Good old boys

I sat with some old friends in the ex service mend club tonight. I was a bit more subdued than normal. I wasn't even enjoying my beer! So I left it. Nobody seemed to notice.
I noticed how old we had gotten.
Grey hairs, tea belly's, beer belly's. Hopelessly out of style clothes. It will be flat caps next!
For my friends, every day mini dramas turn in to hysterical retellings, over and over. And get funnier with every pint.
Perhaps I don't want to get old.
I know, I know...
Growing old is inevitable, but growing up is optional surely.
Well, I can still ride my mountain bike! I can still climb mountains, I can still smell the roses.
So many of my friends can't.
So why the melancholy?