Maz3

sorry Parvo!

The blocks that you knock down are about 8" x 2.5" x 2.5". You chuck these wooden batons at them, which are a bit longer. You have 2 teams facing each other, about 5 yds apart (sorry I haven't gone metric yet). You take it in turns to try and knock down the other team's blocks without knocking down your own. It's more fun than it sounds and a good game to play with kids too. They are often just as good or better at it than adults.

A book called Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon was recommended to me, but I've not read it yet

Blokes wandering round town with their hands down their trousers, rearranging their bits and bobs or worse!

Or anything by Ursula le Guin, Michael Moorcock, Stanislav Lem

A pair of totem poles. A bird table. That Swedish skittle game - Kubb - that involves knocking down blocks of wood with other bits of wood.

OK, this is what I would get: Bottle of wine (eg Freixenhet) Box of Thorntons continental chocs A popular new hardback book A DVD (recent TV film or mini series) A classical music CD Some winter flowering bulbs Job done!

Pourquoi? Ze food, ze wine, ze beautiful women ... What's not to like?

Were you thinking of buying wine as an investment, Bedrock? You really need to know your stuff and most supermarket wine isn't going to improve by keeping - it will deteriorate if anything. The sweet fruity wines you prefer tend to be relatively young anyway. Do as I do, just drink the stuff! Top tip: even the cheapest red plonk can be greatly improved by decanting into a jug or carafe, about half an hour before drinking.

I think it's the same guy you often see outside Sainsbury's on the Moor. Tinted glasses, red cowboy hat, terrible singing voice!

The fact you can't walk 2 yards down Fargate without being waylaid by a grinning oaf trying to get money off you :mad:

You could always create your own entertainment, dancing naked on the sands whilst quaffing strong ale ...

Well they say one swallow doesn't make a summer.

What happened, Maxtor?

People are supposed to be good at recognising other people with whom they share important character traits or types of upbringing ('takes one to know one'). Maybe your friend is gay?

I would get in touch with sheffield MIND or Age UK Sheffield - both really helpful organisations. They will understand the situation you are in, know the best way of helping your Dad, and give you the advice and support you need.

I can't see the supply of giddy (gormless) teenagers looking for excitement in foreign parts drying up soon ... These evil drug barons must see 'em coming!

I think the clue lies in the word 'use'.

More than half of Yorkshire's curry houses are serving fake lamb meat? Neigh lad.

I don't suffer from hay fever but lately I've been getting these banging headaches and don't sleep so well. Is it just the heat? Does air pollution get worse in hot weather?

I've been on 20mg citalopram for 6 years now, on the whole the pluses far outweigh the minuses, but I do worry as in previous comments about long term use. We're all guinea pigs in that respect! Tried giving them up a couple of times, really gradually, but when the stuff finally leaves your system that's it, I don't think there's any way of softening the blow. Though what some people said about giving up while you're on holiday or starting a new positive phase in your life sounds like it could work, when you're focussing on something else. Anyway I just found it too difficult. These tablets have really helped me to cope with all sorts of things I used to struggle with - family get togethers, meeting strangers (have to do it all the time in my job), speaking in public ... Maybe one day I'll be able to do these things without chemical assistance but I don't feel ready for it yet.

No, but then I wouldn't have had one at 22 either. Fortunately for the human race, most women feel differently ... live and let live, that's what I say!

Isn't it like "Och aye the noo", one of those supposedly regional sayings that nobody has ever been heard to say?

I reckon they are three triplets covering the whole of Sheffield between them, called Beryl, Cheryl and Meryl. Beryl: "OK I'll cover the heathens in Hillsborough and the sinners in Stannington, that'll show 'em!" Cheryl: "Right, I'll do the pagans in Page Hall and the wicked in Wincobank." Meryl: "And I will carry the word to the agnostics of Arbourthorne, the nihilists of Norton and the godless of Gleadless!" B, C, and M: "Hallelujah!"

Yes I've read a few ... Cat's Eye, Lady Oracle, Handmaid's Tale, Surfacing - I agree she's fab. Erm ... maybe we should start a literary thread?