Last week was quite something, covering several hundred miles and meeting a few thousand people. My tour included compering an excellent Business Link event at Gosforth Park where winners were rewarded by the Learning and Skills Council of Tyne and Wear.

Rather like the Darlington College event earlier that week, it was great to hear stories of outstanding practice in our patch. The name of one award winning business will live with me for a long time: the Happy House Surgery, based on Tyneside. As I said on the night, if you went along feeling ill, the name itself would mean that you'd probably feel fine again before you even saw the doctor!

The next morning was beautiful, and a great day to enjoy some fine scenery on the A69 en route to Windermere. I was speaking that night at a dinner for finance professionals in the Health Service, and they were such a bouncy lot it was hard to believe that many of them really were accountants!

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The subject of courtesy and email came up in The Northern Echo office the other day, and, to be honest, it's not always the case that the two words make it into the same sentence.

Perhaps there's something about the "bullet" nature of email which makes some people sound aggressive and curt when it may not have been the intention. I wonder, though, whether sometimes the sharp and aggressive approach is meant to sound tough and business-like. If that's the intention, it usually doesn't work. Often all that's produced is antipathy from the reader, and very little in the way of useful communication.

The lack of spelling accuracy and elegant sentence construction is also a major problem. My old English teachers would still be proud of me when I attempt, usually, to write in sentences in these electronic days. Surely, though, it's a basic courtesy to your intended reader to aim for a quality of message construction.

There's a serious educational point here too. Youngsters are already surrounded by a very low standard of English from sources which should know better. Couple that with email shorthand and the youthful addiction to texting, and you do wonder what our language will look like a generation from now.

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One of the best things about getting out and about is the host of new ideas which I come across. I was talking the other day with Carol McLetchie, Human Resources Manager with Cleveland Fire Brigade. Of course, Carol and her colleagues are very busy at the moment, but she was telling me about something totally unconnected with current events in that field.

Carol had been pondering long term care (not for her personally for many years yet I should stress) and how it will change. For many people, the current idea of a residential home is very quiet and static, but how will today's baby boom generation (including me) look to our possible futures?

A good brainstorming produced a vision of the future where such an establishment would include a gym, broadband internet access - and a well-stocked bar!

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A world away from the internet, I've just come across a super book which I know you'll love. It's called "Old Wives' Tales: Remedies Pills and Potions", and even the title is evocative.

It's written by Carol Cooke of the University of Teesside and it's a fine combination of nostalgia, humour and medical curiosities. So many of the home-grown cures reminded me of childhood days and I'm sure it will do the same for many people.

Carole quotes one story of the treatment of agonising earache. Mother would heat an onion in the oven, wrap it in a cloth and then use a scarf to tie it around the ailing child's head. Apparently, they do things totally differently in Manchester - they heat a POTATO in the oven, wrap it in a cloth, and then use a scarf ...........

It's in bookshops now at £5.95 and would make a great Christmas present. More at www.bepl.com

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Finally, my squash story about Chris Turner in last week's column was eerily prescient (now there's an expression you don't often see on emails).

Just after I'd written those words, Chris phoned very apologetically to cry off as in his words "something's come up".

He'll be sorely missed at Hartlepool United, where he's done a brilliant job, but I'm sure that the vast majority of Pools fans won't begrudge him the chance to see a dream come true at his home town club. He's left the club in very sound condition and I'm sure that Chairman Ken Hodcroft will have a very high quality of applicant for the vacancy because of the club's reputation in the game these days.

The good news is that the Sheffield Wednesday ground has its own squash courts on site, so what's a five hour round trip when victory is assured? This is called psychological warfare - and Chris taught me that!

Seriously though, very best wishes to Chris and the family for continued success and happiness - you deserve it mate.

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Published: 13/10/2002