Just when we thought that we couldn’t deal with any more infectious diseases, there’s another ‘lifestyle’ one that is spreading fast amongst those of a certain age!

The newly identified blighter is known as the “MX5” or to give its full name, the “Mazda MX5” and the risk of infection increases significantly for anybody over 50.

Until you pass the half century mark, this bug lies dormant and you present as entirely asymptomatic.

Symptoms might however come on very quickly as you begin to see them in nearly every street and car park and you quickly become an expert on all the different versions that have been produced since it was first launched in 1989. Most of all you notice the “maturity” of the drivers, and the faint trace of smugness on their faces.

50 is the new 20, or if you had your children a bit later, then 60 is the new 30, because it takes about 30 years to work through the responsibilities of raising the next generation. Before you know it you are dealing with the sadness of an empty nest but this is compensated by an unexpected feeling of freedom that you last felt as a young adult (if you can remember that far back!). Freed from school runs, catchment areas, Sunday morning soccer matches, relentless birthday party schedules and choosing universities, you are transported back to the blank canvas of your youth with an almost unlimited choice of how you want to live the rest of your life.

Nothing says this more loudly than a sports car and especially the world’s most popular roadster, the  MX5. A totally impractical two seater sports car with little or no room for people in the back, Ikea furniture or even a large bag of sports equipment. But that is the whole point! The MX5 driver is determined never to assemble another piece of Ikea furniture again, for themselves or anybody else. No longer do they need the boot space to transport all their offspring’s belongings to a university at the other end of the country.

The MX5 screams freedom, the ability to choose the car just for you. The wind in your (thinning) hair and the enjoyment of navigating a 45 degree bend in a well balanced sports car rather than a Postman Pat people carrier. It also shouts the wisdom of later years as the Japanese designed Mazda has always been renowned for its reliability. The MX5 driver knows that time is increasingly precious and does not want to spend most of their weekend lying underneath a gearbox.

I would venture that it’s the MX5 drivers who have understood and grasped this new freedom in their lives. That’s why they have that smug look. They aren’t trapped in a comfortable status-quo. 50 is the new 20, time is slipping away and the open road awaits.