SuperGold
There are people who don’t like to get older. I am very much not one of them. Bring it, I say, and what a privilege it is to still be here.
I think because I lost a close friend, Kathryn, when I was in my twenties and still miss her every day, I am daily aware not everyone gets to experience getting old. I know that, given the choice, Kathryn would have loved to have stayed for wrinkles, aches and liver spots and the chance to get even wiser than she already was.
This is not to say that I haven’t had the odd existential crisis as a birthday looms. Never for the ones that end in zero – party! – but sometimes for one that ends in a less celebratory number. The realisation that there are more years behind you than in front gives you pause, but that can be a tremendous spur for Doing All The Things in the time you still have.
My most recent birthday was particularly shiny because it comes with Free Stuff. This is a very welcome financial addition. Having spent the last 36 years self-employed with no sick leave, holiday pay, paid parental leave or employer contribution to KiwiSaver, I am delighted to get some help now with my future finances. It’s heavily taxed while I continue working but it offers choices about how much work I continue to do.
And so I filled out the necessary forms well in advance of my birthday, uploaded documents and waited impatiently for my Gold Card to arrive in the post.
The whole “in the post” thing will surely change as more Gen X Kiwi reach their golden years and expect digital access. There is a SuperGold app but it’s not all that super – it’s not personalised and doesn’t act as identification, and therefore not quite what we’re used to – but there’s a fancier app scheduled for rollout from October 2028.
What sort of free stuff comes with this birthday? Some – not all – branches of supermarkets offer a five per cent discount on a Tuesday. Many other businesses also offer discounts of some kind, special conditions apply.
This birthday also comes with a Tetanus booster and I got my first free Shingles vaccine at the same time in different arms. If I had a do-over I’d go for Shingles in the left, Tetanus in the right – it was the Shingles vaccine that felt like a punch, but only for a day.
I made a whole thing of it and booked in for the vaccines on the same day I had my problematic ear vacuumed and then my hearing aid fixed, and in the afternoon there was a lung scan. I know. I feel as hot and sexy as all of that sounds but the free stuff gave the day a bit of fizz.
It has been a busy old time. I am especially going to love the free off-peak public transport here in Auckland once I’ve organised my Gold ATHop card which you apply for separately. It’s on my list of things to do along with needing - coincidentally - to renew my Drivers Licence. I like the photo on my old one – I was young and having a particularly good hair day – so I’m sorry to have to replace it. Fingers crossed I can conjure up a decent shot to carry me through to seventy-five.
These errands will of course be done on a Tuesday so I can stop at one of the participating supermarkets on the way home.