h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My mother will be 96 in a couple of weeks. She lives alone, but is never lonely. She has all she needs and a more than adequate pension from the company my father used to work for, on top of her own pension. The house is always clean and tidy.

She doesn't do much all day, but she is quite happy to sit in her armchair and talk to people on the phone, receive the occasional neighbour, or watch TV.

Her sight and hearing are fading slightly, but she cooks and washes up, and looks after her own personal hygiene, is able to do her own shopping, takes the bus to town on Thursdays and goes to the hairdressers, changes her library books and goes to the doctors/opticians etc. Sometimes she will walk up the garden, but she has stopped doing any outdoor jobs, like weeding, herself.

Her memory is going badly - she can't remember names, or what she just ate for dinner, what she just watched on TV or read in her book. A phone call of 20 minutes will be a loop of the same questions and answers repeated up to 3 times, but she does sometimes laugh at herself and says "Oh, you just told me that, didn't you?"

She really enjoys having flowers and we always make sure there is a big splash of colour next to the hearth.

She was a secretary all her life and has no trouble working on the computer, but doesn't venture into the office to switch it on so much these days.

She has absolutely no age-related illnesses such as diabetes or arthritis.

My sister, who lives nearby and who looks after her bigger requirements and takes her shopping, has been away in South America for a couple of weeks now, and I have phoned every night to check all is OK. Sis has arranged Tesco deliveries every Sunday whilst she is away.

Talking to her and making her think stimulates her voice and mind and as long as she is still happy to do that, we are quite satisfied that she is managing on her own.

Her sister, who is just 18 months younger, is the same. So our cousins, my sister and I are happy that we have "good genes" and can look forward to a long healthy lifespan. If h2g2 is still around in 40 years, I'll still be on it!

Sometimes there's a gender gap, and it doesn't always favor the women in a family, though that is often the case. How did your male relatives fare?

My father was hale and hearty, but grew weak before he died. His head didn't give up on him, he just lost interest. He didn't have diabetes, cancer, arthritis, rheumatism, Parkinsons or anything like that either. My uncles (my mother's two brothers) didn't live quite as long, but I can't remember (if I ever knew) what their causes of death were. I always remember them as cheerful old men, and my parents were very fond of them.

We were never told very much about their ailments - my parents, having had a Victorian upbringing, and not a lot of education, probably didn't understand it all anyway.

All of which reminds me - I must ring my mother now.

I have to admit, I get a little of those whose parents are still hale and hearty late in life (in a wistful sort of way). Especially when the child is older than my parents were when I lost them (Dad was 49, Mom was 52--they were born the same year paulh and Asteroid Lil were)...