FOR years and years I have been asking at big multiple stores if they had any chairs for customers to rest awhile, for sometimes, after paddling round for what seems hours and hours and miles and miles, there comes an urge just to sit down for a minute or two. On the odd occasion, some kind assistant has offered to bring a chair, but as a 'standard' they seem to have long been absent, with the exception perhaps of M&S.

Fifty or so years ago, most counters had a chair at the customers' side, and from memory I quote Snows at Butcher Corner, Humphreys' Grocers in Wheelgate, CWS Butchers at Norton, Sedman's in Saville Street, Hornsey & Wood at Norton to name a few who come to mind, for there would be many others, and when you give thought to it. the ball-game was quite different. Most housewives had arrived in the town on foot, many had walked a mile or two out from the outskirts, and were ready for a sit down. On top of this, the man behind the counter, especially in the case of the grocer's shops, was there to take the week's order whilst "madam" sat down and said what she wanted delivering, the man in the white apron offering suggestions as they went along. Personal service, it was called.

Now, all at once the department for work and pensions is placing whole-page adverts about giving good customer service, which includes the provision of a chair for folk who have difficulty in standing whilst waiting. This is fine, but it must be remembered it is not only the disabled who welcome a sit down, it's the person who, perhaps getting on in years, feels a bit tired, or doesn't want to go following his or her partner round all the time. I welcome this promotion and hope the retailers will act accordingly. The seats offered in days gone by were the well-remembered bentwood chair, you know, the ones with the round seat, often with a pressed embossed pattern on it. No longer seen these days, now I come to think of it, but anything will do in order to get the weight off the feet for a while. I sat on a pile of rugs yesterday in a huge store on Clifton Moor, nary a chair to be seen anywhere except in the furniture department, which I soon availed myself of.

Had a call from David Tolson of Rillington, who tells me that he visited the information office regarding A64 improvements, and had been told that the frequency of street-lamps does not now regulate the speed limit, as I had earlier said they did. Thanks David, keeping up with changing legislation must be a nightmare for those with a need to do so. It's strange how getting things can be difficult at times, especially in small market towns. I've long been a lover of vegetable Oxo as a night-time drink in preference to others, but the places where it can be found in Malton are limited, and it can happen that one's favourite store doesn't stock it. Recently, trying to locate a couple of packets of Dark Ryvita was almost impossible until one packet only was found in a main street grocers, which I was a bit reluctant to buy because it was sixteen pence dearer than the normal price I pay. However, needs must, and I became the owner of it, and eventually local shops appeared to get their supplies once again. It always surprises me why everyday things so often just disappear for a while. As for FORCE, which has been a subject of discussion for a long time, I've never yet found any in Malton, and have to go to Helmsley. I wonder why? I reckon some enterprising retailer could corner the market on this product quite easily.

Coughs and colds have been a high topic of conversation for the recent month or two. Lucky those who have escaped the bug - wherever it came from. In considering other folk, it was better to keep out of circulation in order to try and reduce the spread of this awful lurgy, and I jokingly commented to a lady I met in the street that for some folk it could mean doing without a cuddle until the infection was past. My old friend, the wife of a reverend gentleman, agreed with me, adding that everyone should have at least three cuddles a day, which made me smile. Thinking about this afterwards, I thought that there was a lot of sense in this remark, for it would surely make the world a happier place.

This week's daft question came from someone, who, nearly tripping over a carpet, said "Whoops a daisy", and then stopping to think, asked: "Why daisy?" Why indeed? My couple of reference books on cliches and idioms ignore this old saying completely. I know it rolls off the tongue easier than "Whoops a pansy", or any other flower for that matter. But just where did it originate from?

Advice: Forgive your enemies - but remember their names. (President Kennedy)

Updated: 11:10 Thursday, March 14, 2002