LARGE, round bales of silage, tightly-wrapped in polythene, are so much a feature of today's countryside that we don't notice them until they are stacked to make a "snowman" or similar figure to catch our attention.

Young farmers on the North York Moors have come up with a new use for a stack of black-wrapped bales alongside the A171 from Guisborough to Whitby - each bale bears one word of an advertisement for their charity bash in aid of Scarborough hospice.

It's cheap, environmentally friendly and different enough to be noticed while being so big the message can be read without undue distraction. They deserve good ticket sales.

No marks to the county council for another set of signs - those for temporary traffic lights near Scaling Dam, left in place at the weekend when no lights were to be found. Now that was distracting.

Don't do as I do ...

AS a motorist, Spectator considers he has now seen just about everything in Cargo Fleet Lane, Middlesbrough, where he copped a £60 fixed penalty two years ago after a mobile camera clocked him doing 32mph in the 30mph zone.

Returning at a more moderate speed after dark on Sunday from one of his periodic forays into the parking hell of Whitby (reference a previous Spectator note), his rear view mirror revealed the sight of a Cleveland Police van tootling along behind with a blatantly defective nearside headlight, until a parting of the ways occurred at the Longlands Road traffic lights.

Spectator knows what he thinks. The views of other drivers who might have been pulled by Cleveland's finest for just such a traffic offence remain unrecorded.

On notice

Spectator understands from a ranger at Darlington's soon-to-be refurbished South Park that more than half of the sludge/silt to be removed from the lake is bread fed to the ducks. One day the ranger counted more than 50 loaves of bread being thrown in by parents and children.

Apparently, when the lake is restored, signs will tell people not to feed the ducks and swans - it can be fatal for them.

What a talent

It was a privilege to be in Mickleton Village Hall on Saturday night for another R n B club night. Mick Sanchez was the star turn and because of a mix up over dates was unaccompanied by his usual seven-piece band.

Despite only being able to accompany himself on electric piano or acoustic guitar, the dedicated Sanchez entertained for the best part of four hours. He only stopped when his voice gave out. What a trooper.