Haunted love

He was extolling the virtues of the romantic effects of the great Gothic cathedral and some of the tourists had made a wish on his "magic" cane when 26-year-old Chris Westerman took his girlfriend Hayley, 22, to one side, got down on one knee, took an engagement ring from his jacket pocket, and proposed to her.

She said 'Yes!' and spontaneous applause and aaahhs erupted from the assembled ghost-hunters as Chris turned as red as some of the exquisite stained glass in the great window itself.

Mark, who has guided the original York ghost walk for the last 20 of its 30 years, says: "It was fantastic. Everyone on the walk beamed as Chris got down on one knee. This is the first time I've had a proposal, so to speak, in all the years I have been guiding the walks. The tourists loved it... and so did I!

"It just goes to prove my magic cane is exactly that and wishes do come true. It was made even better because that night I had a hen party in the group plus visitors from all over the world."

Father-of-two Mark, 46, from Stamford Bridge, couldn't wait to get home to his schoolteacher wife Sharon to tell her all about the big proposal at the Great East Window.

I tracked down the great romancer and husband-to-be Chris Westerman in Grimsby, where he works as a tyre-fitter.

"I always intended to propose to Hayley during our weekend break in York, but I was bowled over by the romance of the Minster. It was the first time I had seen it so I thought I'd just give it my best shot.

"I didn't expect the reaction I got from others on the walk. I was knocked out."

Chris has been walking out with his beloved Hayley Pearson, for five years so perhaps his time as a bachelor boy was numbered.

But he certainly gave in with... style!

LOOK out Harrods here comes the Bulmer Post Office and Village Store. Only a year or so ago, the future of the Post Office and shop at Bulmer, near Castle Howard, looked decidedly bleak. A succession of people had tried to make a go of it but all gave up. The shop was looking run down and the village feared for its future.

Enter 50-year-old Martin Alden.

Martin runs a successful business supplying replica items and themed interiors to the pub and hotel trade, but was looking for something different - and somewhere to showcase products.

Now the little Post Office is transformed. A new tea garden has been completed. The store sells all those things you'd expect to find in a village shop, such as everyday provisions, a good range of wines and beers and a comfortable tea room.

Not only is it a lifeline for the villagers, now it is also a magnet for art-lovers.

Here you can view a wide range of craftsman-made goods and preserves. Although last year's foot and mouth epidemic had a major effect on the shop's trade, Martin hopes for a busy spring and summer with the return of many walkers and sightseers who visit Bulmer, just a mile and a half from Castle Howard.

The charming little emporium stocks hand-made craft items, including plant pots, garden ornaments and decorative boxes, all with a local flavour. Also on sale there are reproductions of road signs associated with football clubs - Bootham Crescent and Elland Road, to name two - which will be on sale at the York City FC shop as well as the Village Store.

The workshop is moving to a large barn at the back so visitors can watch designers Margaret Stacey, store manager, and Dawn Noble at work, says Martin, who describes himself as the "ideas man" behind the venture. He has lived in the York area for 12 years, and in Bulmer for 18 months.

A week last Saturday it was like United Nations day at the store.

Martin says: "We had tourists from Zimbabwe, South Africa, America and Australia... I hope the summer carries on like this."

Nice to hear of a village shop branching out instead of folding, as in many rural areas, and this one is not only arty-crafty, but also sells freshly-made bread, local free-range eggs, plants and a wide range of groceries.

Even as I write, canoe-loads of Vietnamese hill tribesmen are paddling down the mighty Mekong river to take tea and scones in beautiful Bulmer.

A Flaxen-haired little girl walks into a York pet shop and asks in the sweetest little lisp: "Excuthe me, mithter, do you sell wittle wabbits?"

The shopkeeper gets down on his knees, so he's on her level, and asks: "Do you want a wittle white wabbit or a soft and fuwwy bwack wabbit?"

She in turn puts her hands on her knees, bends forward and says: "I don't fink my pyfon gives a damn!"

MY mate at New Scotland Yard Caroline Kenyon wants me to warn you about a new cashpoint scam. The crimes are getting craftier. The latest rip-off involves thieves putting a thin, clear, rigid plastic 'sleeve' into the hole-in the-wall cash machines' card slot.

When you insert your card, the machine can't read the strip, so it keeps asking you to re-enter your PIN number. Meanwhile, someone behind you watches as you tap in your number. Eventually, thinking the machine has swallowed your card, you give up and walk away.

The thieves then remove the plastic sleeve complete with card, and raid your account.

The way to avoid this is to run your finger along the card slot before you insert your card.

The sleeve has a couple of tiny prongs the thieves need to prise the sleeve out of the slot, and you will be able to feel them.

Alert your friends.

A Glaswegian girl went to the council to register for child benefit.

"How many children?" asked the council worker.

"Ten", said the lassie.

"Ten!" said the gobsmacked official. "What are their names?"

"Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne, Wayne and Wayne", says the benefit-seeker.

"Doesn't that get confusing?"

Naah..." insisted the mum, "it's great 'cos if they are 'oot playing in the street I jist hiv ti shout, 'Waaayne, yer tea's ready' or 'Waaayne git ti yer bed, now! And they a' dee it..."

""What if you want to speak to one individually?" asked the perplexed council worker.

"Aw, that's easy," says the mum, "I jist use their surnames."

A lone bongo drummer was entertaining the crowds - and pulling in the pennies - in York the other day. But not everyone was impressed by the bongo-busker. "I've been sitting here for more that half-an-hour waiting for the rest of the band to join in. They're a bit slow off the mark, aren't they," complained one elderly woman.

"I know," said her pal, "and I can't make out the words to the songs either."

Updated: 08:30 Saturday, April 27, 2002