THESE days members of the same family can be scattered all over the world.

So how do you keep in touch? Ask Elaine Curtis, York's Cyber Granny.

Elaine and husband Alan became proud grandparents for the third time five weeks ago when little Jack was born.

And he was little. He weighed in at 5lb 9oz after being born six weeks prematurely.

Although a bit of a shock, this did allow Elaine, drugs and community liaison manager at the Safer York Partnership, to be there.

Her daughter Nova and son-in-law Jez live in Epsom, Surrey.

But Nova just happened to be in York, so she and her mum could go shopping for baby clothes, when she went into labour.

"I had to ring Jez at three in the morning and say 'get your arse here you're going to be a dad!" said Elaine.

After two weeks in York Hospital's special care baby unit - "they were fantastic", Elaine said - Jack was allowed home.

It's a long round trip to Surrey. So in between visits, Elaine and Alan are keeping in touch by webcam.

The Epsom webcam is attached to a laptop so they can see Jack in different rooms in the house.

"It's nice to be able to see him," Elaine said. "When he gets a bit older he'll know who we are."

Not only that "we can even babysit for them".

She was joking.

ANOTHER nomination for the Diary's search for York's worst eyesore.

"Here's a great tip for anyone tut-tutting with distaste at the inappropriate mass and brutalism of the Stonebow Building in York: for a good example of something truly hideous, just turn around," emails Chris Wood, of Portland Street, York.

"Why hasn't anyone complained about the telephone exchange?

"It is a big, dull block, fashioned out of even worse brutalistic tendancies - they'll probably claim its design has "practical" ramifications but it is stunningly grim Seventies - and how on earth (and especially in York) was that horrific mast allowed on top?

"Perhaps, as a mast rather than a solid structure, it circumvents the rather prosaic requirement that it should be lower than the height of the Minster nave, but why does it have to be so pig-ugly?

"There has to be an ideal opportunity to construct a more appropriate tower here.

"Why not an elegant faux-Gothic stone monument, designed and constructed by the brighter stars in York's science and arts heritage sectors, based on the design (and original intentions) of the lantern tower of All Saints... with a latticework of galleries in which all those aerials can be positioned discretely, camouflaged or even placed out of sight?

"And put a viewing platform on top."

POOR old Sky TV. What with the BBC and ITV broadcasting Euro 2004 for free, Channel 4 doing an excellent terrestrial job with the Test cricket and the Beeb back at Wimbledon next week, there's not a lot of sport left for the satellite broadcaster.

Good to see that schedulers are thinking creatively then. The Diary's eye was caught by a programme coming up on Sky One next month.

It is a documentary about the strange things sports commentators say in the heat of the moment.

Brilliantly, the guide tells us, "Big Ron Atkinson will be on hand to provide a course in 'Ronglish'."

As Big Ron was sacked by ITV for making racist remarks about a Chelsea player last season, that is bound to be illuminating.

And the name of the programme? When Commentators Go Crazy.

Write to: The Diary, Chris Titley, The Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York YO1 9YN

Email diary@ycp.co.uk

Telephone (01904) 653051 ext 337

Updated: 10:02 Monday, June 21, 2004