Nero

Planets shine, stars twinkle. (Something to do with the fact that lights from planets is essentially a reflection of light from the sun, whereas light from stars is self-generated.)

It's a developing story.

And don't you think it is also to be admired that the BBC should let people come on and effectively rubbish the BBC. Whether or not you agree with its decision not to air an appeal, it would be churlish not to acknowledge its commitment to impartiality.

Remember that the Alpha Course is designed to make you believe in Xtianity, in the same way a billboard is designed to make you believe in CocoPops or Alfa Romeo. If it weren't full of plausible answers then the marketers behind it wouldn't have done their jobs properly.

I suggest you put your concerns in writing to the chief executive and copy it to the head of the department that caused you problems. You've managed to do it here, so it shouldn't take you long. Please do it. Writing on the EDF will have no effect whatsoever. Writing to the people who manage the workers who served you badly will.

Just stride out and look purposeful. Don't acknowledge them, either. It's the law that they have to stop, so why wave cheerily as if to thank them? You don't thank people for not coshing you on the head with a lead pipe or kidnapping you and tying you up with barbed wire, so need to do the same for those who stop at the zebra for you. And if someone in a van with a phone number on it races through a zebra, phone them up and tell their boss. It is VERY satisfying. Nero

I confronted him too. He was a bit sheepish but didn't get too arsey. Some people are just like that. Not sure what else you can do apart from confront him and report him.

If you like films, sport and BBC bonnet-busters etc, then I would say yes, get one. HD won't be dumped within a few years. Ten or fifteen maybe, but not before. Go online to Which?, choose a set and a Blu-Ray player and go to John Lewis to grab a bargain. If you have Sky+ or Freeview HD or Virgin+, all the better. Go for LCD and not Plasma.

At work. Fizz provided. (BUT NOT CHAMPAGNE!)

Victoria Line to Brixton and then the P4 sounds a good combination. Wd be better in the summer when you can walk through the park.

*Bob* You got there before me, too! :'( but also :)

Yup. I miked some green beans yesterday and the smell was very offputting. The beans, however, tasted good. I use a Brita filter kettle and normal filter jug. As for NYC water, I agree. It is disgusting to smell and taste.

I think I saw Mark outside S House earlier this week, waiting for the 176. I'd just finished work and I know only too well that they are rare at that time of the day. I hopped on a a 171 and then changed. Got home in record time, in fact - less than 30 mins, door to door. Generally, though, the buses have got a bit worse. I understand they will be less well funded because of the reduction in size of the congestion zone.

What do Xmas tree sellers do the rest of the year? Flee to the Caribbean to avoid the taxman and spend the rewards of their sky-high prices?

A sleuthing town-planning guru - could be the basis for EDF's own, quirky take on Poirot/Miss Marple. See you on Broadway......

Iceland is the place to go. Free range eggs are ?1.25 for 6. You can get bags of apples and pears for ?1, four tins of tuna for ?3, 4 tins of chickpeas or kidney beans for ?1, butter for ?1, 1l of olive oil for ?3 etc etc. Milk, cream, yoghurt, frozen veg is all cheap. It's really good for the basics.

If you ring the council, they will come and spray the ground with anti-fouling signs. It's not the same as catching someone, b ut at least you are doing something. They also will remove dog dirt, or that's the claim. 020 7525 2000. Please get them to spray the signs near where you are. The more the owners' see it, the more they are aware of their unsocial behaviour.

It was atrocious. It was cringingly PC (crow-barring minorities into several roles), non-geographically correct (how many accents that were not Mancunian did you hear?), full of the same people (the black man who's been on Spooks or something similar, the Scottish woman who's been on Bonekickers), and lacking in action. The most captivating things were the empty highways and backstreets of Manchester. It's like a bloody factory, the BBC drama production unit at the moment. If it's not bonnets and bibs, then it's chaos and conspiracy. Either way it's slavish, patronising and boring. I don't want shimmery FX, clever plot-lines and knowing dialogue. I just want a good tale told well.

I've lost a wallet twice, and both times I've had it returned, intact, undamaged and within 24 hours or so of losing it. One was in Aldwych, the other in Oval.

Agreed. BBC bosses will be very happy. In a toss up between keeping Bruno and his pals happy (!) and obtaining high ratings without a big scandal to go with it, they'll take the latter every time. It's been going for six series now, so I wouldn't be surprised if a re-jig for the next series is to come. Ciao Bruno? Ta-ta Arlene?

I misused the word 'spin'. I meant froth, hype, marketing, advertising. It will get tough for him, and I predict that Michelle will become, to some at least, the US Cherie Blair. I suspect that he will on some issues become uber-American, willing to annoy his allies a la Bush so as to gain or keep support at home. Please don't have him down as a great president even before his been handed the keys. It's unrealistic for him and for his supporters to think like that. When he elects his cabinet and most of them are white, DC insiders, how will the black, grass-roots supporters react? When he decides to wage war, what will his Facebook friends think and do then?

The 176 service is getting worse, if the increase in the amount of time I have to wait for them is to go by. I've waited up to twenty minutes for one at about 11am on Saturday and Sunday at The Plough or Townley stops. The 12 took 1 hour 50 to get to Trafalgar Square the other day. It crawled down Peckham from the Rye to Camberwell Green. It was very annoying. I don't think the powers that be have taken into account the number of new arrivals in ED over the past few years. I avoid buses whenever I can and walk as much as possible. That way I stay calmer and a bit fitter. (BTW, if you are ever told that they can't turn off the heating as it is set at the factory, don't always believe the driver. I've asked for the heating to be turned off and the driver has obligingly flicked a switch to do so. Others told me it wasn't possible. Perhaps that is the case on a different model of bus?)

Cookwank is great. I like knobsock, too. And odd combinations of 'rude' words and swear words, like 'twat-knob' and 'tit-knicker'.

People will be disappointed in him, simply because he cannot be all things to all people, or some things to some people. The youngsters who got involved, rallied others to vote and went into overdrive on his behalf will learn, sooner rather than later, that Mr Obama is a politician, living in the most political city in the world with the most difficult job to do. I am pleased that his election might begin to break down some barriers, but I am doubtful that tangible benefits will be felt by people in the US even after his four years will come to an end. He will be found wanting, like any leader, and I think that his inexperience and reliance on spin - for that is what it is - will undermine him.

I didn't remove the polythene. You can't see it anyway now that it is in a frame. Well, I'm impressed at the value, but I am not going to flog it.