An interesting problem ..to me anyway.

[NozSpark]

am i the only one who doesnt rely on a free email service, whilst hoping they dont switch it off / courgette it up?

Nope.... I have a domain name and hosted email too

I hate seeing vans with an @gmail, @aol, @yahoo.com email address.... looks unprofessional to me ..... especially as you can get a domain name quite cheaply