What We're About

Nobody warns you about getting old. Not properly.

There's no instruction book. No lessons. You get leaflets about pensions, adverts for stairlifts, maybe even a free bus pass if you're lucky. But nobody tells you what it actually feels like. The confusion. The creeping absurdity. The way the world quietly moves on without asking for, or particularly caring about, your opinion.

Syd & Doreen is our attempt to laugh about it.

The cartoons are inspired by real-life experiences. Some are just plain daft. Some might touch a nerve before they make you smile. But hopefully, somewhere along the way, you'll recognise your partner, your parents, your friends, or perhaps even the pensioner looking back at you in the mirror every morning.

And perhaps you'll realise you're not the only one coming down the stairs sideways.

A word about AI

We want to be straight with you from the outset.

The ideas, situations and jokes come from us real old biddies, but the cartoons themselves are drawn using AI. We will never pretend otherwise.

Yes, yes, we know. There are arguments for it and arguments against it, and apparently AI might one day take over the world. Truthfully, we probably won't be around to see it. We'll leave our much cleverer younger generations to sort that one out. They wouldn't want our help anyway.

For now, it's a horse we've chosen to ride because it gives us the chance to create Syd & Doreen and, hopefully, reach people like us.

We wanted to get that off our chests because we'd like you to trust us. There are enough scammers, liars and cheats on the internet already.

Whether there's an actual Syd and Doreen is another matter.

We're not telling you that.

Perhaps they're real. Perhaps they're a concoction of all the people we've known over the years.

You'll have to decide.

But the cartoons are only the beginning

This is an acorn.

And we're hoping that, with your help, it might eventually grow into a bloody great oak tree.

We want you to become part of Syd & Doreen.

Tell us your stories about getting older. Your mishaps. Your triumphs. Your good news, bad news and sad news. The things that made you laugh and the things that frightened the life out of you. Share them, and let us be there with you.

Because eventually we'd like Syd & Doreen to become more than somewhere you visit to read a cartoon.

We'd like to build a little corner of the internet for us twerlies. If you don't know what a twerlie is, stick around. It'll crop up eventually.

Somewhere we can make new friends and keep in touch with old ones. Somewhere to swap stories, ask for advice, give advice, discover useful things and occasionally have a good old moan.

A sort of Darby and Joan club for the internet.

Only without having to leave the house.

We're still here

Getting older isn't all downhill.

There are good things about it too. We're just trying to remember what they are.

And alongside the daft, awkward and occasionally poignant bits, we'd like Syd & Doreen to encourage all of us to enjoy this part of our lives. To stay interested. Stay involved. Stay fit if we can. Keep laughing.

And remind the rest of the world that we still count.

So if you're coming down the stairs sideways yourself, come and join us.

But mind that last step. It's a doozy.

Syd & Doreen