Not all oaps are on the breadline, in fact married with kids, one child with a disability which means one of us cant work, i find it pretty hard to stretch our income to afford heating, mortgage anything for christmas.
I was always taught that you stand aside for the elderly precisely for the reasons you state ( ill health etc) but that doesn't mean they cant say thank you.
I'm not tattoed or bald, I don't dress stangely, im not especially tall or overweight. i was wearing my green and black jack Wolfskin jacket. Admittedly it is 5 years old now, but it currently has a poppy pinned to it.
I'm not sure there are many people anywhere who don't understand that the word Paki is racist.
Seaford hasn't exactly been " taken over with immigrants"
I doubt many 65 year old men had husbands who were WW2 veterans
You referred to "old dears", so I assumed your pensioners were women. If they are in their 80s, then they could be WWII widows. If they were in their 70s, then some of them were old Teddy boys, or in their 60s, then old hippies, both of which group thought they could change the world, or challenge it, when they were young. But nothing ever changes and you get old grumpily, wondering where the years went and why you are as poor today as you were 50 years ago.
Today, the word Paki is thought to be racist, but 50 years ago, it was simply a nickname for someone who came from Pakistan, just as 60 years ago, Polak was simply a nickname for someone who came from Poland, or today, when Brit is a nickname for someone who comes from Britain. Word usage changes over time but not everyone knows it or can change a habit, particularly if they are elderly and forgetful, or have dementia.
But you are quite right. Where forgetfulness or infirmity are not an issue, then rudeness is just plain rudeness. Being elderly does not give you the right to be rude, any more than it gives the young the right to be rude.