Exercise stimulates the little grey cells, essential for solving complex crimes

Of course Poirot would not agree with me but it was a message that kicked out loud and clear from a programme on the television the other night, which I happened to stumble on called The Young Ones - Can you turn back the clock? where Liz Smith, Sylvia Sims, Dickie Bird, Kenneth Kendall, Lionel Blair and Derek Jameson, all in their seventies and eighties were put into a 1970s environment as part of an experiment that explores the prevention of ageing.  It was the first in the series and quite fascinating as is the information on the BBC web site about the programme.  Two things jumped out at me from the programme and the web site and that  is how keeping fit can help stave off the ravages of ageing, along with a positive mindset.  So I feel quite righteous on both counts because fortunately I love walking as a way of keeping fit and I am also the author of a book called Being Positive and Staying Positive (even when the going gets tough).

I have, I hasten to add, some many years to travel before hitting seventy, so who knows what will happen by then but I do know that exercising not only gets me away from the computer for a while, but it is also good for the brain, and writing novels takes a lot of brain power!

I do a lot of thinking through plots while walking and also come up with ideas for novels or incidences that can be included in a novel such as this morning I watched a craft from one of the Offshore Patrol Vessels based at Portsmouth return from boarding a dredger in Sandown Bay. Now that can certainly be included in one of my marine mystery crime novels. In fact I think I'll use it right now! So, time to sign off and return to DI Andy Hoton.