BY THE time these notes appear in print, I shall have spent a week in the Tuscany area of Italy and as you read this, I will have returned home wondering who won the election along with all the worries of pondering the range and variety of problems the new government will create.

In these modern times, governments seldom seem to solve problems. They thrive on creating a huge and costly mess, a conglomeration of problems which never previously existed. Having spent time making the mess, they then hire an army of civil servants, at our expense, whose task is to sort it all out. And those people never sort out any of the government's messes, they merely seem to exacerbate the problems for the next new government to deal with.

I do hope our new government, whatever colour it is, manages to change all that - but I doubt it. As you read these notes, therefore, I shall be aware of the outcome of all the election fever which surrounds me as I compile this week's budget in advance. It means I shall not be sitting up until the early hours of the morning to watch the election results coming in - by now, the result will have been known for a week or so, but perhaps there is merit in enjoying the Italian sunshine, wine and countryside instead of wondering whether John Prescott got punched, or whether the Dome is going to be developed into a caravan park.

Mineral find

Instead of going for long walks in the countryside, many visitors are now exploring our coastal regions to discover new experiences along our splendid beaches.

The impact of foot-and-mouth disease upon agricultural areas has brought about this change to our leisure activities and it was during a conversation with a Canadian visitor, who was wondering how to occupy himself, that he referred to Whitby jet.

"If I go for a walk along Whitby beach, am I likely to find some jet?" he asked.

"You are just as likely to find some jet there," was my response, "as you are to find some cornelian in Cornelian Bay near Scarborough."

Cornelian, sometimes known as carnelian, is a pinkish-red semi-precious stone used in the manufacture of jewellery and in Victorian times, it could readily be found among the pebbles in the aptly-named Cornelian Bay which lies just south of Scarborough. Other precious stones such as jasper and a variety of agate could also be found in this bay, making it a popular destination for visitors to Scarborough. Fortunes could not be made in collecting these stones, but it was possible to produce a handsome piece of jewellery from such a discovery. And, of course, the likelihood of finding such a treasure, however small, did add a distinctive thrill to a beach walk.

If Cornelian Bay is little known in spite of its semi-precious stones, then Whitby was, and perhaps still is, world famous for its supply of top quality jet. Jet is found in other parts of the world, but the quality is far inferior to the deposits in and around the Whitby area.

Though much of the jet is found along the coast, it is found inland too, throughout the North York moors national park area, in places such as Egton, Rosedale, Kildale and Osmotherley, as well as Guisborough and Pickering.

The most likely place for a casual visitor to find a piece of jet, however, is at low tide level or lodged high in a cliff face along the beaches of Whitby, Hawsker, Robin Hood's Bay and Ravenscar to the south, or along to Kettleness, Runswick Bay and Staithes to the north. Seams of jet existed in the moorland areas around Whitby and Guisborough and these were mined by men known as jeators - Jeator Houses is still an address near Osmotherley - but most of the famous mineral came from the coastal region.

Though we associate jet and jet ornaments with the Victorian era, it was excavated and used for personal adornment more than 6,000 years ago. Jet items have been found in Stone Age and Bronze Age tombs, and it is known to have been popular with the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Saxons called it a "black gem" and in more recent times, Viking invaders made use of it by having necklaces made for their womenfolk at home.

It continued through the centuries as a popular personal adornment - in 1436, the Abbot of Whitby gave his brother some jet rosary beads and in the 17th century, jet rosaries were smuggled into York Castle for the Catholics who were imprisoned there for their faith, Father Nicholas Postgate, the Egton Bridge martyr, being one recipient of such a rosary. However, it was the Victorians who elevated jet into a highly fashionable accessory used for both jewellery and household artefacts, and though the boom period has faded, Whitby jet remains popular, with remarkable jet objects still being carved and sold in the town.

In its raw state, it looks rather like a lump of inferior brown coal and when it is polished, it produces a cloud of thick brown dust.

When the piece is split along the grain and polished, it produces the deepest and most handsome black imaginable. The saying "jet black" has arisen for a very good reason, and in ancient times it was thought to contain magical qualities. If a polished surface was rubbed, for example, it would retain an electrical charge to which small objects would adhere, acting like a magnet.

Some believed the smoke produced by burning jet would chase away evil spirits and cure most ailments, while in AD 218 one writer tells how jet "burneth in water but goeth out in oil".

The real commercialisation of jet began in 1800 when two Whitby men, Robert Jefferson and John Carter, began to create necklaces and crosses from local jet. A retired navalman, Captain Tremlett, allowed them to use his lathe for turning the jet and by 1808, the first jet shop had opened. Suddenly, a huge new industry was created, with a tenth of Whitby's workforce being employed, and the climax came when Queen Victoria ordered some jet ear-rings and other jewellery.

Members of foreign royal families bought jet jewellery, samples were exhibited at the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in 1851 and by 1873, there were 200 jet shops in Whitby with more than 1,500 people employed in the industry.

But the local jet miners could not keep pace with the demand and cheap Spanish jet was introduced. This was far inferior to the genuine Whitby jet; it lacked lustre and cracked easily, but the market was flooded with this substitute. It heralded the end of the boom - by 1921, only 40 jet workers remained and by 1964, the number was three. Jet craftsmen still work in Whitby, using jet found in the area, but if you walk along the beach, you might just find a piece of raw Whitby jet.

Caravan watch

Shortly before Easter, I undertook a 750-round trip to the south-west of England and on the journey, encountered only four touring caravans. One was in a layby with its wheel assembly collapsed, the second was overturned in a field beside the road, the third was hogging the central lane of a motorway, and the final one was being towed away by a breakdown truck. I remember thinking it was a typical start to the caravan season.

Happily, the police now appreciate the dangers caused by the more reckless of the caravanning fraternity, and on the weekend prior to my compilation of these notes, North Yorkshire police undertook a caravan check on the A64 between York and Scarborough. In the previous year, 29 caravans had overturned in the county, almost a third of them being along the A64 where they caused danger and disruption.

This year, that cheek was carried out by the police, the Department of Transport and representatives from the Tyre Industry Council; 68 caravans were stopped and checked and 21 were ordered off the road immediately due to being unroadworthy through either being overloaded or having mechanical faults, defective brakes being one area of major concern. A further five caravans had serious defects but were allowed to continue, though one driver was ordered to correct the faults and later present his repaired caravan for inspection.

In these pages, I have been accused of bias against caravanners; if these figures are representative of touring caravans using our roads, then perhaps my alleged bias is not misplaced. I hope the Caravan Club will do something to educate all caravanners, for their own safety and for the safety of other road users