³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

footballers will agree, it's about the end of the year, Brian.

You will have your own reflections on the year. I have mine. If it's wisdom and insight you're looking for, there are, as you know, better places than this to find it. But reflecting on the year on PM is difficult. I can never remember what we did the day before yesterday, let alone several months ago.

And yet a couple of things stand out. This blog is one of them. Outstanding, as I've constantly noted, not because of what I write, but because of what other people write. And it's more than that - the spirirt of it has made this blog and this year so striking. We never knew where it was going or what it might do and it constantly surprises. We have never been able to have that kind of relationship with our audience before - and our listeners have never been able to have any kind of relationship with each other before. And I've a feeling this is just the beginning.

Then there was Windows On Your World. For all our problems with duplicate postings, delays and fluffs - it was and is an amazing feature. We got some fun radio out of it in advance, and then when the pictures began to pour in - we reckon around six thousand - we, (again for the first time) got a proper insight, after more than 35 years on the air, into what our listeners are doing, and who they are. It will continue into 2007 and (frankly, if we don't pull our fingers out) into 2008.

In our office, we miss Nick. We worry that changes in our workplace will mean we can't bring you the programme you're used to no matter how hard we try. We fret about where Newsletters go for days on end. Nigel's from Thursday and mine from Friday arrived late last night - drunk with no explanation of where they've been. We may ground them.

Yet through it all, you offer me protection...a lot of love and affection...no wait, I'm rambling now.

If you have your own reflections on the year you can post them here. Maybe your hopes for 2007. Or not. Up to you.

But in any case, thanks for listening, reading, posting, sending, and being patient when we screw up. You can be sure we'll do it again from tomorrow. I'll be there at 5pm. Join me if you can.

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on the blog...what happened...in full...when Paddy and I sat down to record his trail for the end of tonight's programme. In the meantime...please contribute to the Noughties discussion. And enjoy this bonus audio clip.

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are here, here and here.

This is in addition to our previous additions of this week which were 27, 28 and 29.

More will follow. And next week on the blog...a link to what happened in the last few minutes when Paddy and I tried to record a short trail for tonight's programme...and apologies for the fact the comment link on this posting doesn't appear to be working...

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As we hurtle towards the end of 2006, we're now in a pretty good position to assess what this first decade of the century might really be about. What do you think it is? What are the defining characteristics that people will look back on and say - "that was SO Noughties"?

I don't know - which is why I'm asking.

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may be the warmest office in the world, we are hard at work preparing tonight's programme. On the internal ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ ring main, we have stumbled across some work being done in a TV edit suite somewhere. It appears to be someone's wedding video...which I would guess is being dubbed onto DVD. It's either that or the new ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ ONE drama needs a lot of work on script and video quality. The colour balance is all over the shop. If you're reading this blog somewhere in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, it's on channel 705.

We will prepare a programme, honest. Our Jack Straw interview will feature..as will a discussion on sex offenders...and an interview about the rhino.

The bride is kissing her father now. At least I hope it's her father.

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PCGM.

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from the PM office. Odd being here but not doing the programme. Everyone is still very festive. Nigel is here ready to bring you tonight's programme. He's brought in some mince pies from home. They'll be gone by lunchtime, you mark my words.

Now I must embark on this online legal course. By the end of it, I'll be able to help you with any legal problems you have. You'll be able to write in and I can sort them for you. And then I'll start fighting crime and solving mysteries. But, one thing at a time.

If I get a chance later, I must tell you the story about the day I interviewed Duke Hussey, whose death has been announced. Or maybe I'd better run it past a lawyer first. Hey - in a few hours I'll be able to run it past myself!

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keep you informed this festive season with another programme tonight. I will be in the office today but not on air. Like all ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ journalists, I'm having to complete an online legal course. By the end, I will be a barrister. Or something. I will be showing off my new legal knowledge on the air tomorrow night, with phrases such as "come off it, you crook" and "June, does the accused look guilty?"

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. This is what we do.

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Gallery 27, 28 and 29.

We are, as Jimmy Saville used to say...getting there.

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wasn't too....catastrophic. There will be none of that nonsense on PM tonight...

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a new slice of audio. This will go nicely with the turkey leftovers...and don't forget there's a full PM tonight. Although I'll be there spiritually....

Spare a thought for my colleagues who're chained to their desks here..

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...and there will be another audio posting tomorrow. Please enjoy this moment from the PM archive. I'm posting below, the explanation from an earlier posting that might - MIGHT - help explain this.

Clare English and I were presenting. As was the case then, PM Letters appeared on a daily basis. We would take turns at writing the script each night.
This particular evening, out of the blue - Clare burst out laughing during the live reading of the letters. She lost it completely - tried to get it back - then lost it again even more.
The trigger word, as it turns out, was Parma as in Parma Ham. Once we were off the air (it took THAT long for her to stop laughing) she revealed that a mutual friend of ours was to blame. Stewart would always amusingly pronounce Parmesan cheese by hugely prolonging the 'a'. Paaaaaaaaaawwwwwwrmesan. Well, maybe you had to be there.
Anyway, it seems the way I said Parma Ham that night put Clare instantly in mind of that, and set her off, out of the blue. You can hear her on the clip, through laughter, saying something like "It's the way you said Parma".
Clare and I had worked together for years on PM and before that on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Scotland so we were well used to coming close to setting each other off with giggles. This was our most spectacular fall. My favourite bit - if you turn up the volume very loudly - comes right after I've finished speaking, when Clare can be heard squealing with laughter still. All the time I was talking she had her head down on the desk and her shoulders were shaking like a cement mixer. Why we weren't fired I don't know. We did get one or two emails saying we'd been very unprofessional - but many many more saying what a good laugh it had been.

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Welcome to the Christmas Beach. For new visitors, here’s a quick guide provided recently for Molly by Simon Worrall.

Sometimes it is fairly quiet, but you can leave your footprints for others to find later on. Othertimes it is the home for a real party, with constant gossip, rumour, innuendo, Christmas chit-chat and so on.
There is no direct answer to your question about finding your way. The beach is a moveable feast, literally. It will be renewed by our Lord and master Mr. Edward de Mair each Monday morning - even at Christmas. This is because we have found in the past that when the number of posts exceeds about 600 the entire thing becomes unwieldy and unstable.

If this were a forum (and it sort of is because we post responses to each other, not just to Eddie, hence our term for ourselves 'Froggers', a combination of forum and blogger) then the beach would be the off-topic area. It's a tropical location, no matter the time of year it's always warm and pleasant there. Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular and the evenings are balmy. It has a number of different locations; the Nick Clarke waterfront bar; the smokers corner; Fido's Run for the dog-walkers; and others.

Froggers often leave bottles / glasses of their favourite tipple on the bar for others to sample, not to mention big / small eats. For example last Thursday I left a bottle of Talisker and some crudites there, which were well received in some quarters.

There is a herd of camels who frequent the sands, which froggers are very fond of. Lately a bunch of reindeer have showed up from who-knows-where. There are never three wise men. Don't even bother looking for a virgin.

There are sun-loungers, so you can take it easy and catch some rays. Quite often the late-night attendees will have a barbie.
It's a fun place, with only one real rule; Be nice to each other. To answer another point you raise; we are ALL chums here.
The real debate happens on the other threads. The beach is a place for banter, whimsy, relaxation and friendship, where jarring comments are not particularly welcome. There are certain very mild protocols, which you tend to pick up as you go along. So slip your shoes off, feel the sand between your toes, relax and enjoy a mince pie.

And by the way, if you are interested the froggers have also created their own site at https://www.pmblog.co.uk/ .

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and a very happy Christmas to YOU. Mrs Trellis sends this picture of Edward at the age of 7...

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and Rayya Ghul sends this snap of a snowman "made by teenagers in the village where I live."

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and it's still, thank goodness, the only occasion when a PM presenter has "lost it" on air.

Clare English and I were presenting. As was the case then, PM Letters appeared on a daily basis. We would take turns at writing the script each night.

This particular evening, out of the blue - Clare burst out laughing during the live reading of the letters. She lost it completely - tried to get it back - then lost it again even more.

The trigger word, as it turns out, was Parma as in Parma Ham. Once we were off the air (it took THAT long for her to stop laughing) she revealed that a mutual friend of ours was to blame. Stewart would always amusingly pronounce Parmesan cheese by hugely prolonging the 'a'. Paaaaaaaaaawwwwwwrmesan. Well, maybe you had to be there.

Anyway, it seems the way I said Parma Ham that night put Clare instantly in mind of that, and set her off, out of the blue. You can hear her on the clip, through laughter, saying something like "It's the way you said Parma".

Clare and I had worked together for years on PM and before that on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Scotland so we were well used to coming close to setting each other off with giggles. This was our most spectacular fall. My favourite bit - if you turn up the volume very loudly - comes right after I've finished speaking, when Clare can be heard squealing with laughter still. All the time I was talking she had her head down on the desk and her shoulders were shaking like a cement mixer. Why we weren't fired I don't know. We did get one or two emails saying we'd been very unprofessional - but many many more saying what a good laugh it had been.

I'll post it here, on Christmas Day.

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and Sharon Frogley sends this snap of her grandsons opening presents last Christmas...

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We're calling these gallery 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,
24,
25
and 26

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as well as a brand new Beach...there will be, for the first time ever, the famous Parma Ham incident, along with an explanation of what the hell was going on.

Join us amid the mince pies for that...

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and madmary sends these: "One is of the Christmas Decorations at my office before they were put on the tree, and the other is taken in a local wood (in Birmingham!)."

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sort of programme tonight. An internet phone connection failed - we think in future we should use them only for recorded interviews...and an ISDN line from Italy failed. What almost never fails (except when it involves the US) is a trusty phone line. We try to avoid using phone lines - preferring the "quality" sound of guests in ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ studios. They often travel far at our request to help bring that clearer sound. One of our guests tonight was on a phone line because there was a mix up over which ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ studio he was to go to. Another guest was on the phone because our radio car broke down en route.

We are, as I think I said, blaming the fog.

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Fearless Fred sends these pictures which reflect an incredibly festive scene at his office. Nice to know your real name, Fred!

By the way - aside from pea-souper, and "can't see my hand in front of my face", what fog cliches would you like to hear us trotting out tonight?

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and Dick Hobbs sends this with the advice:

"I'm the one in the middle"

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02.45 (I waited up). Yours?

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anything different about tonight's programme?

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will feature not only a Christmas Beach...but the posting of that "mythical" piece of audio - famed in legend and song.

It'll give you an excuse to leave the family at the dinner table...

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and that 10,000 figure I was given yesterday. As we suspected, it was duff. Someone was counting things that shouldn't have been counted. Sorry. We reckon we're now about half way through getting pictures posted. The good news is, contrary to what you might think, I'm told the number of postings will rise over the Christmas period. So it would be worth your while to keep checking back.

Thank you for your patience - I realise it must appear slow to many people. But despite the duplications, it's still our aim to get them all done before I die.

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as promised: hope its detail shows up clearly on here. The Gossipmistress sends all the PM team her very best for Christmas with the note: "Lissa - not knowing what you looked like I replaced you with Cameron Diaz. I hope this is acceptable."

Can YOU identify all the people on the card? And indeed the animals?

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and I'm about to record a festive interview with Jack Straw. You, however, have the pleasure of the latest Advent snap - Peter Simmons says: "This was taken at Christmas 2000 of Nathan. Ho ho ho."

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We just got your card.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

We'll try to post it tomorrow. Thank you.

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...something that has been requested more than once. It has gained mythical status. But it happened. It was real. And it will be here. Our Christmas gift to you.

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DO wrap up...

And if you're wondering what the bloody hell The Beach means...

Welcome to the beach. For new visitors, here’s a quick guide provided recently for Molly by Simon Worrall.
Sometimes it is fairly quiet, but you can leave your footprints for others to find later on. Othertimes it is the home for a real party, with constant gossip, rumour, innuendo, chit-chat and so on.

There is no direct answer to your question about finding your way. The beach is a moveable feast, literally. It will be renewed by our Lord and master Mr. Edward de Mair each Monday morning. This is because we have found in the past that when the number of posts exceeds about 600 the entire thing becomes unwieldy and unstable.
If this were a forum (and it sort of is because we post responses to each other, not just to Eddie, hence our term for ourselves 'Froggers', a combination of forum and blogger) then the beach would be the off-topic area. It's a tropical location, no matter the time of year it's always warm and pleasant there. Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular and the evenings are balmy. It has a number of different locations; the Nick Clarke waterfront bar; the smokers corner; Fido's Run for the dog-walkers; and others.

Froggers often leave bottles / glasses of their favourite tipple on the bar for others to sample, not to mention big / small eats. For example last Thursday I left a bottle of Talisker and some crudites there, which were well received in some quarters.
There is a herd of camels who frequent the sands, which froggers are very fond of. Lately a bunch of reindeer have showed up from who-knows-where. There are sun-loungers, so you can take it easy and catch some rays. Quite often the late-night attendees will have a barbie.
It's a fun place, with only one real rule; Be nice to each other. To answer another point you raise; we are ALL chums here.

The real debate happens on the other threads. The beach is a place for banter, whimsy, relaxation and friendship, where jarring comments are not particularly welcome. There are certain very mild protocols, which you tend to pick up as you go along. So slip your shoes off, feel the sand between your toes, relax and enjoy.

And by the way, if you are interested the froggers have also created their own site at https://www.pmblog.co.uk/ .

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People in the know tell me that 10,000 photos have now been posted. It seems a lot, doesn't it?

Here are some more. I hesitate to number them as it will probably be wrong...so I am going to give them the names of colours, for absolutely no reason.

Orange, blue red and pink.

More to follow!

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and Ian Robins in Bristol sends "a picture that may fit your bill for photos of "..sparkly lights, that kind of thing". It's blurry, but it's got sparkly lights and Santa who appears to have landed on a moving mobile home....!

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and I thought another weekend photo from Roberto would be nice:

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and all the way from Miami, Florida, we get this from valued frogger Roberto C. Alvarez-Galloso.

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*not affiliated to any of the fine work Sir Bill Gates is doing. It's here

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Last night the News Gods smiled on us - indeed they beamed giant sunny smiles, as I noted in an earlier posting.

Tonight, the news cupboard (as an esteemed colleague from the newsroom is wont to say) is rather bare.

We've decided that instead of filling, as we normally do, we're just going to stop when we've run out of news. If anyone in Radio 4 continuity is reading this...stand by with something musically substantial.

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or should I say HERE.

I confess I have lost count of them, and I know we're running behind with posting them on the right. But we're going to catch up today!

Some other bits and bobs. I know the good Dr and others have had a bit of trouble with our newsletter. I'm normally the first to put my hand up and admit our culpability. This time though, we've checked with the grown-ups (twice) and it's all fine our end. If I had any technical expertise at all I would offer some helpful tips here.

But I don't so I won't.

Some of the comments on the food link from last night made me laugh. Perhaps because we shouldn't. Yesterday was an extraordinary day. Normally, there are two, or maybe three stories you might consider are strong enough to lead the programme. Yesterday, every news story was a potential lead. There were other stories...good ones...two of them at least...which were only "reads" in our bulletin at 5, because there was just no time in the entire hour to fit them in. As I posted (somewhere) yesterday we had a lively editorial debate all afternoon about what to lead with, and in the end, it was after 4.30 that we plumped for Blair over Diana.

Anyone have any idea why the Labour party called us after 4.50 to ask what was on the programme? Don't they subscribe to the newsletter?

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Paul Turner sends this photo which SCREAMS, among other things, Christmas. He writes:

"I found this Miss Christmas on the A66 near Keswick, when out walking. The only thing is, it was the 13th of May 2006!!!!"

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details

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...read and let us know what you think. Much more on the air at 5pm.

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here

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Some froggers (thank you Mary and Ron) have suggested I start a thread on the murders, and the issues that they have cast light on. Here it is.

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I don't think it's my place to pass judgement on anyone. But - I though this picture was on the creepy side. Curbie Firetank supplied it...with these words...

"Eddie and Co - I thought this would make an interesting, if sinister addition to the PM "advent snapalendar" I took it last January in Finland [where it is pretty much always christmas]. Still can't decide if it's a freak of nature, or a snow'n'pine installation by some crazy Fin, well it was minus 50C [if you count the 'wind chill'] and that does things to people's minds, apparently ! Regards and Winterval greetings, Curbie."

In fact now I look at it again, I think this guy used to be freeze-framed at the end of at least one series of Star Trek.

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here and here

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...our story the other night which began like this was inspired by something which has been part of my audio collection for a while, from Today.

And having heard them both, we've made it a duet.

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. It's what we do.

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who has come to help with the Window on Your World project, has arrived safely at the office. Hurrah.

Last night was what passes for our office Christmas party. Yours truly is clear headed, and of course rather smug about it. Others on our staff appear close to death. The UN may have to send them something.

To complicate things, we think the daily email newsletter may get stuck in a blockage, unrelated to the party. So to avoid further disappointment, here's what I wrote...and no Fearless Fred, I haven't proof read this one either...

Hello,

As I write, Prime Minister's Questions is in full flow. Rowdy one. It may feature in our programme tonight.

But the main news at the moment remains the murders in Suffolk. There's been a police news conference already...there may be another before we go on the air. In our programme we'll hear from the boss of an Ipswich massage parlour...and from a man who hunted the Yorkshire Ripper.

In a few minutes we'll hear how the Government plans to track down absent parents and make them pay...we'll try to get the appropriate Government minister on the air to answer questions. If you have any - you know where to send them.

And there's more! Police who turned away protesters heading to a demonstration against the Iraq war were acting unlawfully, according to the Law Lords.

Plus: do you have a ticket for the Diana concert? They sold out in 8 minutes - with interesting online consequences..

See you on the ice at 5.

Eric Muir

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will start appearing in greater numbers from today - fine the galleries on the right. There may be duplications, there may be too many cats, but our aim is to post everything we have so far, by Sunday.

Please keep them coming in though.

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and Annasee says: "Attached is a drawing our daughter did when she was 6. I’m afraid we made it into a card & sent it to our friends ‘cos we thought it was so cute. You on the other hand may just find it nauseating. But that’s your privilege…Merry Christmas all."

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NEW gallery 13: being posted shortly on the right. And as I said in my previous posting, we have high hopes that we'll post all the photos we've received so farby Sunday. If you haven't sent yours yet - or are waiting to finish your film, don't worry. We're happy to accept them when you are ready and we'll post them as they come in. We're just excited about finally getting the thousands we've been sent posted on the blog.

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Exciting news. I am told, by grown ups who know about these things (Gillian) that all the photos will be posted by Sunday. Personally, I think that's ambitious, but I pass the information on to you with hope and a song in my heart.

Last night's programme was full of interesting things. A listener complained to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ that I was rude to David Cameron. Apparently I tried to "trip him up with trivial questions and make things awkward for him. We should be treating guests with respect."

Two other people were upset I didn't correct a guest who "mistakenly referred to the Bishop Of Southwark as the Bishop Of Woolwich". The listeners were annoyed by this and think I should have corrected the error. In fact, the person who referred to the Bishop Of Southwark as the Bishop Of Woolwich was (according to our guest) the Bishop Of Southwark, when he was drunk. So if you're going to bash anyone...

One email we had to agree with was about our reference - in a news bulletin - to the "girls" affected by the murders in Ipswich. One listener wrote complaining that we should "please adhere to NUJ guidelines and refrain from referring to women who work as prostitutes as "girls". They are not children.". She's right of course. We shouldn't call them girls and we'll do our best not to.

We love hearing from our listeners - whatever the comments. And sometimes listeners come to our rescue. For example, the other day we heard from Helen, who emailed this:

"I gather you are having problems dealing with the avalanche of listeners' images.

I am very computer literate (not in the programming sense but can deal with uploading images to a website) and would be happy to volunteer to assist. I realise it may be impossible - for all kinds of byzantine reasons - for my offer to be accepted, but just in case I am being overly cynical, I could offer a day or a couple of half days, maybe more and could do this weekend, evenings or one day next week.

How's that for a reasonably concrete offer?"

We loved that offer so much - we've taken Helen up on it. She'll be here from tomorrow!

By the way - did you enjoy the Water Vole item last night? Tomorrow's blog will have a bit of background on it...featuring audio...

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and Yvonne Holder has this lovely scene for us...

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appears on PM tonight. You might have a view on what he has to say - you might not. In any case, at time of writing (eek - two minutes to five) we are 21 comments away from our FIFTEEN THOUSANDTH!

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and Catherine Howard-Dobson sends us this:

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and by the way, I think that sometime today...certainly sometime this week, we will all pass the milestone of 15,000 comments.

And with thanks to Simon Worrall, Jonnie and Anne P - here comes a guide to The Beach - ideal if you've come to this Blog and are, understandably, wondering just what the hell is going on...

Welcome to the beach. For new visitors, here’s a quick guide provided recently for Molly by Simon Worrall.

Sometimes it is fairly quiet, but you can leave your footprints for others to find later on. Othertimes it is the home for a real party, with constant gossip, rumour, innuendo, chit-chat and so on.

There is no direct answer to your question about finding your way. The beach is a moveable feast, literally. It will be renewed by our Lord and master Mr. Edward de Mair each Monday morning. This is because we have found in the past that when the number of posts exceeds about 600 the entire thing becomes unwieldy and unstable.

If this were a forum (and it sort of is because we post responses to each other, not just to Eddie, hence our term for ourselves 'Froggers', a combination of forum and blogger) then the beach would be the off-topic area. It's a tropical location, no matter the time of year it's always warm and pleasant there. Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular and the evenings are balmy. It has a number of different locations; the Nick Clarke waterfront bar; the smokers corner; Fido's Run for the dog-walkers; and others. Froggers often leave bottles / glasses of their favourite tipple on the bar for others to sample, not to mention big / small eats. For example last Thursday I left a bottle of Talisker and some crudites there, which were well received in some quarters.

There is a herd of camels who frequent the sands, which froggers are very fond of. Lately a bunch of reindeer have showed up from who-knows-where. There are sun-loungers, so you can take it easy and catch some rays. Quite often the late-night attendees will have a barbie.

It's a fun place, with only one real rule; Be nice to each other. To answer another point you raise; we are ALL chums here.

The real debate happens on the other threads. The beach is a place for banter, whimsy, relaxation and friendship, where jarring comments are not particularly welcome. There are certain very mild protocols, which you tend to pick up as you go along. So slip your shoes off, feel the sand between your toes, relax and enjoy.

And by the way, if you are interested the froggers have also created their own site at https://www.pmblog.co.uk/ .

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and Fiona (Fifi unless I'm mistaken) sends this: "Aha!, and you thought you were the only ones with random reindeer eh! Okmy snap doesn't include any cbeebies presenters, fair point - but itdoes include not only the main man himself, but also his lovelymissus......... There you go. Merry Christmas to one and all (early I know!)"

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Lissa has been a busy body. As opposed to a busybody, which she would NEVER be...and until Monday when we can get them properly put in the column on the right, here are more of the pictures listeners took on Tuesday at 5pm.

We should try to keep the categories right so, I think this is number 11 and number 12 (I had to do something I try to avoid, and come back and change a posting, as I'd put up two the same, thanks to a misunderstanding between Lissa and me. Removing a repetitious "13" saves a LOAD of trouble later when we try to match everything up. This way, no-one's pics should slip through the cracks. Sorry!)

By the way, while I'm on, a friend fo mine is having trouble with cats c* in her garden. Not that she doesn't love cats she does...but their poop is getting everywhere. She's tried the cat detterent things you can buy that emit a noise only cats and opera singers can hear. Plus the old "water in the coke bottle" trick (!) but still the pussies refuse to buy a nice Armitage Shanks and flush after themselves. Thoughts?

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And Valery P says:

"Hi Eddie, Lissa et al

Of course Sam doesn't really have one eye - just a lot of hair/fur! By the way - do you like the bee box he gave me that Christmas ('05)?

Sorry it's a bit fuzzy, could have been steam (from the cooking, unlikely as I don't cook in the sitting room), smoke (more likely), general detritus on the lens (most probable). Other excuses are, of course, available on request!"

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about croquet.

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and I have an update on the WELL KNOWN RADIO FOUR VOICE who stole chocolate coins from our Christmas display. This email arrived in my inbox today, from the VERY guilty party...

"Hardly slept a wink last night as I felt so bad about stealing your choccies. So I've brought you and the team a box of Chocolate Buttons. You were not at your desk this morning as apparently you are being a TV star on the Politics show so I gave them to Peter Rippon. He's probably eaten them by now but at least I have assauaged my guilt and will hopefully get a full nights rest."

Isn't that nice? The WELL KNOWN RADIO FOUR VOICE is forgiven.

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and Joangemma sends this from Christmas Day 2005, of a frozen lake just outside Stockholm.

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What do YOU think?

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At the risk of turning this blog into a poor person's Wicked Whispers....which well known Radio 4 voice confessed to me this morning that they had pinched several chocolate Euro coins from one of our office festive displays? And get this: THEY PLAN TO GIVE THEM TO A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS!!!

Window On Your Worlders will note that Richard has kindly put links to the first batch in the right hand column. More will follow, as soon as we can.

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and Tony Kennick sends us this....

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1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 (there are different photos on each link...the most recent ones are sent by mobile and so have no or very few accompanying descriptions)

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Phil Dawson sends this snap of Nadia, at Christmas 2005.

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astonished at the response to Window on Your World. We didn't really know what to expect. Maybe a few hundred in total, once all the pictures had been sent in? We don't have an accurate count now - the closest we can give you is from the Inbox count from our email. And it counts only the unopened emails - and we've opened several hundred. So going by THAT count, we're at more than 2,500. But many of THOSe contain multiple pictures that have been forwarded to us by the mobile phone photo people.

In short - we're well over three thousand and possibly four. Wow!

Later, here on the blog, and on the air, we'll tell you how you can begin to access the photos. We're at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the sheer scale of it all...whether to display them in categories or geographically. One thing is agreed, we will not be editing them. We'll aim to display ALL the photos we're sent - unless there are any rude ones. Those we will print off and put on the wall in the office, of course.

Below - I'm posting the shot I took at 5 last night. As you can see - it's a bit blurry. Which perfectly represents my view of the world at 5. I thought of taking a snap of only the microphone...but for the sake of demonstrating the time, I took a shot of the clock too. The figures through the glass are the production team. I don't know any of their names, naturally. Many of them were taking shots of me - and there is a flash in my shot as a result.

Once again - thank you. Looking through the photos is huge fun. Charlotte and I were rather distracted last night as we opened some at random.

As I speak there is a big discussion going on about how long all of this is going to take our web team. We think it will take several weeks. Eek!

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By Post: Window On Your World, PM, Room G601, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News Centre, London W12 7RJ. Sorry - we can't return any...in the style of Vision On.

By email: pm@bbc.co.uk - please put Window On Your World in the subject line.

From your mobile phone - 07725 100 100 - you must mark it Photo for PM.

However you send them, feel free to add any information you like. Maybe you can tell us what the picture shows, or where it was taken, or whether it's typical of your view of the world at 5pm - or how long you've been listening to us. It's up to you.

Thank you for taking part. Tomorrow, we'll let you know where the pictures can be seen.

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until our Window On Your World.

Stand by!

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and this is Jonnie's tree from last year, at the Cransley..

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Tonight's the night, when PM listeners around the world will take a picture of THEIR world as we come on air. I HAVE remembered my camera and will be taking part.

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Big Sis sends this snap from 2005 "of Santas in Newtown following the annual Santa Run."

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Anne P is busy preparing...

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was without postings, but not through a lack of will. Many of the lovely Christmas pictures that we've been sent are "too large" for our download thingy. We're working on sorting that. Thanks for all that we've received.

Will get onto the various other things I need to do. A new beach is coming!

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This came in by text so i don't know who it's from (though the mobile number ends 085), with the words: "La la la la. . . It's christmas! And our calendar is empty cos the kids snaffled the chocs before breakfast!"

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is next Tuesday at 5pm, and tonight on the programme we're hearing from a chap who did something very similar. There's a visual treat .

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and this snap to start our advent countdown is from Fifi...taken, as it happens, on Boxing Day, 2005.

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and it occurs to me that if we'd had our heads screwed on, we would have asked you for Christmas-related photos...24 of them to count down to the big day. Is it too late? If you have one of your own handy, pop it in an email would you? I'm thinking snowy scene, or sparkly lights, that kind of thing - but you'll have your own idea. Don't go to huge trouble - we will need only 24 from everyone as part of our countdown, and I don't want to distract people from the you-know-what next Tuesday...but what do you think? Send em please to pm@bbc.co.uk and mark the email "lalalalala it's Christmas" - just because that would cheer us all up.

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