According to a sex and relationships survey carried out by our sister paper, The Scotsman, Borderers are unanimously agreed that a woman asking a man to marry her is A-okay. But while that may be fine in theory, it's not in practice, because according to the data collated earlier this year, 60 per cent of us were not going to propose on February 29 – and actually, 40 per cent didn't have a bloke to propose to in the first place.

The Borders figures from the nationwide survey into our sex lives, romance, dating and relationships reveal us as a fairly traditional bunch, optimistic about romance, totally modern about online dating – for everyone else – and now keeping in touch with our lovers by email and text – but we're really tetchy if you text your mates on a first date.

Borderers taking part were Scotsman readers, aged between 35 and 64, most had children and slightly more women than men responded.

So, about our sex lives ... Some of us, oh all right, seven per cent, are having sex every day – and we're at it all over the place.

A third of us draw the line at the beach (all that sand?), while a fifth has the seashore on their 'must do' list. A fifth of us are a bit squeamish about the kitchen while another fifth are pining for an encounter in the shower. Ho-hum, nearly three quarters of us have had sex in a car.

And, not belying our rural roots, almost a tenth of us list having sex outside as our preferred choice of venue (along with the same number opting for the bed or the sitting room).

We believe in holding out till the third or fourth date (nationally it's the fifth) to have sex, but more than a third (double the national average) say knickers to that and that you should go right ahead and have sex on the first date if you feel like it.

More than 40 per cent of us are having nookie once to three times a week, spending 15 to 45 minutes on it, mostly on weekend mornings (nationally it's weekend nights) – and more than half of us want more sex.

Far from peace and tranquility reigning in the country, a third are saying they're too stressed to do it, even more of us (43 per cent) are saying we're too tired and another third have been arguing. Only a fifth say children are putting the kybosh on their love lives.

Call me naive but I'm a bit alarmed to read a fifth of us don't find our partners sexy. Thankfully more than 60 per cent of us do fancy our lovers. But presumably the first camp are in the seven per cent (three times the national average) who would prefer a nice cup of tea and an early night to hot sex.

And it's all wrong you know, that theory about chocolate being a substitute for sex, for in the Borders more than 70 per cent of us 'strongly agreed' that sex is better than chocolate. Splendid news for our arteries, slightly less joyous for Cadbury.

More than 40 per cent of us think online dating is 'perfectly normal' nowadays, but a third of us say we'd only do it if we got desperate.