Old folks pilates

I'm at two ends of the age spectrum these days.
There's work, where the majority of people are in their late '20s or early '30s, and I'm definitely one of the oldest.
And now there's yoga and pilates at my charity, where everyone is at least 60, and I'm definitely one of the youngest.
A woman who befriended me today at pilates is close to 80, I'm pretty sure.
A crisp sunny autumn day in Chelsea at the charity that does the cheap exercise classes for the over-50 set.
Today was pilates for £1.25.
Rode my bike to the Tube stop, ran up the long stairs at the station and walked briskly the 10 minutes the other end in Chelsea from the station to the stately historic building that houses the charity. Felt good to move.
Got there early because they said the class was popular.
Struck up a conversation with a lovely older British woman with neat silver hair wearing a pink overcoat with a pink scarf over fitted black track suit bottoms. She was early for the pilates class too.
She told me the building where the classes are held used to be the old baths of the tall historic building with the long gleaming windows next door, which with our building, forms a large, l-shaped brick complex in the heart of Chelsea.
Pilates was fun. The class was good. The teacher, cute, chirpy, but middle-aged, thank god, paid attention to us all, because we were old. Watched our posture closely, like in the yoga class last week.
I liked that.
Small class. No frills.
I had never done Pilates before. So I needed that.
And hell, I'm kinda old now too.
Is 55 old?
It's not young, is it?
After the class, went to the cafe run by the charity, staffed by people with developmental disabilities, to have something to eat. Got a nice mac and cheese and salad plate for £3.25 -- cheap as hell for London. Sun streamed through the clean-as-can-be windows of the cafe, a glassed conservatory.
The woman I had chatted with before the class was there with two other women from the class.
They invited me to join them.
It was lovely.
One of them walked with me to the Tube stop afterwards.
She was 70, she told me. Only 15 years older than me. A blink of an eye, really.
Tomorrow I go do a day at my freelance job, where everyone is young and fresh, just starting out on their lives.
I'm glad I got some exercise with my fellow old ladies today.
Makes me feel stronger.