Whitey Grandad

Legally we finished 8th but to say that we were 8th best is stretching things a bit.

When I was a kid we didn't have a TV. Only posh people like my wife had one that they had bought for the coronation. There again she did live in north London and actually had a usable TV service. We had to wait until the Bradfield repeater at Manningtree opened in 1962 before you could watch anything reliably. You are right about the cars, my road when I was a kid was always empty. We used to play football in the middle of the road and got quite narked if a car came along and interrupted us. We were let out to play in the summer with instructions to come back when it got dark.

You have an email

I'm beginning to ask myself the same question. It's actually a pair of seats in prime position on the halfway line in the Kingsland so I am reluctant to relinquish them. I'm hoping that some of my family can go but August is a prime time for family holidays.

Strictly baby boomers were born just after the war when the soldiers started to return home from across the world. This caused a bulge in the birth figures for a few years. When those children themselves started to reach chidbearing age then there was another bulge around the late 1960s but this second bulge was more spread out.

Today's teachers are the same generation as today's kids. (When I say 'kids' I mean anybody who's younger than me.)

So why did the FA announce a fixture list that included home games for West Ham at a stadium that wasn't going to be available if they knew it had been committed to athletics some six years ago?

Great idea!

I used an EZCAP device for transcription which worked in an ok way but initially it wouldn't handle Macrovision protection. After some searching on the net I found that they do provide a software patch for their program to overcome this.

Oh, **** and ******* and thrice ****** That's another game I'll miss. What a waste of time my season tickets are

I've now found the actual VHS Cassettes for the files that I listed. If you're interested in any of them you can have them for free. Are you based in south Hampshire?

Our extinguishers used to be different colours. As I remember them it was black for CO2 for electrical, pale brown was water for paper or cardboard, red was for general use (foam?). There may also have been some green ones (powder?). Now they're all red and you have to read the labels to decide which one to use. Another point, they are checked annually and sometimes need to be discharged and refilled. My secretary was offered the opportunity of discharging one but she couldn't even break the security tag.

No, they're not. We have several different types of extinguisher at my industrial unit and they keep changing the colour identification. I have asked many times if there are any training courses on how to use them but there is nothing regular available. I think the general attitude is that they don't want you to hang around and try to tackle the fire, just get somewhere safe and dial 999.

'Not really done anything, got to mid table and lost in a cup final'. Where have I heard that before?

Brilliant! ...as ever, Peter Brookes.

If I were I'd be Prime Minister now ?

My uncle and aunt were moved into one in North London in the 1960s. There were two lifts, one stopping at odd floors and one at even. You didn't need many young mothers with prams to make the waiting times unbelievable. The flats were lovely inside and a big improvement on their previous housing but I never felt safe in them.

I wouldn't seek to make political capital out of this disaster, but it's definitely something that could have been avoided, or at the least mitigated. Pesonally I have never liked tower blocks be they for domestic or office use. I was even less convinced when I discovered that low-rise housing can achieve a similar density to high-rise so I never saw the need for them. We shall need to wait for the full enquiry but some steps need to be taken promptly before anything similar happens. Sprinklers could have been fitted for about £200,000 I believe, the gas pipes in the main access column were reportedly unprotected despite regular protests, the power supply appears to have had surges, the fire safety advice now seems totally misguided. But above all, why was there a need for the cladding anyway?

From the Huffington Post: Introduced in 2006, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order meant building owners were responsible for assessing fire risk in multi-occupancy buildings, not the fire service. The old system of fire brigades issuing safety certificates was scrapped in the biggest revision of fire safety guidance since 1971.

I've already got the spectacles so that just leaves 'all of the above'

A decent man, it just didn't work out. Phew, that's a relief.

Just after you've booked your holidays around the dates.

You lucky barsteward. I shall miss the first three home games.

Bugger. The first home game I can get to will be 14th October. I hope my grandson can get someone to take him

I'll try and sort something out. I've used a Dropbox before but they have changed their methods are you local to Eastleigh/Hamble? Don't worry about recompense. Just chuck something in a local charity if you're happy.