys-Summer-Love-Colin-Bell/9781908742070

…or from Amazon:

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