TIME was when fireworks were confined, by and large, to Guy Fawkes' night, but now they pop up, and off, at any time and at everything from national rejoicing to private birthday parties.

The noise and colour are shared, inevitably, with neighbours far and wide. Too far and wide for them to be sure where the party is taking place but near enough for them to be woken, as residents of the Cockerton area of Darlington were, 30 minutes into last Saturday, by the sudden explosion of the first rocket.

Would an 11pm curfew, such as theoretically imposed on car horns, be considered as party pooping?

New home, old tune

THE folk club which used to meet at the Lord Nelson in Gainford has a new home at the George hotel in Piercebridge, custodian of the long-case clock said to have inspired the composer of My Grandfather's Clock. It was fitting, therefore, that the first song sung at the club's first meeting at the George was that very ditty.

A kiss is still a kiss ...

THAT old charmer, Sir Jimmy Savile, was at Sutton under Whitestonecliffe this week - his "favourite area of the world".

As our photograph shows, Sir Jimmy has lost none of his eye-catching dress sense or his gallantry with the ladies - in this case, our Thirsk reporter (and Sutton school old girl), Alison Lewis.

She reports that the DJ was very patient answering pupils' questions, even taking in his stride one little boy who, out of the blue, asked the living legend (that's Jimmy, not Alison): "What's half of 30?"

Quart in a metric pot

FOLLOWERS of greengrocer Steve Thorburn's campaign to trade in imperial weights and measures may be interested to hear of Spectator's colleague, who on taking delivery of a new fridge-freezer was directed by the instructions to wipe it out with a solution of one "quart" of water to one "teaspoon" of bicarbonate of soda. Funny old world, isn't it?