Married with boys...

... is what a 74-year-old Parkinson's Disease sufferer and apparent mind reader saw in my imminent future... over breakfast at the B&B.

I came into the dining area to find an old lady standing by her chair. She asked me to help her turn around so she can sit on the armchair. Her name was Dee and she was not afraid of making conversation with strangers - my kind of person!

Almost immediately Dee told me that she has suffered from Parkinson's for 30 years and yet she met her partner, a man called Colin who is a freelance Sports journalist for The Sun, 17 years ago. Then she got into a rather graphic account of how Parkinson's has robbed her of her sexual appetite. Not my kind of breakfast conversation but what place did I have to tell a sweet elderly lady to change the subject? All I could do was listen and nod sympathetically.

So as I was eating my museli Dee asks me random questions. In fact they were more like statements and she needed only my confirmation:

• You're the youngest child in your family. (Correct)
• You're father adores you and you have a very special relationship with him. (Again correct)
• You like to learn and see the world. (OK now I'm freaking out)

Dee told me that she can read people well. She said I will get married soon and have boys. Two things: firstly I know without any doubt that I most certainly will not be signing any piece of wedding certificate anytime in the next year or two and secondly, plural - boys? As in more than one? Good Lord. Dee must have sensed my cynicism to her prediction because she stressed again that she has a skill in this area. She also added that my views on marriage would change, hence the supposed near future nuptuals.

Then Dee asked for my hand and she held it between her palms for about ten minutes. Despite her slight tremors, she looked me dead in the eyes and asked me to concentrate on the heat going up my arm. Then she gave me a slight head massage before pressing her hands on my shoulders. Strangely enough I was so relaxed that I almost fell asleep! I did not flinch once.

On the train journey I thought about Dee. I wish she could have shed some insight into my professional life - whether I would ever make it as a journalist again and if not where my path will lead me next. I turn 24 in five days and if Dee's prediction is to come true, I do not want to be 30, married with children and look back having made no real impact or built a successful career in writing.