[Anonymouse]

I think I remember reading somewhere you get your longevity (or lack thereof) from your maternal grandparents; mine were both in their eighties and died of nothing more, really, than old age. The same is true of all my relatives who've died in my lifetime; my great-grandmother died when I was a toddler, aged 92. We have no history, thankfully, of heart, lung or any-other-major-organ-disease in my family, on either side. Only one relative I know of - one of my aunts - had cancer. My mum's 72 in March, but she can still get around under her own steam without anything like a walking stick. Not very fast, it's true, but still.

I'm 40, and I ride a bicycle to and from work (about 15 minutes' riding from home to work); a visit to my parents takes about twice that. You know that advert about keeping your heart healthy, the one that says 'do something every day that scares you'? Well, I do...I get on my bike and ride it on Bolton's roads, twice a day!

I consider myself very healthy, I've never smoked, I rarely drink and I get regular exercise and a reasonably balanced diet. The last time I had a medical exam, heart, lungs and blood pressure were all spot-on. So barring accidents, bird flu or some catastrophe you ain't gettin' rid of me for at least another 40 years, hopefully more like 60 given that medical knowledge will surely improve in that time, and I hope I'm still together mentally by then. I'll just have to keep doing the Sudoku puzzles in the papers.