Old is gold and white hair is silver

By By Edwin Makiche

In the cowboy movies, a bevy of blondes is often featured massaging a potbellied, moneyed man smoking a fat cigar.

The movies reflect the real world, where old is gold for many a young woman.

Gone are the days of Romeo and Juliet, when romance ruled and two lovebirds determined to tie the knot couldn’t be separated even by the decision of their parents or the disability of one partner.

She also runs a lucrative salon business in the town. How did she achieve all this? She says one needs to use their brains to progress in life.

At the age of 20 she got married to her first boyfriend who battered her however much she tried to please him. She booted him after five years and joined a beauty college in Nakuru. That’s where she met Samuel, a 45-year-old Government official.

Never contributes

After dating for a year he helped her start a business. Though they eventually parted ways, she will be forever grateful to him. Her ex-husband is now green with envy but she will never have him back.

Maggie describes old timers as experienced people who know that women are delicate and need to be treated with care.

Though she is in a relationship with a fellow college mate, she is willing to get out if a willing old timer approaches her. She is fed up with her boyfriend’s odd behaviour.

He is so obsessive that he wants to be with her around the clock. Though he knows that she is a student like him, he keeps frequenting her room during meal times but never contributes. Sometimes he drinks so much that he ends up vomiting on her carpet. She wouldn’t have to undergo such trauma if she was dating an older man. Instead she would be treated to outings to the coast in a sleek car. Chemu, another student, says she just hates some young men’s silly dreams and ambitions. Someone will promise you the good life yet he can’t even afford to maintain himself.

His money, if he has any, is always committed and you seldom get to enjoy it. She refuses to be deceived by a man that things will improve once they get married. She needs evidence before getting committed.

Share wealth

If he promises a car, she wants him to buy it before she commits. True love is only to found in soap operas, she believes.

Chemu says rich older men have already achieved in life and are ready to spend on a girl. According to her, the fact that someone is old and rich means he is responsible.

"Why let a broke man kill you with alcohol when someone else can treat you like a queen and share his wealth with you?’’ she asks.

Joyce, 24, says that the young men should just admit that old guys are smarter. When it comes to seducing they know what to say and how to say it, not just texting.

When it comes to money they are tops, in lovemaking they are experienced and even on the dance floor they don’t trample all over their partners’ toes as some young men do.