Here are a couple of mine from about 1986 that I recently found in the loft. Blackburn End corner with Nuttal Street paddock. Iconic shot of Blackburn End turnstiles, £2.50 to get in!

It's on my doorstep almost, but I had forgotten how good The Happy Village on Market Street chinese restaurant is. I went with the family on Friday night at 6pm, at which time we were the only diners. But within 5 minutes a few more had arrived, to take advantage of the 3 courses for £9.95 they offer Sunday to Friday. In truth the three course thing is a little misleading, as course number one is a choice of Hot and Sour or Chicken and Sweetcorn soup. There are then a second round of the usual spring rolls, prawn toast dim sum type bits-but they were all excellent, as was my hot and sour soup. Then a choice of about half a dozen mains, with excellent fried rice. I had chicken with green pepper and black bean sauce, which was as good as I have had outside Manchester. The building is a bit creaky, and not very large (more room upstairs) but the service was excellent, made a fuss of our kids, and prompt through out. By the time we left at about 7.40pm the place was getting close to being full, which speaks for itself in this climate. Really enjoyed it.

In case you were wondering, and I know you were, Benni McCarthy (Rovers 4th highest Premier League scorer) has joined Orlando Pirates back in South Africa. bbc

Updated-I knew I had seen him before, half asleep whilst watching Jools. Hairs on back of neck job that.

Saw a clip of Dixit on the highlights, he was awesome. Really pleased I got to see that, doing some more digging into him now.

Right-Had a good go at the chain-this is the first job I reckon, get the motion dept operating. But the chain is so rusted that after a lot of effort it won't even go around the cogs and through the derailleur thing. I think I need a new chain. How do you get it off, are they all the same and how do you put a new one on?

Thanks again.

Thanks people. I just want to get it going, I reckon WD40 and/or a lot of 3 in 1 oil should sort the chain and cogs out, then I can buy a couple of tubes and tyres which I think I should be able to do. Just need to get someone to set to gears and brakes up. Need to keep the cost down, how much is a set of tubes and tyres likely to cost anyone?

Just inherited this bike below, which is in need of renovation. IT is a Dawes hand built in Preston about 30 years ago I beleive. Is it any good? What kind of pump do I need to pump these tyres up? The valves look tiny. Any info appreciated!

Less and less music is produced in a traditional studio these days, as software becomes cheaper to buy and the ability of a musician of make a decent recording in their own `bedroom` increases. The downside of that is the `master` is usually a compressed file, rather than studio tape. The young folk of today wnat music on the go, for ipod etc and it does not need to be of any great quality really. However, for the more mature listeners such as you and I Colin, there is a lot of pleasure to had from the absorbtion of well produced, original quality audio. Vinyl is still the best, IMO, and a good turntable with good interconnects and a muscular amp with speakers to match are the best way. I had the pleasure of using this Harman Kardon bad boy earlier this week and it blew me away. Some old Tannoy 605s connected to it with my Revolver turntable. I put a vinyl copy of Sgt Pepper on, and it nearly had the roof tiles shaking off at one point. Not in volume terms, but resonance.

Italian Cottage is very good. If you go for the 3 courses for £10.95 and avoid the 660ml bottles of Peroni you get a bargain. But add the beer and it becomes very expensive! (Thus speaks the voice of experience).

Fish part/Nationality/Bird named proto rap poet passes away. RIP Gil, legend.

Another sports book from me, this time a summers amble around northern cricket grounds. Harry Pearson is a pleasing humorist, and his books are a light easy read with many acute observations on his subject. Slipless In Settle, by Harry Pearson.

Didn't go to Goodison Den, first time in 10 years I have missed. Too many reasons to be not bothered, and I knew what was going to happen ( I was right!).

Did you go to Goodison Den or did you watch it on telly/computer?

He's called Dustin. Stu Wilkys alter ego, Can't remember his screen name either!

Liverpool Echo

I found a couple more cuttings in my scrapbook yesterday here are the photos. Garner after scoring the winner in the Lancs Cup final V Burnley.

Be warned-The new Yogi Bear film contains mild slapstick.

On the contrary I think it should be de facto reading for some-there's more to life than petty bickering.

A very timely post Whittle, well done.

I've just had a phone call from a distribution company we work with, and they say that DPD couriers are not committing to guarantee shipments to Scotland and NE England before Christmas. Is it really that bad up there?

I was in the Darwen End for that game and the away fans in the littl enclosure to our left. This is what football at Ewood was all about in those days, fantastic stuff. Cameras on the Riverside too.

Good tip, with next month arriving, erm, shortly. Great book, very funny indeed.

The last two books I have completed cover sport and music, my two main interests. Drinking good beer is the third, but the first two cover this one as an incidental. First the sport. I like David Llloyd, AKA Bumble. He's from Accy, played for Lancs and England and coached them both too, with varying success. His radio and latterrly his TV work are a refreshing change from the plum-in-mouth home counties crew that once pervaded the airwaves. His inside knowledge of what goes on in the dressing room, coupled with his laconic wit make his input enjoyable. Which is a bit more than can be said for his book, Start the Car: The World According to Bumble. With little order, not even chornological, the conent veers from interesting but limited revelations from the Zimbabwe problems and his infamous press conference to boring stories about his mates and neighbours and their alcohol problems. Going off his work in his day job, I would guess the book was all his own work, without much interence from an editor or ghost writer. Secondly the music. There are a few of us on here who like The Fall. An astonishing band made up of Mark E Smith and about fifty odd others over the last thirty years. Those fifty odd have all been hired and fired by the peculiar Smith, and the story of those sacked by the Prestwich based performer has been documented by Dave Simpson, Guardian journalist and Fall fan. Simpson book, The Fallen is an excellent read, ostensibly about The Fall but you do not need to like or even have heard the bands music to enjoy it. It focuses on the relationship between Smith and all those who he comes into contact with, and the effect he has on them and their lives. My favourite book this year, although it has been out for a while now.