ARE YOU LONG OR SHORT?

Before you start: The length of your digits is determined by measuring your middle finger from the tip to the point where it meets the palm and from here to the top crease at the wrist. When this finger measures three-quarters the length of the palm (or more), the fingers are classified as long. Any less categorises them as short.

People with long fingers are patient and love detail. They enjoy fine, intricate work and have a meticulous character which can make them fussy and finicky or plain pernickety at times. They hate cutting corners and go strictly by the book in everything they do.

Shorter fingers show a tendency to impatience, especially when it comes to pedantic or nit-picking behaviour. Owners are quick, sharp on the uptake and often inspirational. Excellent planners, they make good organisers as long as they can leave the detailed stuff to their longer-fingered colleagues.

If your partner possesses long fingers and yours are short, never make the mistake of redecorating together. His slow, methodical approach and need for absolute precision will drive you nuts. You want to get the wallpaper on quick and move on to the next room, but this unseemly haste and apparently slap-dash attitude will infuriate him beyond measure.

He's the one who will point out the imperceptibly crooked picture on the wall, the blemish on the paint-work that's invisible to everyone else but him, the fact that the bubble in the spirit-level is a hair's width out of true ...

You with your shorter fingers, however, are far too busy organising the play school outing, arranging the catering for your parent's 40th anniversary party or landscaping the garden, to take notice of such trivial details as those. Life, after all, is far too short.

WHAT IS THE SHAPE OF YOUR HAND?

Still on the fingers: how they are held in relation to each other gives much information on how we interact with others.

The middle and ring fingers are most interesting here especially if, when placed comfortably on a table in front of you, they lie either close together or wide apart.

Held close indicates a strong need for security, a need to touch, to cuddle up. Such people are sociable and enjoy the company of others around them.

Apart is the sign of the loner. These people may even be considered antisocial at times. They are self-reliant and resourceful, but above all they need some time to themselves in the day, just a little space and silence in order to recharge their batteries and regain their mental and spiritual composure.

If your other half has this configuration and he tells you he 'wants to be alone', don't take it personally. He actually means he needs a little solitude to put him at peace with the world. Give him some time and space to himself and he'll be back in your arms before you can say Jack Robinson.