Sideswipe: Tender grass

Basil Fawlty's alive and well in Bradford-On-Avon, Wiltshire.

Beijing's plea may be more effective than "please do not walk on the grass".

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In answer to yesterday's question about energy rating and water rating stickers, Jason writes, "For the reader wanting to remove stickers on fridges or anything gooey/gluey, use lemon oil (sans silicone) and rub away until totally off. I'm a guitar teacher who uses it for his instruments, but my wife steals it for anything gunky, including recalcitrant stickers on books. Wipe on the oil, then wipe off Karate Kid style.

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Kiwi in UK writes: "Thank God there are others out there who suffer the same glazed-eye effects from those who can only talk about their progeny. Especially grating are acquaintances who update their Facebook status with squeals of joy or moans about their babies. I feel like updating my status saying 'XXX wants to know what certain babied-up acquaintances talked about before they fell pregnant'. And then see how many de-friend me. Might be refreshing."

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But Nicky says: "When I first had children, I quickly realised that talking about the children, which was my new and challenging job, was not wanted. Instead I had to listen to others talking endlessly about their jobs, as though the fact that they were paid jobs made them socially acceptable conversation pieces and therefore interesting to all. Next time you go to a social gathering, take an inventory of how much of the conversation is taken up with people (usually men) talking on and on about their jobs. And the ubiquitous conversation-starter with strangers: 'What do you do?"'

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Andrew writes, "The new animated Minties advert on television would be reasonably good if what it was showing was correct. The handbag incident has Tana Umaga hitting Ma'a Nonu over the head when the incident involved Tana hitting Chris Masoe over the head. Suppose that's what you get when you cheapen what traditionally were very good ads by using cartoons."

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See today's Herald cartoon

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Today's Webpick: Covers of Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath on accordion…this was a big viral hit in Romania. Go here.

Follow Ana Samways on Twitter here.