WHAT A PRICE TO PAY FOR HAPPINESS

It must have been heartbreaking for some of the families to see the homes they had worked so hard for go under the hammer for a pittance. I felt really sorry for them.

One unfortunate couple featured on the programme came from Leigh.

Stephen and Lisa Hughes bought a flat in Tower Grove, Higher Folds, for £21,000, and when Stephen left to take up a new job in Saudi Arabia, Lisa stayed behind to sell the property.

She stayed and stayed and stayed - for three years without success.

For the couple to be together, auction was the last resort - and Lisa was actually delighted to accept a measly £8,500 to get rid of the burden.

That's some loss, but what's money when happiness is involved?

She's now joined her husband abroad, and he's probably earned more than he ever would here - at least that's some compensation for the losses.

Another couple's beautiful home, once valued at £35,000, raised a bid of only £9,000 because it was now the only decent property left in a no-go area.

The sad thing is that people moving into the property market don't want to buy privately on a council estate, no matter how beautiful or well kept the house may be.

Many people who bought their estate council homes are now finding them difficult to sell.

Many got them at knock down prices, and though they may be no big investment, they have allowed the vendors to live rent free.

And that must be some little consolation. Shift this dumped disgrace CHORLEY police have had a purge on car tax dodgers, just like they did in Leigh earlier in the year.

I read that cars have been clamped and towed away in the crackdown - last week 25 vehicles were removed ranging from wrecks to a nearly new BMW.

This has shown up the problem of dumped vehicles, left because the cost of getting rid of them has gone up and the cost of scrap metal down.

This is the obviously the case with a gold-coloured ruin which has been left in a prime parking spot behind the Italian gardens in Railway Road.

The D-reg eyesore, a Vauxhall Nova, last taxed in March, has shattered bin liner covered windows and flat tyres - so it's not going anywhere.

Someone should please shift it. TOO LONG TO WAIT? OFFSPRING do everything earlier than we did.

The premier's son, Euan, 16, got absolutely legless after FINISHING his GCSEs.

We waited until we got the RESULTS of our O-levels! Motoring mystery I'M delighted to see that the lovely old former Pack House pub near Plank Lane swingbridge is to be brought back to life as a pub and restaurant.

It is tragic to see a building so full of character going to waste.

It had been used as the colliery wages office, but one thing about it baffled me for years.

A wagon was parked in the garage adjacent to it and how the heck it got in there I'll never know. Whoever backed it in must have been an ace driver.

There wasn't an inch to spare at the sides or the top. And how did he get out?

It's been removed now - and the garage from what I can see while driving past is still intact. Amazing. Champion cracker I GAVE up waiting for the Wimbledon men's final at 6pm.

It was fabulous though to see the parade of champions that I had missed earlier in the fortnight.

A few obviously, like me, have had a few steak puddings since their playing days.

One who has improved no end with age is five times winner Bjorn Borg. What a cracker!

I never thought he was the least bit attractive, but my goodness he is now. Definitely in the film star class.

More Wimbledon observations:

Why do people who take their mobile phones to a match keep having to be reminded to turn them off. Have they no sense?

Not many of the players drink from the Diet Coke bar behind the umpire's chair, they bring their own energy giving refreshments.

What's happened to quick fix bananas this year, are they out of favour?

Why don't they just put a glass roof on the centre court so that play doesn't have to be postponed?

Another smashing fortnight over and done with at the speed of light. AFTER watching late tennis match of the day, I channel hopped to find something else worthwhile watching.

To my amazement, on Channel 5, I stumbled upon a couple sat on a settee in complete head to toe blow up rubber suits, him in red her in black, looking like Bibendum (the fat tyre man).

We're not perverts they said - to my howls of laughter. They only had about 20 different suits and masks each.

You could have fooled me. Laugh now, yob! A TEENAGER who laughed as he threw a puppy 70ft off a bridge was jailed for six months this week. Hurrah.

He lobbed the four months old spaniel into mud banks.

Six kind-hearted schoolboys rescued the poor thing, and because they thought it had fallen accidentally gave it back to the yob.

He promptly threw it back into the river.

Thankfully the puppy lived. I'M a great fan of Room 101, the TV programme now hosted by Paul Merton, in which celebs banish their hates to disappear forever. I'd love to have a go. My choices would include all flying insects, jobsworths, badly fitting tights, musak on phones, Christmas, dealers who snatch all the bargains from people's cars before they're put on show at car boot sales, whistlers who drive me potty, and people who sell our green fields to build even more houses. Why don't they stay at home? A SURVEY by Thomas Cook has revealed what holidaymakers really miss while they're away.

Not unbelievably, top of the list is a nice cup of tea!

Fifty per cent miss their own bed, and many take their own pillows and blankets, while others blow up a lilo and sleep on the floor.

On one late, bargain holiday I slept on an armchair which converted into a bed. Most uncomfortable, but you're not usually in the room long enough to bother.

To remind themselves of home others go to the trouble of packing slippers, and even some ornaments to brighten up the room.

Others often phone home to speak to family and friends - and miss switching on the telly.

Sixty per cent miss British food and drink and make a bee line for an English bar. Twenty per cent seek out a full English breakfast to set them up for the day.