I recently bought an inexpensive phone for my spare room. When I got it home I saw in very tiny letters on the packaging a warning to wash your hands after handling the cords as they contain lead! Of course the first thing my little granddaughter did when she came to visit was run upstairs and try out the phone!

Never responded to chain letters. What a waste of time. If they are starting up again I would be concerned about my email being shared all over the place. Personal opinion that if people are into this again, they have too much time on their hands and probably less than what should be in keeping our contact info out of strangers hands. Those stupid junk mail senders have a habit of not using BC most of the time. I question if this if on purpose or ignorance. Usually just delete without opening, but a couple made me curious because of their handle. There are enough laws now, but similar to DoNotCall registrations, I would like to see one for emails too. ECommerce is grabbing too much of our info as it is

With adequate ventilation (outdoors is preferred) the methylene chloride (MC) strippers still work better than anything else. I routinely remove trim fr stripping, and cannot remember the last time a piece was damaged by removal. It just takes a lot of patience and gentle prying. If you cover MC stripper with plastic wrap (I use the wider thicker food service grade) it slows evaporation enough to remove MANY layers of finish in a single application. The cheap plastic drywall knives have been a boon (I used to purchase plastic sheets (PVC) and shape them and then drill a hole to use on a cabinet scrapper handle in place of the metal blade). You can even cut them to shape for molding patterns (used more like a scrapper at 90 degrees than a 'knife' at a lower angle). Sawdust is also great for rubbing away softened paint (clay type kitty litter works if you do not have a lot of sawdust). MC is hazardous to folks that may have compromised blood circulation to the heart. It behaves much like carbon monoxide and ties up the ability of heme on your blood to carry oxygen.

Below is a link to BBC Radio 4 and a reading of 'And His Letters . . .' by the actor Nigel Havers who btw is appearing as Maxim de Winter in Rebecca on the London stage. Perhaps not quite Olivier but he does have that aristocratic 'something' about him. At the BBC site click on Monday And regarding aristocrats, Frieda, maybe some people in the UK feel that a hangman's gibbet should stand outside the House of Lords or that hereditary peers should be replaced by friends of the Government with deep pockets . . . not so different from the old system when you consider how many 'top people's' ancestors obtained their titles. Either way, arriving with William the Conqueror or slightly more recently when various Royal Mistresses demanded positions for their offspring, this group is part of the Establishment. No amount of money, delicacy of character, nobleness of soul makes it possible for the rest of us to join this elite group (and it is amazing how many would like to be Up There). Top actors, pop singers, Party Girls etc hang round the edge but they are almost never admitted into this inner-sanctum. Of course there are some very wealthy people in this bracket; mostly from ownership of land and lots have 'Stately Homes'. Many of you have probably been to Chatsworth, Castle Howard, Warwick Castle etc. who's owners have wisely turned their properties into money-making enterprises. Interesting about the story of the student and her father. Surprisingly over here, for everyone below Royalty if such a thing had happened (a father writing in on behalf of his daughter) any university would have put the application straight in the bin; there is no automatic right of entry to any uni' for sons/daughters of alumni. Re adoption: there are certainly far fewer babies available these days. Although many many more babies are being born 'out of wedlock' (for want of a better expression) this is usually by choice . . . of at least one parent . . . and in both big cities and small country towns the sight of groups of very young females pushing baby buggies, smoking, chatting to boys (the possible fathers?) is very common. Our Govt gives out vast amounts of benefits to this group so the need to put a baby up for adoption is very low and many people only want healthy white children. The Social Services who are usually the first port of call in these matters make the 'process' very very difficult, especially for middle-class couples. It seems that if a child comes from a poorer, perhaps racially mixed background the social workers wants it to be adopted by people from that 'class' without considering whether the child might stand a chance of a better life. Some parents look abroad as I expect they do in the US, but this can lead to even more problems . . . and cost far more than going through the usual channels. When the cases of the Romanian orphans was first aired on TV some people tried to adopt a child, thinking with their hearts rather than...