Peter Rhodes: At the going-down of the sun

SUPERSTITIONS for our time. A reader tells me that, just as actors avoid the word "Macbeth" by referring to "The Scottish Play," he and his wife have grown wary of mentioning the name of their local furniture establishment. It is simply "The Swedish Store." I bet that could catch on.

IN some versions of this column on Monday, the cost of the HS2 railway appeared as £60 million. If only. The true cost is £60 billion, or if you prefer, £60,000 million. If you can cope with all the zeros, it's actually £60,000,000,000 or about £1 billion per mile. Confused? I think that is what they want.

SO farewell, Colin Welland, who has died aged 81. I saw him on stage once and it was a memorable performance. It wasn't a play but a political rally. Welland was at Birmingham Town Hall in May 1987 speaking at a pre-election meeting in support of Neil Kinnock and Labour. The former Z-Cars star predicted that this time Labour would win. "The Tories will be so far behind," Welland thundered, "that all they'll see is our big fat arse." The audience loved it. Welland then introduced Kinnock "honestly and with utter conviction, the next prime minister of Britain." As it happened, Kinnock managed to lose not only the 1987 election but the 1992 one, too. Great oratory is a wonderful thing but if the voters don't trust you, it's just words.

HOW insurance works 1) A friend who always parked his car on his drive is moving to a house with a garage. So he told his insurance company of the change and asked by how much his premium would be reduced, in view of the added security of parking in a garage. The woman at the insurance company explained that there's no reduction but he would be charged a £26 admin fee for notifying them of the change.

HOW insurance works 2) A reader's dog developed a urinary infection. He rushed her to the vet where the treatment and drugs cost £130. He claimed on his pet insurance, to be told that after the £100 excess and a further excess for the age of the dog, which is 12, the insurer would pay nothing. However, as the customer had formally made a claim, the insurer was withdrawing all further cover for similar diseases. Sweet.

POPPY purchased. Best suit pressed. And off to the regimental reunion. When I first attended one of these events in the 1970s, there were hundreds of us. The company included a handful of old cavalrymen who had charged the Turkish guns with their sabres and liberated Jerusalem in 1917, and dozens of former tankies who survived Alamein and the Italian Campaign. This Remembrance Sunday there will be just 28 of us for luncheon, including a solitary WW2 veteran. The ranks dwindle, the proud chests covered with lots of medals are replaced by the Cold War generation who got one medal if they were lucky, or unlucky. We will chew the fat, drink the loyal toast and speak fondly of those who dined with us last year and are no more. At the going-down of the sun they are going. Fast.

"WE are not a civil debt recovery agency," says Surrey Chief Constable Lynne Owens, explaining why her force may not investigate forecourt petrol thefts. Does the same apply to siphoning petrol from police cars. If not, why not?