A YOUNG chum of mine – she’s seven – recently joined the Brownies. When I called round she was busy learning the Brownies’/Guides’ oath ready for her investiture – if that’s the right word.

I was surprised and a little disappointed to hear that some of the words had changed. The word ‘God’ had gone, to be replaced by the lengthier clause ‘...to be true to myself and develop my beliefs’.

I’m in favour of once Christians-only organisations opening their doors to all faiths, but surely the possessive pronoun ‘my’ inserted before the word ‘God’ would have been sufficient for most and would not have turned the oath into a political speech.

I HEADED for New Road Baptist Church for my weekly cuppa with hosts Linda, David and other regulars. As I crossed Bonn Square a delightful young woman at a colourful stall handed me a stick of rock.

She also gave me a postcard on which were pictures of the Palace of Westminster, the Angel of the North, Stonehenge and a red Land Rover. On the reverse was a list of 12 career opportunities offered by the Jaguar Land Rover Graduates and Undergraduates programme and news that the scheme’s show would be in town on February 28.

Seeing I’m neither a graduate nor an undergraduate, I don’t think I qualified for the rock. But it did taste good.

INCIDENTALLY Price, Waterhouse and Cooper had a stall in Broad Street a couple of weeks ago. There was a team of graduates – all young and all pretty – encouraging students to consider linking up with this internationally respected company.

There was no rock, but a mechanic was on the spot checking and repairing cycles. This was followed by free coffee and cakes at a Turl Street café.

Recruitment methods were never like this when I was looking for a career. Still, I wouldn’t have changed my years in journalism for all the rock and bikes those legendary stingy newspaper proprietors might have – but did not – offer.

PIE, peas and mash are not the staple diet of we Northerners, but they come close. So it has been pleasing to see a Covered Market café dispensing the same at a knock-down price of £5 for Tuesday customers.

Last week prices rose by 20 per cent – to £6. In mitigation, a £1 voucher was offered to those who return and choose the ‘lighter pie’ – whatever that is. What had I been eating over the past week?

Offers can be confusing even when it comes to simple things like pie and peas.

WORDS to her grandad from a tearful five-year-old as they peered over Folly Bridge: “You said we’d go on a boat. Why can’t we?”