Rozzy

Is there a local radio station for most counties in the UK?

At the end of the BBC weather forecast, there is a suggestion that we should listen to our local BBC radio stations for details of road & school closures etc. Good idea - if there is one!

Many counties seem to have a local BBC station e.g. radio Devon, Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Hereford & Worcester. There is no equivalent station for the county in which I live; how many other counties do not have their own radio station?

Does your county have its own station and is it useful to you, particularly when there are local problems?

In the spoken media I have noticed more and more that many people do not say all the syllables in a word. Examples are: collect (clect) and similarly collection (clection), police (plice), polite (plite), collide (clide). Even well-educated and articulate people are doing it. Why? Is it an affectation or just laziness?

Someone told me that they got a 'slug of vitamin C' from blackcurrant jam.

Since jam in the making is heated to the boiling point of sugar syryp, and vitamin C is not heat stable, just how much vitamin C might be expected in blackcurrant jam?

I know many people over 60 (and some over 80 or 90) who spend many hours a month doing various kinds of voluntary work. It would be interesting to know what you do and whether this voluntary work you do is related to your previous work/professional background.

Some younger people seem to resent the fact that over 60s get pensions but a) they have worked for them and contributed to them and b) many over 60s give back to society by their voluntary work, sometimes for decades.

I would appreciate answers where you interpret the question in your own way. Many thanks.

Occasionally people ask questions that seem to be completely misconstrued because the answerer comes from a different country.

Sometimes it doesn't matter as it's good to have ideas and opinions from people around the world. In other cases it does matter and answers need to be geographically or culturally relevant to the question.

Is there any way of telling which country a questioner or answerer comes from? Would you like to have a little flag to show where you are from?

I have a large Mahonia that attracts huge numbers of birds and insects and is flowering right now. The flowers have a beautiful scent and have a lot of nectar, much loved by small birds. What would you grow to attract wildlife to your garden in cooler seasons?

Has anyone ever done any vocal analysis of people in terms of vocal range and ability to play sports. For example, there are some young male tennis players whose vocal range is minimal i.e. completely monotonous. I'd be interested to know if there's any scientific research on it.

We have 7 radios at home that are used a lot and 2 car radios that are fantastic on long joruneys and in traffic jams.

So far we have one DAB radio and it has been nothing but trouble, also it uses a lot of power. The latter is rarely mentioned in radio programmes about how DAB radio is the best thing since.... (?) sliced bread.

What are your experiences with DAB radio(s)?

During recent floods in residential areas in the UK, bowsers (tanks of clean water) have been placed on street corners so residents could drink, wash etc. It has been reported that some person/people may have contaminated at least one water tank with noxious substances.

Can anyone explain this behaviour? What should happen to people who deliberately do such things?

I was given a glass bottle of Bellodgia by Caron in 1971. The aerosol still works and the scent is still beautiful! It has been kept in the dark and used occasionally.

I need to delete stuff from my hard disk but when I try to do so, a message comes up saying that there's not enough memory to delete anything. I seem to be in a loop. Please could someone tell me what to do about this?

If they are contaminated or infected then I can understand that they must be destroyed, presumably incinerated. However, if it's just the packaging that's not quite right, what happens? Recently some chocolate cream eggs were recalled because the packaging did not specify that nuts may have been used in the factory where they were made. Did they get destroyed or was the chocolate reused?

Imagine you live in a road/lane which is not adopted by the local council and has no street lighting, no pavements, no proper drainage, is full of potholes etc. You pay, along with your close neighbours, to have the road surface renewed when it gets too bad and your car frequently gets damaged.

Why should you pay the same council tax as someone who has all the advantages of an adopted road?

Roadworks causing two lanes to go into one can be a nightmare for drivers - but do they have to be? Is there an optimum way to do this? Are there any mathematical models for roadworks flow planning?

I bought a roll-neck sweater in about 1978 and it still comes out year after year but it won't wear out though it must have been washed hundreds of times. Good old BHS!

I should add that this is the only thing I have that is that old!!!

The amount of money spent on essentials such as fuel for heating/lighting/cooking and on the community charge seem to rise year on year. Approximately what proportions do you spend on yours?

Many people spell 'definite' as 'definAte' and I have also heard it pronounced this way.

As well as 'finite' there are similar words that are easy to spell e.g. 'define'. So what's the problem with 'definite'?

Someone practically fractures their skull, one just missed a couple of compression fractures to both arms, another must have bruised genitals and several groups of people were almost drowned. I have a sense of humour but I couldn't see much fun in that lot. Who finds this sort of stuff really funny?