Many people downsize their homes when they reach a certain age.

Sell what had been the family nest, buy a smaller house and bank the difference. The financial windfall can be like a modest win on the lottery.

The bank of Mum and Dad is suddenly flush, they can give a chunk of cash to their offspring and keep the rest for a rainy day, to boost their pension or to squander on out-of-season holidays in the sunshine.

But Maria and I have decided to think long term for the good of our children and grandchildren.

We will keep our multi-bedroomed house with a big back garden until at least 2050 by which time the population of the United Kingdom is predicted to have risen to 77 million, making it the most populous country in Europe, and land will be at a premium.

The house can be split into six one-roomed flats upstairs. Residents may have to share a bathroom, but I’m sure a rota system can be operated, and the overcrowding will hardly be noticed as most of them will spend their free time watching television.

A study by uktv play found the population spends almost 10 years of their lives watching TV already so it’s bound to be a lot more 35 years down the line.

They eat in front of the goggle box and drinkwine and beer whilst glued to the screen, often watching up to four hours of a favourite show at a time on catch-up TV.

All of a sudden, those popular capsule hotel rooms in Japan make sense. They are small and compact, not because they follow national characteristics, but because that’s all the space that is needed for the necessities of life and comfort: TV, bed and pull-down table on which to eat. Plus a shared kitchen and loo.

I could be onto a winner with our house.

Our best bet would be to turn our extended semi-detached into a family trust because things can only get more crowded in the years ahead.

The prognostication is that by 2080 the population will hit 85 million. That’s crowded. Add to that rising sea levels caused by global warming that could erode our coastline: Hull and Skegness will be under water, the plain of York transformed into a lake, the Lincolnshire Wolds an island and Doncaster a seaside resort.

By heck, imagine going to Donny for your holidays? Huddersfield could be the capital of the North, as it should be, land and housing will be at a premium and this could be the time to build a block of capsule flats in the back garden. I’m sure we could get two doubles and eight singles on the bottom lawn.

Our grandchildren would reap the benefits and still have the house when the tide metaphorically turns and the large numbers in this overpopulated island started storming the Channel Tunnel to escape in the opposite direction, hoping to find a new and better life in the surging economies of China, India and South America.

Of course, instead of the hassle, we could just downsize, sell the house, squander the proceeds on having a good time and let the future take care of itself.