THE Peggotty state pension has always been paid directly into my bank account monthly, and I have never endured the extra-long queues at post office counters once a week as the elderly patiently waited to collect their rightful due.

18 June 2009 14:46

IN my childish innocence, I had probably assumed that being in charge of a ship entailed little more than steering her in the right direction, avoiding rocks and giant octopi, repelling boarders, coping with gales and rough seas, and ensuring the crew did not mutiny - some of the foregoing regularly experienced by master mariners in the boys' adventure novels I read avidly..

11 June 2009 14:25

THE death earlier this month of star entertainer Danny La Rue rekindled memories of the summer of 1981 when he spent the season in Great Yarmouth, topping the bill at the ABC Theatre..

04 June 2009 14:04

IN my school and National Service years, it was called PT - physical training - or simply, gym. These days it is PE (physical education). But whatever the title, it remains near the top of my list of intense dislikes..

28 May 2009 16:53

THERE used to be a song with a self-evident title: Among My Souvenirs. It was penned in 1927 and revived half a century ago with a Connie Francis version, and the lyrics reflect that poring over souvenirs from a past love affair will cause teardrops to start falling..

21 May 2009 14:37

CHECKLIST: gas mask, ration book, stirrup pump, blackout blinds, tin hat. OK. Carry on. Yes, we are looking back again to the war years of 1939-45, sparked off by the recent reminiscences of Great Yarmouthian Don Hall, aged 85, who was in the Regal Cinema when it was struck by a bomb during a 1941 German air raid..