FIRST things first; it s all too easy to moan and say that other people have got it wrong while we have all the answers, but some find it difficult to give a pat on the back when it has been earned. The person or people who put up the new Union Flag (app

FIRST things first; it's all too easy to moan and say that other people have got it wrong while we have all the answers, but some find it difficult to give a pat on the back when it has been earned.

The person or people who put up the new Union Flag (apparently, it's only a Union Jack when it's on the jack pole of a ship) certainly deserve lots of credit for their actions.

The bright new flag fluttering over the Market Square entrance of the Comrades Club looks a real treat and can put a proud swagger in the steps of the old soldiers as they pass. Well done!

AUCTION TIME?

There doesn't seem to have been an auction (or anything else) at the Church Hall for some time.

This hasn't stopped people from donating potential lots, though. At the moment, there is most of a vacuum cleaner and a butane gas cylinder lying near the "notice tree".

I'm not sure that anyone would want to buy a broken cleaner or an empty cylinder, but you can never tell what will happen when the auction frenzy strikes.

It's amazing that the people who dumped them got away with it because there is a sign on the Church Hall saying that it is patrolled by Newmarket Equine Security.

It makes you wonder exactly what equine security is - guard horses, perhaps? I think I'd rather take my chances with a dog.

If the guard horses didn't see the culprits, it's a wonder the CCTV didn't pick them up.

STEP LIGHTLY

According to a couple of people I've spoken to recently, the dark evenings have been of benefit to some residents of Soham.

When we are basking in the long, light days of May and June, the evening dog walkers conscientiously pick up their little darlings' calling cards with old supermarket bags and dispose of the residue like civilised people.

Come the winter, with no sunlight and nobody about to see, some of the dog owners don't bother to make the paths fit for others to use.

According to my informants, this is particularly noticeable on Mereside and Gardeners Lane. Apparently, it is twice as bad after a snowfall; you can't avoid the mess however carefully you watch your footing if it is covered with snow.

If Fido's owner doesn't have any supermarket bags, free ones specifically for the job are available from the pavilion. We have some nice new green bins for the residue, too, so, come on, play the game.

ANOTHER MESS

According to last week's Ely Standard, the local Primary Care Trust is looking to jump on to the car park charging bandwagon.

Their latest bright idea is to make the ill and infirm and their friends and relatives pay to have treatment or be cheered up with a visit by charging to park at the Princess of Wales Hospital.

As if you are not upset enough by being ill or having an ill loved-one, having to pay a tax on top of it beggars belief.

If an organisation with a regular income is in permanent financial bother surely the first thing you do is sack the accountant, not blame or punish the people you are there to help.

Now they have the idea in their heads, no doubt it will come sooner or later, so let's see where the money could go.

For a start, the outside of the health centre at the Wetheralls is a disgrace. The front is covered with dirt, grime and not a little graffiti.

It will take a bit of cleaning up now but, if someone had kept on top of it in the first place, it would never have got to this stage. Of course, it would have been lovely if the SNOBS members had something better to do, but we must remember that they are of very limited capabilities and that nobody can spend their whole life grunting and giggling.

If we are to pay through the nose on top of the normal taxes, could we at least have a health centre that looks as if someone lives or works there?

GOT IT WRONG

There is a lot of fuss at the moment about binge drinking, where people go out to get legless. Why spend a small fortune to remember only half an evening?

I think that they may have got it wrong and at last understand what the new structure over the bypass at Downfields is all about.

It's not binge drinking at all. You buy some cans of lager from the BP shop, cross the road, climb the steps and get on with some bridge drinking!