Believe it or not, Jo, I've never heard your "Yow Min Li" joke. I thought it was very funny, but unfortunately I'm working in Milton Keynes right now, and I can't tell it to anybody who'd understand - they cor mek aert what yo'm on abaert!

Thanks Martin, Bruce, Dan (Black Country Night Out - heavy going, even without the faggots and paes!), John and Brian too. (Faggots? Oh, I'll explain another time!)

The Black Country is a small part of the West Midlands of England, around Walsall, Dudley and that part (apologies if I've missed you out!); where it starts and ends depends largely on who you ask - people often believe themselves to be in it when they're not, or outside it when they are. A bit like the fabled sound of Bow Bells, I suppose. The accent sounds very strange to outsiders, but is actually directly descended from the mediaeval dialect that was spoken by Chaucer, all the way down to London. The region itself was so-called because of the iron founding industry that went on there for so many centuries; there were plentiful deposits of coal, iron and limestone. The industry turned the air and the ground black. Legend has it that when Queen Victoria passed through by train she used to draw the blinds ...

There are several Web sites devoted to the Black Country, which I've neglected to copy - sorry! - but they're easy enough to find.

Jo: I'll lave it to yo to explaern, aer kid. Kape aert th'oss road!

Stave