Alan C: "grodie"? I never heard of it till now. A quick Google says it means mauch the same as "grotty", as you say, (but this is how we've always spelled it. I seem to remember it was George who said it, but that's memory for you.) Is it an Americanisation of "grotty"? I had to teacj my daughter to ask for a glass of "warder" ("ar" as in "arm") instead of "wor'a" (' is a glottal stop) when we were in Canada. Talk about "separated by a common language"!

Steve