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The digital thermostat on the wall says its 78 degrees in my apartment. Rubbish. I’m cold and I’m 70. Doesn’t matter, I’m cold and I know bloody well that if it was really 78 degrees – wait for it – I wouldn’t be cold!
I take action. I determine that the digital thermometer on the wall must be broken. (Yes, I know. I should’ve been a detective.) I go to the store and buy another thermometer, come home, hang it up on the wall next to the broken digital thermometer, and then wait to let it adjust so it can reflect the real room temperature. And so, after 15 minutes or so, I look at my brand new thermometer.

78 degrees!

Both thermometers say 78 degrees. Now I know it is because I am old. But why? I did a bit of research and sure enough, our metabolic rate slows as we get older, and our muscle mass reduces. I am not a doctor or a scientist. The first impulse I have when I hear the word, metabolic, a rhythmic word if ever there was one, is to do a somersault.

I found myself wondering more about the reason for feeling cold. And then, it happened. I am sitting in my reading chair reading and I glance down at the skin on the inside of my forearm. I found myself looking down at thousands upon thousands of teeny-tiny ridges and wrinkles. It was then that the coin finally dropped. I’m turning into an onion! Onion skin. No wonder I’m cold.