JonMMUK

I lived in Sheffield the first 29 years of my life, and I thought I'd seen some hot weather in England. I was wrong. I live near Los Angeles now. It was 119 degrees last weekend. Now THAT's hot!

A film with Pete Postlethwaite and Rachel Griffiths called "Among Giants", about two people who fall in love while volunteering painting pylons, was filmed here. There was also a Sylvester Stallone movie from 1978 called "F.I.S.T.", all about trade union leaders in America, directed by Norman Jewison, parts of which were filmed here. That had a great cast - Rod Steiger, Peter Boyle, Melinda Dillon, Brian Dennehy, and a young Anthony Kiedis (Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers)

My wife, who's American, could never get her tongue round the word Ecclesall, and for some reason would always say "Eckle-Seckle". Made me laugh, because it's probably more difficult to say Eckle-Seckle than it is Ecclesall!

My wife is American, and since we've moved from Sheffield back to her native California, a lot of her friends have told her she speaks with an English accent, which obviously has some Sheffield-isms in there. Also, we used to have a lodger who is Dutch. His English was always really great to begin with, but he has also begun to pick up some Yorkshire too! He's started saying nowt and gi'oer and even has a passable glottal-stop 't' (as in 'goin' to t'pub')

Again, not in the city centre, but Sweeneys on Abbeydale Road (the one in that little shopping bit near the Hutcliffe Wood end of Archer Road) did me a great cut-throat shave and mini-facial with hot towels and things before my wedding in 2003. There's only one girl who does the cutthroat, though, so you'll have to ring up beforehand and make sure she's working on the day you want to go.

Hmmm... all very interesting and useful, but what I really wanted was an actual shop where I can take my video cassette to, give them some money, and then a few hours later I get a DVD back with it all transferred. I WOULD do it all myself, but I don't actually own a VCR at the moment - the only thing I have on tape is my wedding - and as I'm leaving the countryto live in the USA in 2 weeks, I don't really want to go out and buy one. Does anyone know of a shop in Sheffield that does this or, alchresearch, how much do you charge?

Anyone know of anywhere that can convert a VHS tape to DVD for a reasonable price? We want to do our wedding video before we move to the US - and obviously a UK video cassette won't work in a US VCR. Thanks!

If you want some Stove Top Stuffing, we have some going spare!

We have a box of fireworks left over from bonfire night last year that we want to get rid of. I'm not sure just sticking them in the dustbin is a good idea, so does anyone know of anywhere where I can safely dispose of them? Jon

I was going to say "Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal or Spain", but that really wouldn't be very helpful, would it?

I miss Taggys

It's not "in town", but there's one in the foyer of Sainsburys on Archer Road.

Same thing happened to me, I had my car stolen from outside my house (in Heeley) - they actually came in through my back kitchen door (which I had stupidly left unlocked, mea culpa) and stole my car keys, then took the car. Luckily the car was found abandoned somewhere in Arbourthorne, CD player gone but no actual damage. Oddly, they had actually parked the car neatly, locked it and left it secure, but taken the keys with them. Even more oddly, it had been reported as "suspicious" by a kindly and eagle-eyed Arbourthorne resident, and found by the police, half an hour before I even reported it stolen (at 7am)

Almost. I think (and please correct me if I'm wrong) but they have a 22-man squad for the games; 18 of them have to be 23 or under, they are allowed 4 "seniors". Something like that anyway.

Because in every other sport we compete as GB, not the four home nations. I don't think the IOC would allow England, Scotland, Wales and N Ireland to compete separately, or else every other country would start wanting to. You'd end up with national teams from Bavaria and Alaska and Sardinia and Texas and Patagonia and Inner Mongolia. Would never happen. I know we do it in the Commonwealth Games, but I think that's different.