Ha'penny

Received this in change at some point - could have been today could have been weeks ago - and was only aware of it when it was refused at a shop. A remarkable thing a halfpenny piece. It was brought in in 1971 during decimalisation. I was born in 1971. It was scrapped in 1984. My dad was 40 in 1984. I am 40 now. When speaking to my son will decimalisation seem as distant as the year of my father's birth -1944 - the world still in the grip of war?

Anyway they were universally detested, and now have won back admiration for their scarcity. When my son is 40, no doubt he will stare at a small copper 1p coin in his hand, remembering when they rattled inside his piggybank and in his jeans pockets, now transformed from a worthless feature of the back of the sofa into a souvenir of the past.

Sorry, bit wistful - could be tiredness or a midlife crisis following my 40th.