Fowllyd

Give him time... All the other traits are there.

If anything, Northam Lights' posting style is highly reminiscent of another former poster on this site. One based in Romsey, I'd say.

Specification is largely down to size of house and the amount of hot water you're likely to use (a higher spec boiler will provide a greater flow of hot water). For a three-bedroom terrace house you won't want anything extravagant. I'm not an expert, but I know a few gas fitters (none anywhere near you though, unfortunately!). Consensus seems to be that the best makes are Weissmann and Bosch - I'd heard of Bosch's quality falling a bit recently though. Don't just go for the cheapest option; quality is worth the extra money. One final point; you'll save on gas bills once you've replaced the archaic units you currently have. A new condensing combi boiler will be rated at 98% efficient or higher, whereas you'll be lucky to get 50% efficiency from the back boiler.

Send him to see Eileen Drewery.

Annoys the hell out of me, too - as does 'yourself' rather than 'you'. Will they stick around in the language? Maybe, maybe not - I've no idea. But, as I said, that's the beauty of language. No doubt there were complaints about 'does' being used instead of 'doth'. Or when 'bird' started to be used to mean a small bird, rather than its original meaning of 'fledgling' (this is why the word 'blackbird' could never mean a crow, rook or raven. The change continued until the meaning of 'bird' widened to take in all feathered creatures, 'fowl' narrowing its meaning at the same time).

The great beauty of any living language is that it constantly changes, evolves and adapts - just like any living thing, in fact. Words, phrases, constructions and so on are coined all the time; some die away in no time, others hang around for a while, a few end up with a permanent place in the language. The two points I've quoted illustrate this rather well. I'm not sure how long the construction 'try and (verb)' has been in use, but it's certainly nothing new. Neither is it wrong, at least in my view. I'd guess that it originated by analogy to 'go and (verb)' and 'come and (verb)' which have been common usage for a very long time. So why the objection to 'try and'? How often do you hear or see 'try to' as opposed to 'try and'?. The construction 'all important' or 'all-important' may simply be undergoing one of those surges in popularity that happen in language. People pick up on a particular word, phrase or whatever, it gets used a hell of a lot, then at some point it falls back to where it was. In this case, 'all' is used as a qualifier for the adjective, which is fine - it gives a quite different sense to 'most important'. When a phrase gets to the stage of cliché it becomes irksome to many, but this doesn't make it incorrect. We may not like every new coining or usage that comes along - in fact, we may well hate them. Personally, I cringe at the intransitive use of 'enjoy' and the ever-increasing use of 'I' rather than 'me'. But I know very well that they will become ever more accepted and eventually (probably for the former, possibly for the latter) be seen as standard and, therefore, correct.

As one who learned Russian to degree level, I can assure you that the alphabet is a piece of p*ss, especially compared to what comes later. Three genders and six cases for nouns etc, decidedly odd ways in which some of those cases get used. But it's the verbs that are the real killers, especially verbs of motion. The concepts involved are ones which we don't really have in English. Never tried any really tricky alphabets (Chinese being the obvious one) or tonal languages, though I made a few vague efforts at Vietnamese (six tones) when I was there fifteen years ago. Would take a great deal of practice I think.

No you aren't. Buying shares in a company is not the same as investing in that company, unless the shares in question are part of a new issue (debenture), which in this case I assume they are not. All you are doing is buying some shares from a third party; no money goes to the company whose shares you own. The only thing you're investing in is your own bank balance, assuming of course that you sell those shares at a profit.

57) 22 yards in a chain 81) 8 legs on an octopus 91) 999, one less than a thousand 85) 4 corners of the earth 90) 7 sides of a heptagon

17) 2 crotchets in a minim 23) 1 hand is 4 inches (well it is when you're measuring the height of a horse!) 43) 1 mighty bound (as in the old cliché/deus ex machina) 3) The clock struck 1, the mouse ran down 42) 7 bells in a railway telegraph

A one-off, and a genius in his own strange way. Hugely innovative, massively influential (he recorded nothing after 1982, but his influence is still felt now, which in itself speaks volumes), but never commercially successful. Wish I'd had a chance to see him play live. RIP Don.

Damn, I missed that story - can you post a link to it?

By crackey, Otters, you're on to something there. Just look at it - Tony Adams and Toon Army are practically anagrams. Clearly, this is meant to be. They'll be scrannin' doon on their grilled whippets with hearts full of joy in Byker the neet, make no mistake. And it's only a matter time before the roars for 'wor Toony' ring out loud all round St James' Park.

Hmm - maybe I'll dig out my old vinyl copy of Plastic Ono Band later on. I remember hearing the news; I was at university at the time, and it was certainly a shock. Lennon seemed to be pretty much spent as a creative force by that time - it seems that the happier he was in his personal life, the weaker his songs became. Maybe he needed some great conflict (internal or external, real or imagined) or anguish to produce his best work. You'd like to think he could have produced something better than 'Starting Over' had he lived, and of course we'll never know what might have been. Other singers have seemed to be washed up creatively, only to come back into form with some great work - Bob Dylan springs to mind.

Or down and take it like a man?

And, just to pile on the laughs, how much higher is that figure likely to be now, given that they fell well short of their target for summer sales - and were left paying several very high salaries they'd hoped to get rid of?

Damn. I was about to launch into a lecture on the use of the subjunctive, then I read the first post. I feel quite deflated now. Good to hear the story though - I reckon the vast majority of people are intrinsically honest, when it comes down to it.

Pretty much as you'd expect really. If Pulis is getting into Stockport's team he must be better than their other players. And if Pulis is one of your better players, even in a League Two side, then god help you... Anyway, enough from me - wouldn't want the Prof to miss his cue!

A fabulous comic actor, though in his earlier years he played some romantic leads, such as Forbidden Planet, an excellent science fiction take on Shakespeare's Tempest. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/ForbiddenPlanet1-2.jpg But he'll be best remembered for his magnificent deadpan performances later in his career. RIP.

If you are Dalek's agent, I think you need to pull your socks up. He's in danger of getting typecast.

I remember going to Nick Holmes' testimonial match, a pre-season friendly in 1986 against one of the big Portuguese teams. Saints' team included a gawky, clumsy-looking 17-year-old who I'd never heard of - he was skinny, had a big nose and certainly didn't look like much to get excited about. But when he got the ball, it was a revelation - his control and touch were nothing short of astonishing. I think his name was Matthew something...

If it looks like a joke, and it sounds like a joke, then it probably is a joke, yes.

Sadly, I fear that would be just too much to hope for. But we can dream...

Where should we expect to read these revelations? On here? In the press? And, assuming that you know what they will be, why not just tell us all now? Go on, tell us - just what has Cortese been up to?

Highlights of just our game are now here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/9157018.stm As posted above, well worth a look.