Alabama is top of the obesity tables, I'm unsurprised to hear. The diet here is appalling, and the total lack of opportunities for exercise in the course of one's daily life is staggering. Walk? Cycle? I took a walk today - five minutes down the street from a classmate's house rather than being dropped off at home - and it was probably the longest walk I'll take all week. The dispersed pattern of settlement means that driving is the only option. I get funny looks if I walk to the supermarket. My former landlady said that she never walked anywhere after dark and tried to drive me to a friends house three doors down. (She needn't have said that; she never walked anywhere anyway.) And everyone lives in a one-storey home - no huffing and puffing up the stairs.

Even I have put on weight since being here, I think. In London I would walk to work every day, then walk to go out to a bar or restaurant, walk home, or cycle around town. So much for the countryside being a healthier place to live.