Virginia Blackburn

Adults nowadays are the generation of kids who refused to grow up

It was when I was going up in the lift that it struck me. The elevator stopped, the doors opened and a giant ‘ding dong’ filled the air to announce that we had arrived, the kind of thing that would amuse a five year old because it was nothing like the more usual ‘ping’ that you would expect. But this one was not filled with toddlers, it was filled with senior copywriters, wearing their onesies and clutching their giant over-sweetened coffees flavoured with vanilla and cinnamon and other babyish condiments. And it was then that I realised. No matter how old you get, we are living in a generation of children who will never grow up.

No one grows up any more, or at least precious few do. There are now ball pools for adults, for goodness sakes – you know the kind of thing, an arena filled with brightly coloured objects designed for someone aged three.

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