At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask, my dad likes to say when confronted with a rip-off price.

Today the highwaymen are gone only to be replaced with a far more ruthless and relentless lot, the traffic warden! And where they go misery is sure to follow.

Yes you guessed it, I got a ticket! And a very expensive one it was too.

The last three weeks in Westminster have been like watching a train wreck in slow motion, according to local MP Philip Hammond.

Writing in this week's Surrey Herald, the Runnymede & Weybridge MP reveals the Commons are in a state of paralysis, with politicians of all creeds obsessing about the next Daily Telegraph revelations about their expenses, and the realisation has dawned that all MPs - innocent, guilty or guiltier - are tarred.

Until recently if you'd asked me what the chances are of Mr Hammond, or neighbouring Tory MPs David Wilshire and Ian Taylor, losing their seats at the next election, I would have answered "zero". But in light of the current mood sweeping the nation it looks like all bets are off.

Anyone remember the 1980s sensation that was Wham? No, no, I'm not talking about George Michael and his 'what-does-he-do-exactly?' ex-sidekick Andrew Ridgely, but those once huge (and hugely popular) raspberry flavoured Wham! chew bars.

Many are the dentists they have kept in business over the years and quite a few friends and colleagues can testify to having lost fillings to these sticky menaces in their youth. Me too, which is why I really should have known better over the bank holiday weekend.

Things are busy, busy, busy at the office today so when my mobile phone started ringing with a call from an 0800 number just now, the alarm bells rang too.

It clearly wasn't a friend or acquaintance and with number starting 0800 I suspected it may be a company ringing me at work to sell me something. There's never a good time for such things but while you're at work it can be particularly annoying.

But what if it was something important? The only way to know is to answer the call isn't it? Wrong! There is another way.

Goodness me it's been a long time since I last updated this blog and for that I must apologise and promise to do better.

It's been an eventful two months for all of us at the Surrey Herald & News as we've restructured and reorganised ourselves to ride out the current economic storm.

What's new? Read on.

If a nuclear bomb were to have dropped on Addlestone during the Cold War it would have been curtains for all of us, but a few Runnymede VIPs might have been alright.

That's because it's come to light this week that borough council was harbouring a nuclear bunker underneath its HQ in Station Road all along.

Hats off to the Herald & News reporters this week for producing some very newsy papers despite less pages than usual.

Our papers are normally 56 pages but the page count will fluctuate up or down (by eight pages) according to the demand for advertising space or any special promotions.

If you don't yet know who this floppy haired chap is, the chances are that you soon will.

He is 26-year-old actor Matt Smith and on Saturday night the BBC announced he'll be taking over from David Tennant as Doctor Who from 2010.

The news prompted fans to jump onto internet forums to register their thoughts - good and bad - and digital cartoonist Darren Lacey from Ashford decided he wanted to be the first to create a caricature of the new Doctor.

Yesterday lunchtime I had the misfortune to be driving back to our Chertsey office via Station Road in Addlestone 'aka traffic light central'.

What should have been a relatively short journey (distance wise) of maybe two or three hundred metres took the best part of 10 minutes to accomplish thanks to the constant stopping at red lights.

And so passes another Christmas and New Year. I hope yours was fun, relaxing, and hopefully not too hard on the wallet.

I must say it seems odd being back at the office today for a proper working week, after almost a month of using up lingering holiday allowance with the odd day off here and there or finishing early for Christmas/New Year.

So it's back to the old 9am to 5.30pm eh? Well almost. After a chat with the editor on Friday I'm experimenting with earlier starts in 2009 to ensure that you, our readers, are greeted with fresh content should you decide to visit our websites first thing in the morning.