Joseph O’Connor, novelist
Do you think you have a healthy lifestyle?
I try to. I spent most of my 20s doing no exercise at all, unless drunken stupidity might be counted a form of exercise. When I was a student, I had three criteria for the selection of a meal: (a) It had to be capable of preparation by nothing more than the addition of hot water; (b) It had to contain as much salt, monosodium glutamate and saturated fat as possible; (c) Meal consumed, the container in which it came had to be usable as an ashtray. But when I became a parent, I decided I owed it to my children to stay alive as long as possible.
How often do you exercise?
I go to the gym most days, where I run on the treadmill and do weights. I can run 10km in a reasonable time. Well, a reasonable time for someone who spent his 20s as outlined above. But I have a constant struggle to keep my weight at a reasonable level. A single chip and I bloat like the Michelin Man. On the other hand, I can never trust a person who doesn’t love food. It’s always a sign of meanness of spirit.
Do you get your five a day?
Yes.
Do you worry?
If there is anyone in Ireland right now who doesn’t worry about something, he or she must be so Buddhist as to be a candidate for Dalai Lama. When I’m not worrying about something, I worry about why I am not worrying.
What do you do to relax?
Well, I am in love with my wife, and I’ll leave it at that.
What’s your unhealthiest habit?
The extremely occasional, wretched, filthy, disgusting, vile, obnoxious production of Satan known as the cigarette. If I could change one thing about my life, I would never have discovered nicotine. It is the most loathsome drug the race has ever developed, and when I see a teenager smoking I want to weep.
Joseph O'Connor's novel Ghost Lightis published by Harvill Secker
