OUT shopping with my daughter the other day I spotted a pair of trainers and picked them up.

'You're not thinking of buying those?' she said. Which is daughter-speak for 'Oh please God don't let her buy anything that will embarrass me."

Well I wasn't going to. But I did.

Later, I heard her telling my other daughter on the phone 'Mum's wearing a pair of pale grey trainers without backs'

Well, I don't care. And besides my granddaughter said they were 'cool' which is the ultimate accolade these days.

And as well as being cool they are extremely comfortable and I've finally reached the age of only buying clothes and shoes which are built for comfort, easy to wear and don't need ironing.

For years women go around torturing every part of their anatomy in the name of fashion.

Take bras for instance. Fashion bras are designed to be titillating, if you'll forgive the expression.

As teenagers we were urged to fit some of our most delicate little places into stiffened satin and lace garments which looked like they were designed by an aircraft component manufacturer and were jokingly called 'Wagon Train' bras, in other words they rounded you up and pushed you out.

Demurely

They almost all came with wire uplifts which no matter how carefully you washed them always worked their way through a little hole and one day when you were sitting demurely at your desk you suddenly realised a half circle of bare metal had worked its way through your blouse and was bobbing up and down.

It's the same today, except you can now buy sports bras which are ideally suited to those who want comfort before fashion even if you don't intend to do anything more strenuous than the odd game of ping pong.

Sports clothes are really the answer to everything. They come in a huge range of sizes from very tiny to big enough to sleep four in.

Sweaty

They are eminently washable because they are designed for people who run about and get sweaty and hot when they are pushing weights or whatever people who have a legitimate reason to wear them do.

So you won't find the dreaded 'dry clean only' label on them. Nor the 'wash by hand and dry flat' instruction. Has anyone ever worked out where you can dry anything flat? I haven't.

I think sports clothes are the ideal uniform for growing old in and it's not just because I've glued to the television during the recent Olympics.

I mean what's the alternative? Large floral dresses with tight waists. Sensible cardigans and twin sets. Polyester slacks with elastic round the tops. Tweed suits for best and little fussy blouses with pussy bows.

Personally I'd sooner have cargo trousers and a sweat shirt.

I first noticed this trend in the United States when we visited a dear old friend who lives in a large and comfortable residential home which is probably called a haven for senior citizens out there.

Residents' ages ranged from 60 to around 100 and practically everyone was dressed in nifty sweat pants with matching tops and wearing sports shoes. It looked like a Wimbledon 50 year re-union party.

Until that moment I hadn't worn trousers since I was about nine owing to my mother who had kindly told me that I hadn't the bottom for trousers and should never be seen in public in them.

However kindly meant, this gave me a life -long phobia against any kind of trouser, so jeans, bell-bottoms, ski-pants and, probably fortunately, leggings, passed me by.

But if a woman the size of a battleship and pushing 80 could wear a fuchsia pink track suit without a care in the world, why shouldn't I?

I went right out and bought a pair to find out what I had been missing.

And it's true. Sports clothes are the future.

The best thing is that you can find your size because sports clothes are made to move around in. So you won't have to fruitlessly search the rails for the one size 18 the manufacturers have kindly included among the hundreds of tens and twelves.

Joints

Track clothes are also easy to get in and out of, something you youngsters don't care about at the moment, but when the old joints start to creak a bit you don't want to have to struggle with zips and tiny buttons or acrobatic moves to do up the back of a classic little blouse or get that top button on a shirt fastened. Just pull on and pull up the drawstrings and you're ready to go.

And it's not just clothes. The older you get the older your feet get and as they've had the most wear and tear they suffer. Sports shoes are built to give maximum support, comfort and movability. They may also be fashion items but they are a lot better than leather lace-ups.

Trainers give feet which have been crammed into stilettos, wedges, Cuban heels and Scholl sandals over the years a long, loving holiday.

So when I grow old I won't be bothering to wear purple. I'll just be after Lynford Christie's pants.

Cat stop press; I know a lot of people think that cats and small children don't mix but I'm not one of them. Providing you make sure the child isn't rough with animals and make them realise that pussy has every right to retaliate if his tail is pulled, all small children get on well with cats.

When I had Genghis Fluffy I noticed he was particularly kind to very small children, letting them get away with far more than he would have allowed adults.

Tummy tickling was totally taboo for grown-ups, unless they wanted to lose a finger or two, but tiny fingers were stoically put up with.

Jefferson and Oscar adore my grandson, especially now he can open the fridge. They only have to utter a tiny cry and he's off across the kitchen shouting 'feed the dats', and offering them little morsels of best ham and roast beef and once a whole leg of chicken.

They look up at him with that shameless adoration which we all fall for, even though we know full well they would look at Jack the Ripper with equal affection should he offer them a fish finger.