In fact, it is a brilliant idea, and one which will improve the city centre immeasurably.

Unfortunately, it means some disruption for businesses currently located there. One of those affected is, of course, the Post Office which has its main city outlet there.

I doubt many people would be happy if the post office was relocated outside the heart of the city.

Yet bosses say this could happen, and they are pointing the figure of blame firmly in the direction of the city council.

But the Post Office knew when its lease was due to expire and should have had a fall-back plan ready.

And playing the "we're so vital to the community'' card leaves a bitter taste. Yes, it is, but that hasn't stopped it damaging hundreds of small communities throughout the country by axing village and local post offices.

Now Post Office bosses talk of creating a Crown post office "fitting of Peterborough's status''.

Yet before there was talk of demolition, where was the investment in the existing post office? Why hasn't something been done about the ridiculously long queues that often snake outside the building?

Your local supermarket won't tolerate queues that long, so why does the Post Office?

My experience of the staff who work there is that they are first class.

I've always found them to be pleasant, helpful and efficient.

So my message to post office bosses is, find your- selves a first-class location for your first-class staff and don't give us a second- class service.

Related: Gallery: Is this the future of Peterborough city centre?
Exciting plans to open up the city centre to get public airing. 28/05/08

Thanks for cheering me up, Wayne
It was a dull and dreary bank holiday, and then it got worse when my boys, Leeds United, lost in the play-off final.

It was, I don't mind admitting, a bit glum in Thornton Towers.

But even at my lowest point I was able to raise a smile, and for this I'm indebted to Cllr Wayne "the Reverend" Fitzgerald. Because when I was at my lowest ebb, I just re-read his sermon, er sorry, I mean letter, in Friday's ET.

Cllr Fitzgerald was more than a bit miffed at the adverse reaction to the

Tory-run council's decision to elect convicted benefit cheat Gul Nawaz as deputy mayor, and drew on the teachings of Christianity to give the critics a rare old ear-bashing.

Thanks to his letter, we penitents learned the decision to elect Cllr Nawaz was taken "despite the fact that we (the ruling Tory group) knew we would attract some bad publicity for our act of kindness and fairness to all''.

Strange then, that if these kind souls were braced for bad publicity, they should attempt to stop The ET running the story.

Asking us all to remember that to err is human, to forgive is divine, Cllr

Fitzgerald said those critical of the decision should hang their heads in shame.

And, as well as members of the public (who in Wayne's world are also known as "others standing from the sidelines hurling abuse''), Wayne turned his fire on "some individuals from this very newspaper''.

I don't know if yours truly is in Cllr Fitzgerald's line of fire, but if I am, I'm greatly cheered to know that no matter what scurrilous nonsense I might write about the local Tory party, they will forgive me.

It's enough to make you weep
I find it hard to have too much sympathy with John Terry after he missed a vital penalty in the Champions League final, but I'm certainly not going to knock him for shedding a few tears.

A football game has only reduced me to tears once – mind you, I was only 10.

It was when Leeds were beaten in an FA Cup final by Terry's team Chelsea in 1970. Wing wizard Eddie Gray had single-handedly played the Blues off the park in the first game at Wembley but it ended in a draw. In the replay, he was kicked off the park, and Leeds lost.

I was inconsolable, but I don't recall getting a letter of sympathy from the Prime Minister.

Astonishingly, Terry received one from Gordon Brown.

What on earth was Mr Brown thinking?

Hasn't he got enough to worry about?

Does the Prime Minister send personal letters of sympathy to relatives of patients who have contracted superbugs in NHS hospitals? To people who lose their jobs as the economy teeters towards meltdown?

To all the families whose sons are taken from them by knife-wielding thugs?

For goodness sake, Gordon, get on with the job you are paid to do.

Urban foxes and Kylie's 40th

Thanks to everybody who responded to my plea for advice about the mystery pooper that has adopted my back garden as a toilet.

The consensus was that the culprit, as I suspected, is an urban fox. One reader, Lazy Daisy, informed me that if the offending deposits smell of creosote, it is definitely a fox.

Well, Lazy, as soon as I can persuade My Special Friend to stick her nose in it – for which normally she needs no encouragement – I'll have my answer.

In any case, since I wrote about it last week, Basil, as inevitably I've dubbed him, has not returned. Perhaps he's a reader and was concerned at my threat to pepper him with shotgun pellets.

And talking of foxes... happy 40th birthday, Kylie. Yes, I know as links go, that's terrible, but I'm sure those of you who shave in the morning will agree it was worth it for the picture.