HERE at The Press, we love nothing better than being put on hold while organisations we are trying to contact "put us through to the best person to take our call".

You might think that, as diary writers and reporters at the sharp end of local journalism, we spend our lives tapping out witty prose, cutting the world around us down to size.

But actually, we spend most of our time hanging on the phone. This process might get a little dispiriting for some people. You phone up the company you want to speak to, and a cheery receptionist asks: "And who shall I say is calling?"

It's The Press, you reply, in equally bright tones. A deep sigh on the other end of the call invariably follows this information. "I'll see if I can find someone to speak to you," comes the weary response. Then a wait, a long wait, and lots and lots of hold music.

This Diary reporter, having had reason to call several GPs' surgeries in York - which, it has to be said, don't usually fall into the above category but are by contrast very friendly and lovely - has noticed a funny thing. The hold music you tend to get is cheery, very cheery. Some might say, cheesy. We wonder, if we were a patient, would we want to be sung to by Frank Sinatra while waiting to hear the results of a blood test?

As for York Hospital, the list of 1950s classics which hum through their hold music is positively legendary. The Diary was left crooning away like Old Blue Eyes himself by the time we got through to the department we wanted.

But what would the ideal hold music for a medical establishment be? Why not write to the Diary with your ideas? As long as it's not the classic hit by The Verve: Drugs Don't Work.

Drive to educate petrol heads

NEWS reaches The Diary that young petrol heads in North Yorkshire are to be given a motoring magazine producing by road safety officers.

The publication, produced by North Yorkshire County Council, is being given to schools, colleges and "other venues where young people congregate" to hammer home a safe driving message.

A spokesman says that First Car magazine is "particularly aimed at young drivers aged 16 to 24".

The Diary wonders whether council chiefs are condoning underage driving, or perhaps the 16-year-olds in question are merely practising their skills on some of the county's miles of farmland.

In any case, the magazine promises advice on insurance, road safety and "accessories for vehicles".

So will First Car be offering young boy racers details of how to "pimp their rides" with the latest sub-woofers, alloys and tinted windows?

The Diary is certainly waiting eagerly for the first issue.