Driving home last night I saw a bus. On the side of the bus was a list of places it went to. Two of the places were Mansfield and Chesterfield.

Thinking I'd give Karen a glimpse in to the inner workings of my mind I told about how, driving between home and university I used to notice the link between the three major places on route -- Mansfield, Chesterfield and Manchester. All three places having a part of their name in common with both the others. Hey, it was a boring drive!

Skip forward a few years and I've left uni and have my first job in, of all places, Ipswich. Driving to and from there each week, along the A14, again, I noticed something in the place names I saw signposted along the way, which were:

Wattisham, Needham Market, Ditchingham, Banham.

It seems the folk down there went from wondering what ham was to needing a market to sell it to ditching it and then banning it completely in their short-lived affair with the meat.

Normally this is the kind of thing you'd notice and keep to yourself, but, me being me, I used to tell anybody who'd listen. Surprisingly most people find it quite funny (told in the right way that is), although they could just be entertaining me. Karen even suggested I write in to tell Chris Evans, because "he loves stuff like that".

Here's the route you'd have to take to visit all four places.

Notice there's a lots of places ending or including "ham" in their name. Ham meaning "homestead" in Olde Englifhe.

Anyway, just thought I'd share a little glimpse of my world with you all. It's a scary place.