Nissen Dorma

Mike Tindall says he would marry Zara Phillips even if she worked in Tesco. Yeah, right.
Still, I'm sure she's happy. So why the long face?
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I would like to plug a book I came across by chance. It's a collection of photographs by a snapper called Steve Lewis who I knew at The Sun but who, like me, started his career at the Ilford Recorder in the sixties and was given a free rein to take pictures of East London that he thought illustrated the area.
And boy did he do that. East Enders, like those from Liverpool or Glasgow or so many other parts of the country, tend to have a rosy-eyed view of the past.
Sure enough, some of the pictures show grizzled old Cockneys selling jellied eels and horses pulling milk carts. But then there are others which paint a realistic picture of life which many others remember.
There's graffitti saying 'Wogs Out' and messages both for and against Enoch Powell. The first black family to move into one road in Forest Gate had a firebomb pushed through their letterbox.
Old people were often confined to their homes because there were no wheelchairs available. Families still lived six or seven to a room. Kids played in bombsites and left school too young because they needed to earn money to support their families. It wasn't all cheery Cockney community spirit.
Temporary Nissen huts built to accommodate the homeless after the war still remained almost thirty years later - there was a row of them opposite my grandparents' house I remember.
We like to think of the East End as Pearly Kings and Kray Twins (they only harmed their own etc) without remembering the other side. Have a look at Steve's website gallery (or buy the book) http://www.stevelewisphotography.com/gallery.html and see the other side.
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Tim Westwood. Or Westwood. Let's face it, when you see him and then hear him speak, every single person watching is thinking exactly the same thing, aren't they?
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According to my kids, they only really find out what I'm thinking by reading my blog. Which is a bit unfair, as I always felt I was pretty vocal. But if that's true, then what I'm thinking is this: they should tidy their rooms and spend less time on the computer/Blackberry/PS3/Facebook etc etc.
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Talking of Facebook, it's easy to criticise but I've enjoyed getting back in contact with old friends from work, school and elsewhere. There's something reassuring to know they're alive and well (particularly that they're alive!) Tomorrow I'm going to Hampshire - which is, like, a zillion miles away - so my wife can see her old university flatmate and I can catch up with a guy I haven't seen for 30 years.
I've been told that as long as I don't get chippy and don't mention politics then I should be okay.
Be seeing you...Solly