Recently by Ray Marshall

Because of the success of the Remember When magazine I get many letters from Geordie ex-pats, not only British-based, but from all over the world. A large envelope arrived from Canada last week and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and design of the stamps.

At first I wondered who I could pass them onto, but I soon realised that stamp collecting is not an popular hobbie nowadays, especially when pitted against computer games.

But I really had no intention of disposing of these lovely stamps (one of walruses, one of horses, another of nesting birds and also one of insects), so I then had the idea of starting up a stamp collection for my grandson and another for my great-grandson.

Soon stamps may be a thing of the past - you never know.

Am I doing the right thing?

Remember when parking your car on the street was so easy - as long as it didn't cause an obstruction. Remember when putting your rubbish in a bin was simple and not a constant worry that a rubbish policeman will pounce on you if you accidentally put in the wrong kind of rubbish.

As for parking, first came the meters and yellow lines, traffic wardens and for bins, first the wheelie and then the green bin. Now they are both part of a massive industry, whose tentacles are reaching into all walks of life, in deliberately fining the public for anything they can catch a person doing against some new ruling.

Take former TV presenter Joan Bakewell, who managed to escape a fine when she fell foul of the new internet parking rules.

Apparently, her particular town has introduced a new parking bays linked to the internet. When you park you just use your mobile phone to text in and bob's your uncle (or quite a few bob is syphoned off your account!).

If you have not got a mobile phone you have to go elsewhere. Many elderly (and not so elderly) people have not got a mobile phone and even Joan Bakewell found that she didn't understand the rules. Imagine some elderly person getting flustered trying to text parking details.

It's all becoming a nonsense and it is about time councils (and police) went back to the old ways, which meant serving the public and not fleecing them.

Finally, a story I read today said that a guy was fined for blowing up and then releasing a balloon. Actually, he then turned away and the balloonn flew and fell and became litter. Under the zero tolerace attitude of the council he was fined £50. Mmmmmm. In the same newspaper school pupils released 205 balloons carrying their address.

They flew up into the air and away. But someday, somewhere, they will be litter - and with the school address on will that mean they will get 205 fines of £50 each?

It's becoming a mad mad mad world!