Hello its Peter here, welcome to Fridays Levy Letter. Hope your day is going well and that youll be around to watch Look North tonight at six thirty, BBC 1. News and weather and our guest tonight ahead of the Strictly Come Dancing final, we have Len Goodman, one of the judges. Of course the Yorkshire hope is all on Darren Goff. Well be talking to him on the programme tonight. Were also chatting to the lovely Claire Sweeney who is in pantomime in Nottingham.
Firstly I want to say congratulations to Sheila Spivey who has won our competition, the chance to meet Paul Daniels. Well done to you Sheila. A week or so back we reported the shortage of Lollypop people, well be talking about that one tonight and Ill be having a go at being a lollypop person so do join me for that, as usual at half past six if you can. Thanks for all the emails on a variety of subjects, keep them coming in, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thanks for all your comments, I sometimes touch on something then lots of people write in about one subject. I was talking about apples and the fact that apples that we buy from the supermarket often could have actually been picked a year earlier and stored in sort of gas chambers to keep them fresh. This has prompted loads of emails, just a couple here. First one from Paul, Hi Peter, the article apples was ok, but its not exactly correct in detail. However the really funny bit was the lady quoted today who said she would change to a local grocer. Really funny that, because she believes the local grocer has fresh stock. Where do you think theyre produced from? The s! ame growers as the supermarkets and its those growers that stock pile the apples not the supermarkets. Remember apples are seasonal fruit and its a short season at that. So without stock you would have nothing for eight months of the year, having said that, it wasnt unusual to store your apples in a cold room before the advent of gas technique. There we go that one from Paul. Another one here, this comes from Steve, from North Summer Coates, he says Did you know that there are certain fruits that you shouldnt store near each other as one will ripen the other. I didnt know that one, just thought I would drop you a line about the woman who thought the gases were dangerous, but I am sure that they are all inert and safe. So nothing to worry about. So there we are, the apples have certainly prompted plenty of response. One other letter here about the abnormal amount of time people spend together over Christmas, this one from Pat, she says I agree with you, its the! abnormal time people spend with those that you wouldnt neces! sarily c hoose to be with over Christmas that leads to all the arguments, weve decided to solve the problem. Im taking off in the caravan for the entire Christmas and New Year period. Well be hiding somewhere in Yorkshire, me him and the dog. As a pair of old pensioners we cant afford the great holidays abroad at this time of the year but Im sure this will suit us just fine and we can still watch Look North. Pat, thank you very much indeed for that one. DIY Bonanza More thank 51, can you believe this, more than 51 billions pounds has been added to the value of British homes as owners copy television property make over shows. One in five have been inspired to improve homes by shows such as Changing Rooms, Grand Designs and Property Ladder adding around £7,800 to the value of their homes. 60% of owners have decorated, almost half replaced flooring, 39% re-landscaped their gardens and 19% made structural internal changes who wouldnt have done it had it not been on the TV make over shows. There we go 51 billion pounds added to property value just because of the make over programmes. Thanks also for the emails moaning about the comedy awards, which was on the TV the other night, on ITV. Some people saying it was unfunny, and didnt agree with the choice of winners either. So thank you for those, Im not going to get involved in that one because Im sure that its a whole area I dont want to go to. New Words Well with slummy mummies, hoodies and sudoku widows inundating Britain it seems that street slang has once again taken the nation by storm. If theres a new word for it then the Collins Dictionary editors want to know and the public regularly suggest popular words and phrases yet to find their way into formal usage. Online word exchange encourages contributors to post new words and debate if they should go into print. Words from 2005 awaiting approval then; Slummy mummy thats a mother, especially of young children who does not live up to certain standards of attractiveness. Hoodie for a hooded sweatshirt of course and Sudoku widows partners of fans of the Japanese puzzle craze who are sat on their own for hours while their partner goes onto play the suoku. The word chav became a phenomenon thanks to the popularity of Little Britain character Vicky Pollard which inspired a host of spin off words including chav phobia which is a fear of chavs. There we! are, new words. If youve got any others, words or expressions that you hear that really irritate you, you might like to drop me a line. Thats it from me for this week, have a very good weekend. Apparently the busiest weekend of the year in the shops tomorrow. If you are Christmas shopping, enjoy it and join me on Monday if you can as well at tonight half past six. Look out for your Levy Letter on Monday, bye for now. And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box.
