Saturday Rave: Gasman's End.

 Gosh, do we all need cheering up at the moment.

A silly old gasman called Peter

Used a match to inspect his gas heater.

Touched a leak with his light

And blew out of sight - 

And, as anyone who knows anything about poetry can tell you, he also ruined the metre.

**

(No, no, it's all right. Peter survived the experience unscathed. In fact he became famous, had his own prime-time chat show, and in the end he married the love of his life, a plumber called Max, settled down, had several sensible children, and lived happily ever after.)

Word To Use Today: metre/meter. The word meaning measuring device comes from the Old English metan. The word that describes the bumpiness of poetry comes from the Greek metron, which means measure (as in poetry).