Smaller sizes now in stock...

There are some wonderful 'specialist' shops in Hull and, if you're ever on a train with John Prescott, do ask him about Gwenap. But one of the finest specialist emporiums making this northern outpost a Top Ten city is Cuddly Girls, which deals with clothes for ladies of a certain size. I love the slogan the owners have pilfered from 10cc. "Big Girls Don't Cry" it says on the shop front, just in case you were pondering having a nervous breakdown because you couldn't fit into that size 14 dress sold over the road in Ethel Austin. That man and his child are obviously heading in to pick up a loved one a nice posh easy-fitting get-up. On the way in he will notice a baffling sign on orange fluourescent card: "Smaller sizes now in stock". It seems that the proprietors of Cuddly Girls are forgetting which side their bread is buttered (or, rather, smeared with lard and chocolate spread) and are reaching out to stick thin model types, such as Kate Moss and her ilk, who will no doubt, because of that little sign, be heading to our upmarket city. Sadly, Cuddly Girls does not have an online presence I can point you to. I know this because I have conducted some in-depth internet research and I wouldn't want you seeing the things I have just seen.
Once I got past the large ladies' shop we found a mint condition Game of Life, for just a quid. It wasn't 'til we got it home and ripped off the plastic wrapper that we realised it was a special 'media' edition, aimed at KS2 students, and not the one we had fond memories of (the advert went something like: "You've defaulted on your poll tax and gone bankrupt! Please attend a court hearing and prepare to have all of your worldly goods repossessed!"). Instead, you have to come up with natty advertising campaigns and smear dirt on celebrities en route to becoming Rupert Murdoch. Which, to be honest, I can live without.

Letter from the people at the Arts Council, telling me they have received my application for funding, which is a relief given the complex nature of sending something in an A4 envelope these days. And I only have to wait six weeks to find out how I've got on! "Think about what you will do if we cannot fund your activity," it says. Oh no, I didn't fink of that.

The smarter reader will have noticed I've been mucking about with Technorati tags, although I'm not sure whether it's worth the bother, even with some fancy scripting that means all I have to do is type in a few words. For starters, please excuse the techno-babble, Technorati reckon I haven't updated this blog for 140 days despite many attempts to ping them to prove otherwise. Any suggestions IT people?

Listening: The Long Blondes.

Tags: Arts Council, Technorati, Cuddly Girls, Gwenap, Rupert Murdoch, outsize