Alphabet Game the Golden Way

I don’t do God.

Quite simply, the best browser around. If you’re one of the unenlightened, still stuck using the awful Internet Explorer, go here to improve your life. Not only will Firefox let you surf the web more safely, it’ll also make your coffee in the morning, babysit your kids and take out the trash.

One of Firefox’s selling points (do free programs have selling points?) is the number of extensions available to enhance and improve it. There are thousands of them, from gizmos that let you tweet from your address bar, to add-ons to manage your passwords.

Here are some extensions I use -

Favicon Picker.
Fission.
FoxClocks.
NoScript.
Personal Menu.
Smart Bookmarks Bar.
Tab Mix Plus.

Firefox. You won’t regret it.

After the raw emotion of talking about dogs, how about three minutes and forty-five seconds of light relief?

This song makes me smile, and there’s not a von Trapp in sight. Result!

Here’s to Shelly, Sasha, Punch and Judy, Max, Osca and Millie. You’ve all brightened my life.

Not in the photo, but nevertheless deserving of a name check are Duke, Jasper, Jonah and Leroy, Sam, Sarge and Tasha. I miss each and every one of you.

Clue, or to give it its full title I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue was a BBC radio show which ran from 1972 until 2008. Proclaiming itself to be “the antidote to panel games” it was a riotous affair, getting steadily sillier and funnier as the years passed.

With rounds such “One Song to the Tune of Another” and “Sound Charades” it was unlike anything else I’ve ever heard.

Yes, I’m referring to it in the past tense. The chairman, Humph, died last year and although there are plans for a new series with a different host, I fear it won’t be the same.

I’ll leave you with Humph’s final words – “And so, as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it’s the end of the show.”

Barnaby, or Jeremy, or Colargol. With three different names, depending on where in the world you watched his show, no wonder the little dude looked permanently confused.

Barnaby the Bear was a classic of kid’s TV, with a memorable theme tune, deliciously cheesy stop-frame animation and an unimportant plot. I spent many happy hours watching him, enthralled by his optimism and get-up-and-go.

On the off-chance a BBC executive is reading this – how about a re-run?

The Abacus was a pocket calculator I owned when I was a kid. Manufactured in bright, primary-colored plastic it was tough and reliable. The case was blue, the function keys were green, the memory keys were red and the number keys were yellow. What really made it a fabulous piece of design was the way the keys were the same shape as the purpose they served. No bog-standard square keys here. Oh no, the five key really was in the shape of a number five, the Cancel key was shaped like a C.

It was a little electronic marvel and I miss it.