The older I get, the more I feel I have in common with grumpy old men, the most well-known of whom has to be Victor Meldrew from the very popular One Foot In The Grave sit-com, although I am also reminded of the TV series of the same name, that was also both funny and sad at the same time.

I’m not sure whether the younger generation really “get” Victor Meldrew, as they may not have had time to come face to face with Sod’s Law and the many challenges that life throws at you, to keep you on your toes, but I bet there’s nobody over 40 who doesn’t seem some of themselves in either Victor or his wife, Margaret.

The situations they get themselves into are both unlikely but at the same time you end up thinking, there, but for the Grace of God …

In some ways, I get more forgiving of other people and their quirks, but in others, I’m getting much less tolerant.

Maybe it’s because life seems to get ever more complicated, and that’s not just caused by technology. More laws? More PC, meaning you have to be even more careful about what you say? More people? More cultures being integrated into the country?

So, my solution to this was to simplify my life, to the point where I hardly have to interact with anybody at all these days – my wife and our dogs, of course, but outside of that, a few delivery men and women, and customers on the telephone, who are a necessary evil.

I’m appreciative of the fact that many people are not in a position to make such a drastic change, but other than a few good friends and an even smaller number of colleagues from my last company, I don’t miss the social niceties that you had to conform to.

Hopefully, these steps will stop me transforming completely into one of these grumpy old men?