Being 60: More comfortable in an older skin

I remember the moment. It was the day after my 60th birthday when the sudden realisation that I was now a senior citizen struck me like a physical blow.

But I'm a practical soul and, once the blind panic had receded, I decided to work out how I might be old successfully; find a way to actually enjoy it.

I searched for women who could be my role models. Not my mum's generation - they shuffled off into retirement quietly and uncomplaining.

And the desiccated image of bent backs, pastel cardies and whiskery chins certainly wasn't for me. Nor was the super-glam, super-thin cosmetic-surgery babe, with short skirts above old knees and skin stretched beyond its sell-by date.

I wanted women who seemed to be having fun, were still attractive, still fulfilled, but not pretending they were 35.

Enter Felicity Kendal. Don't you just love her? She's been an icon of sexy, kittenish beauty for decades, and that's got to be a hard act to live up to when you're 67. But instead of whingeing and going down the denial route, she talks about the unexpected pleasures of the ageing process.

In an interview with Good Housekeeping magazine, the actress highlights the feelings of "liberation". Liberation from what? Guilt is what: trying to please everyone else; more cosmetic surgery procedures. Basically, she's saying: "This is who I am. Like it or lump it." My sort of woman.

Over the past five years, since I turned 60, I have begun to sense in myself - more and more - a feeling of letting go. My friends and I call it the sh*t factor. Those parties I used to feel obliged to go to, I now avoid. Those people I may have been intimidated by no longer scare me. That cream cake or glass of wine with my name on it, I relish.

Times they really are a changin' (for those old enough to remember the Bob Dylan song). When my novel, Thursdays in the Park , came out, the phrase gran-lit was coined - it was so rare to have a romantic heroine over 60.

When we see Helen Mirren on the red carpet looking gorgeous at 68, it makes us feel more at ease. It all proves that people over 60 can still be interesting, sexy, funny and touching.

Obviously I am furious that I have to wear reading glasses after a lifetime of perfect sight. I hate the fact that my stomach is no longer flat and that I can't bend my knees to get something from a bottom shelf. And each time I spend hours and a fortune in the hairdresser getting my hair dyed, I vow it is the last time and I shall go grey.

But with every passing month, I care less about that superficial stuff and enjoy more of the things I can do - I bought a bike last week, and took my first ride in 25 years. I might even get a tattoo.