Longevity really does seem to be the name of the game these days. I see Karl Malden has died at the age of 97. Mollie Sugden at 86 and J.D. Salinger is still hanging around at 90 and winning a lawsuit again a Swedish author who evidently has plagiarised his famous book of 1951, one I have never read by the way and, as it has evidently been so influential, maybe I ought to get around to it and find out what Holden Caulfield is all about apart from adolescent rebellion. So at 78 I am still a stripling really. I did read somewhere that 1931 was the bestest year to be born as far as longevity and health is concerned but I think one of the reasons for this long life must be the amazing advance in medicine. Thinking about my visit to the cardiologist and the fact that Douglas could actually see my heart beating and its valves opening and closing – and with colour forsooth! – I said, maybe if medicine had been this advanced back in 1959 my father would have recovered from his coronary and lived to a ripe old age. Anyway, old age doth creep up on all of us and the body begins to totter as parts wear out. You simply can’t go on forever. Evidently my heart is the cause of all this breathlessness that leaves me unable to do anything requiring the slightest amount of energy and a call from the good Doctor Georgos informs us that it now has a habit every now and again of stopping for a three second time-out so I have to go to a hospital in Heraklion for further exploration. I can’t honestly say I am looking forward to it with eager anticipation but there you are, what must be done must be done. Most of my innards from my brain to my pancreas have now been photographed and, the heart apart, most seem to be doing well. Thanks to the micro-chip we’ve come a long way since Marie Curie discovered radium.