ds: Finally, by private message, I have been kindly reminded that Barbara is not as young as she once was. I therefore realise that I should perhaps go a bit easier in future ...
That is crap.
Don't use age as an excuse to offer your lame apology. Barbara deserves an apology regardless of how old she is or isn't. She deserves an apology because she is an intelligent and brave person that doesn't deserve your smart ass comments thrown at her.
Bringing age into this is another underhanded way to discredit - the implication is that age makes a person fragile and not as smart as you.