But I'm not convinced that everyone else will view my 40-ness that way. In some people's eyes I've just crossed an invisible threshold, from interesting to disinterested. At the start of the week I was a thirty-something, grouped together with youngsters who were still toddling during the drought of 1976. And now I'm a forty-something, lumped in with people who were born before Bill Haley hit the charts. I really don't mind being part of either group, but I'm prepared for the age-related prejudice that some people will now cast in my direction. I'm just as attractive, just as employable and just as human as I was on Tuesday, but not everyone will see that. Their loss.
My feelings were very similar at the ages of 20 and 30, and I suspect will remain the same when I hit 50, 60 and even 70. Life is a series of imaginary barriers - targets we hope we'll never reach, but which we eventually end up viewing from the other side. As I enter my fifth decade, I'm just delighted to have got this far in one piece and to have the prospect of several more decades to come. Even if life doesn't begin at 40, the rest of mine does. Best make the most of it then.
I don't feel a day over 40
