*Bob*

Yes.. let's not rehearse the 'If There Is A God Why Does He Allow Bad Things To Happen To Good People' debate. Most of us left school at least a decade ago.

Personally: when I think about why there are yellow ribbons and for this girl and not for another, it starts to leave an unpleasant tabloid taste in the mouth. I can't help thinking about all the other parents of disappeared children left wondering why their kid didn't deserve a ribbon.

Snorky is 'talking' about the situation, is he not?

BB.. the power of Vanessa has brought us together. I completely agree RE bad press, though until I heard the radio show ('discovered' by Mrs *Bob* - credit where credit is due) I probably would have thought the same. There was something about her on television that just didn't work for me (and no, it's not some 'good face for radio' gag). Maybe on the radio she just gets to be herself instead of telly producers trying to crowbar her in to some staged format or other. Suffice to say, as far as talk/phone-in shows go, I think she produces the best three hours you can hear on any station, day after day. When I hear the dreaded words "I'm Jules Botfield - sitting-in for Vanessa", it really takes the shine off my day.

I shall come clean! I am a shameless 'Vanessa' addict on BBC London. I know it's wrong but I just can't help it.

I am.. (knocks dust out of wig).. a composer of music (ie 'slacker')

I'm always 'working' from home.. and I'm delighted to report that the weather is just fine and a bottle of beer has just been opened. *Ftttzzzzzzz.....*

We saw it last night as well. Building design is fantastic.. great to live in, no doubt; though I dunno if all the occupants of the overlooking houses would agree they're just as good to 'look at'. I keep thinking of a toy fort birthday cake made for me when I was 5 - out of Cadbury's Fingers.

They could have been on a treasure hunt.. a team-building exercise. I hear it's whitewater rafting next week and a trip to Legoland the week after that.

I think the attainment of a Desmond demonstrates a good university work/life balance and it to be congratulated. (NB this only applies to degrees with any reasonable level of difficulty eg sciences, engineering etc. With arts degress the candidate should always go 'one up' in order to maintain a basic level of respectability) A Douglas, however.. not good..

Yes, we get it too. Like a reverberant clanking noise. Sounds like The World's Most Clapped-Out Cement Mixer.

What.. work in a bakery?

AnotherPaul Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > How many 2.6% cans does it take to get p!ssed?, am > thinking that drowning must have been a very real > risk. At 9p per can.. who's counting?!

Naturally I did the decent thing and immediately blew my loan on a motorbike. Happy days.

But.. in terms of 1st, 2nd etc.. of course there's a difference! All the people I know who got firsts (not me) either worked harder or had more natural aptitude for the subject.

hee hee! It's all so different these days. As one of the last beneficiaries of the grant system (loans were just being phased-in.. I think in my first year the loan was about ?500) I was allowed the luxury of going to university mainly because I had no idea what I wanted to do in life, to have a bit of a laugh and live away from home. But now, the debt incurred means you have to think much more seriously about it. Would I go again now if I knew I'd be ?20k in debt at the end of it? Probably not to do a terribly useless degree like History, that's for sure!

Monica, Woz you 'cheated' out of a first because of some mealy-mouthed professor's demand for good grammar, syntax and spelling?!

Monica, I am confused.. Did those that failed your degree course know less about the subject than you? Was the 'level of study' the same for them, even though they were mostly down the pub and not turning-up for seminars?

The phone rings, you answer it, and then you have to wait for that tell-tale second or two as the automatic dialling system connects you to some random telesales bod 8000 miles away.. ARGHH!

Didn't you know? Cake-baking is the new Bra-burning!

Didn't you know? Cake-baking is the new Bra-burning (in SE22, anyway)

Badger... I reckon they're all hiding in the newly-formed ED W.I. Infiltrate and investigate, I say!

Mockney.. I agree with you about the programme, and the reporter. Wtf has happened to Panorama? The latest 'makeover' is totally pants. It used to be a programme with gravitas and importance. Now it's akin a magazine-y VT insert on on 'London Tonight'.

It has less members. I think that just about covers it.

I think there's probably a distinction between a pub with someone doing drugs in the toilet, and a pub with someone dealing drugs in the toilet. NB - I say 'a' pub - mentioning none in particular. Although lets face it, it basically all of them these days. Did anyone see the BBC London News EXPOSE! (snigger) where the reporter went into 3 or 4 bars in Soho and DISCOVERED that there were traces of cocaine in the toilets of all of them? Nice one, Einstein!