FEW activities would be improved by a knock on the door in the middle of the night from the police, but throwing out your CD collection is one of them.

It's been a task on the to-do list for several years now. The collection has moved with us from house to house to sit silently in the corner. With virtually every song now available on-line for free, CDs are fast becoming a front room anachronism, like mahogany furniture and all the family watching the same show.

Having said that a CD collection is more than just about the music. It's a musical diary. Pull out an album and, if your memory is not too addled by time, you are taken right back to the moments you purchased and then enjoyed the disc.

I'll give you an example. I bought my first ever album, The Very Best of Elton John, from Solid Sounds in Queen's Arcade, Darlington when I was 14, wearing skin tight stone washed jeans and had travelled into town on a noisy United bus.

Solid Sound is long gone, United buses likewise and the stone washed jeans.. what a great shop Solid Sounds was.

Anyway it was an arduous activity having to rifle through all those memories. I just couldn't do it in the end and stuffed the entire collection in the shed.

On the subject of clingy clothing, a crackdown on uniform at the top school has caused quite a kerfuffle.

The girls have been told not to wear tight-fitting trousers. When asked why not, a teacher said it was affecting the boys' learning. It makes it harder for them to concentrate apparently.

In fairness, the teachers probably have a point although I remember being that age. The girls could be wearing particularly baggy Hessian sacks inside comedy sumo suits and still make it difficult for the boys to think about sums and spellings. It's a miracle any boy attending a mixed schools leaves with qualifications.

The crackdown has resulted in girls being sent home and told to come back in less tightly fitting attire, which has really annoyed some parents and probably the odd boy pupil.