LOOK at the state of this! The former garage on York's Foss Islands Road looks like a bad tooth aching to be pulled out. And it's been like this for more than 20 years.

Fifteen years ago, tiles began flying off the top in high winds so the whole roof was removed.

In February this year pieces of masonry began dropping off into the street before City of York Council stepped in and told its owners, Manchester-based Green Property UK Ltd - note the word Green - to make it safe for passers-by and traffic below.

Even today the ruined building remains a festering carbuncle on York, especially since it overlooks the historic city walls and Walmgate Bar - both magnets for tourists.

But I can reveal that the ugly building's days may be numbered. Green Property UK have submitted planning proposals to build a mix of about 60 houses and flats on waste ground at the back of the Rose And Crown and Waggon And Horses pubs in nearby Lawrence Street.

Joe Higginson, of Green Property, says: "We have applied for planning permission for the homes. Whether we develop the homes or sell on the site with planning permission remains to be seen. We have just replied to certain queries raised by a traffic impact assessment so the ball is in the City of York Council's court."

But what about the terraced homes either side of the shell of a building? Will they come down too? Joe Higginson could not enlighten me about that.

But he did say he thought the whole site would be in the process of being transformed by this time next year.

Meanwhile, I invite Turpin readers to send me details, preferably with a pic, of 'my favourite York eyesore' and I'll give the one I deem to be the worst five super CDs.

Send your entries to: Dick Turpin, Horrible Eyesores Competition, PO Box 29, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN by June 29 and you could be listening to sweet music for blasting a blot on our cityscape.

u WHEN a Yorkshire Museum tour guide asked a group of visiting school children if they could name the patron saint of England, one little window-breaker piped up with alarming alacrity: "Tony Blair."

u A CLOSED pub is one of the sorriest urban sights... quickly followed by a fish'n'chip shop where the frying oil has gone cold.

So it's great to report that Jenny's Chinese chippie at the bottom of Lawrence Street, York, opens on Monday lunchtime after months of inactivity due to a fire earlier this year.

Jenny says: "It's great to be back. We will not be cooking Chinese food at first - ta ma de, that's Mandarin for golly gosh - but we have not ruled it out all together later on."

Welcome back, Jenny.

u WHIPS, blow-up dolls and knickers are not normally associated with filing but, according to a new survey, one in 25 employees in York business have a sex-related object in their filing cabinet.

The National Filing Survey, conducted by document management specialist Kardex Systems (UK), found that four per cent of the 1,000 companies interviewed had items ranging from condoms and corsets to handcuffs in their files.

In addition, nearly 20 per cent kept something to nibble on - a wedding cake, a pork pie and Chinese herbal tablets were among foodstuffs found.

Nick Tuggey, marketing director at Kardex, says: "Looking at these figures you could conclude that sex and food are vying to take the place of the nation's number one obsession!"

Top Ten Filing Cabinet Findings

(taken from The National Filing Survey 2000)

1. Skeleton, wearing a medallion inscribed "World Hide And Seek Champion 1895"; 2. Santa Claus; 3. Shark's jaw bone; 4. Rubber chicken; 5. Brewing kit (in use); 6. Bag of aggregate; 7. Mink stole; 8. Golf club; 9. Whisky; 10. Bra.

u NEWSPAPERS are a great source of fun, even when they don't mean to be. Here are some headline howlers:

Drunk gets nine months in violin case

Iraqi head seeks arms

Panda mating fails, vet takes over

Plane too close to ground, crash probe told

Stolen painting found by tree

Two sisters reunited after 18 years in checkout counter

War dims hope for peace

Red tape holds up new bridge

Typhoon rips through cemetery - hundreds dead

Kids make nutritious snacks

Hospital sued by seven foot doctors

u THE Money Channel, Britain's first TV channel dedicated to helping viewers to wade their way through the moolah maze, has come up with a really mean idea to help you save cash.

They say: "The over 75s now receive a free colour TV licence. Why not save yourself £100 and move granny in to live with you? In addition, for every pensioner you take into your home you will receive an extra £100 towards your winter fuel bill."

Aptly enough the show is fronted by ancient pop star Adam Faith who once, aptly, had a hit with What Do You Want (If You Don't Want Money?).

A steady supply of pliant pensioners, presumably.

u FOOTBALL is the finest game ever invented, accept no substitute. So, as Euro 2000 kicks off tonight with the Swedes hoping to bash the Belgians, I make this prediction. England have about as much chance of winning the tournament as you have of striking a match on wet tripe. But I hope they do!

u ENTRIES surged in by the sackful for my Where Is Raffles Hotel? competition to win a free night for two with dinner in the Crab Manor Hotel, Asenby, near Thirsk.

This is the hotel that themes its rooms on those of some of the top sleeperies in the world.

When the entries trickled to a stop I found myself saying congratulations to Marie Gell of Aldwark, York, who correctly replied that Raffles is in Singapore.

When asked who she would be taking to Crab Manor, a delighted Marie laughed: "My husband... if he's very, very good."