Do you have problems getting in and out of your car? Is it simply not designed to cope with that hip joint that's stiffening up, or those arthritic knees? Do you need to reach out and get a grip on the edge of the roof to lever yourself out, and press your other hand hard against the back of the seat?

It's one of the inescapable facts of life that as people grow older, they become less supple. Experts on ageing say that however young at heart people might be, their physical capabilities are bound to erode with the passing years.

And there are few places where you notice that more than in your car, because generally speaking cars are designed by and for younger people. As you grow older, you realise that the seats seem to be sinking lower. The sill ledge is higher. The steering wheel is bearing down on you.

By 2005, the number of male drivers over 65 in Europe is expected to have increased by 90 per cent on the 1985 figure, with the number of female drivers in the same age range up by more than 200 per cent. That's a lot of people - far too many for the car designers to ignore. So what are they doing about it?

Ford have tackled the problem of younger people being unable to perceive older people's problems by developing a "Third-Age Suit" in conjunction with the University of Loughborough.

Apparently it looks like a cross between beekeepers' protective gear and a high-tech astronaut suit. It restricts the physical agility of Ford engineers to simulate driving capabilities of individuals 30 years or more older than themselves.

Add a pair of gloves which reduce the sense of touch, and goggles which simulate cataracts, and the engineers and designers can get a good idea of the needs of less able-bodied members of the older generation as they design a new vehicle.

All of which is very nice and to be welcomed if it leads to a new generation of cars which are more senior-friendly.

But isn't it all the wrong way round? Instead of boffins inventing a suit that makes young people feel 30 years older, why not invent one that makes older people feel 30 years younger?

l Two shining examples of the way involvement and activity can keep ageing at bay are planning to retire - and looking forward to the next phase of their lives.

Muriel Goulton, 94, opened a little haberdashery shop in the Leicestershire village of Desford in 1957, when she was 52 and consequently only just qualified as a member of the Who'd Counting? crowd. Prior to that she had been a Royal Navy nurse.

Twenty years later Muriel was joined by her kid sister Gladys, now 92. Together they've sold countless reels of cotton, buttons, beads and other oddments. But now they've decided to call it a day - though very reluctantly.

"We will miss the shop so much but we can't go on forever," Muriel was reported as saying this week. "We need a lot more help than we used to and we can't afford it."

She puts her good health, and that of her sister, down to staying busy.

"It's the discipline of having to get up every morning. It definitely keeps you young," she said.

In retirement, the sisters intend to catch up with all the things they haven't had time for - like greater involvement with the Women's Institute and devoting themselves to their hobbies of gardening, cookery and photograph collecting.

Muriel added: "I shan't be bored. I've never been bored in my life and can't understand anybody who is."

If someone who has been around for 94 years can say that, doesn't it make you feel sad for those teenagers who find life so "dead boring" and are defeated before they've even begun?

I Don't Believe It!

Litter! It gets me seething. And it does the same for Ronnie Benn, of Wrose, who has written to me with a moan about the growing amount of fast-food receptacle debris to be seen most early evenings across the car park of the Forster Square Retail Park adjacent to McDonald's.

"When I come across this area in a morning on my way to work someone is nearly always in the throes of clearing up, but on my way home the thoughtlessness of residents of and visitors to Bradford is annoying to say the least, and one of the bright new areas of Bradford has been turned into an eyesore."

He adds: "Is not the random dropping of litter against bye-laws or is 'private land' exempt. If it is, should not landowners and/or retailers be responsible? I know the culprits are in fact the public, but can anything be done to enforce tidiness?"

Only by catching the offenders and sentencing them to a month of sweeping up the streets, I reckon, Ronnie. And it shouldn't make any difference whether they've dropped their litter on public land or private land, should it? After all, litter doesn't stay put. It blows about. What starts off on private land can easily end up on a public street.

Mrs Mildew is a lot less liberal than me when it comes to dreaming up ways of deterring the litter-droppers. She'd have them sentenced to spend a week buried up to their necks in in-fill sites - head down!

Ronnie adds another request to me. He says: "Will you thank Mike Priestley for his continued common-sense column inches?"

Well, all right, Ronnie. But I hope it doesn't go to his head.

Keith Trobridge has written in response to last week's grumble about "menswhere" etc.

"It reminded me that when I wanted a shirt and went to a Men's Wear department, I saw a sign saying 'MENSWEAR'," he writes. "I said to my father: 'I know they do, but unfortunately I can't prevent it.' Worse still, LADIESWEAR, BOYSWEAR, GIRLSWEAR and even CHILDRENSWEAR. Disgraceful, isn't it?"

In this day and age, Keith, anything goes.

If you have a gripe about anything, drop a line to me, Hector Mildew, c/o Newsroom, T&A, Hall Ings, Bradford BD1 1JR, email me or leave any messages for me with Mike Priestley on (44) 0 1274 729511. If you've already sent in a grumble and it hasn't appeared yet, don't worry - it will do.

Yours Expectantly,

Hector Mildew

Enjoy Mike Priestley's Yorkshire Walks

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.