As I drove into Wycombe this week, I followed a car that sported not nodding dogs in the back window, (remember them?) but a CD dangling from the rear view mirror.

I wasted a few precious moments of my life wondering about this strange auto-fashion accessory.

Was it a song of particular significance to the driver 'Baby, you can drive my car', 'Took my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry' (and just what does that MEAN?) 'Keep your hands on the wheel, keep your eyes on the road'? Was it a souvenir of a lost romance? Or to remind him to buy the latest Julio Iglesias CD?

By one of those bizarre coincidences, later the same day I read that an American professor had been in London attending a conference at which he was to speak on the proliferation of urban myths via the Internet. You know the sort of thing - alligators in the sewers of New York, grannies who die abroad and when the family decide to wrap her and strap her to the roof of the car to take back to Blighty for a decent English funeral, the car is stolen and Granny's corporeal remains are never seen again. There is the one that warns of cataclysmic explosions in petrol stations, triggered by the use on the forecourt of mobile phones which, the myth goes, generate tiny electrical sparks. More recently there has been the cautionary tale of the young man on holiday who is lured to a hotel room by a glamorous siren. The next thing he remembers is waking up in considerable pain to discover a fresh scar on the side of his body, all neatly stitched up. One of his kidneys has been removed for transplant. All sensational stuff and all hokum.

The dangling CD, I discovered, is another manifestation of this phenomenon.

The rays emitted by the radar detectors used by police to catch speeding motorists are somehow supposed to be collected, deflected, and reflected to sender without evidence of the offender's wrongdoing. This load of old tosh started in Washington, apparently, and within two weeks every taxi driver in Rome had one. As, indeed, did the car in front of me.

My journey on this particular day was to attend the Annual Meeting of Wycombe Central Aid - a charity to which I would like to draw to your attention. For years my contact with them has been a remarkable local man named Tom Smith, recently awarded the OBE, (and quite right too, it's the least he deserves) whose fascinating and detailed memories over four score and more years would fill as many volumes.

He drives a small van around the area collecting unwanted furniture, clothes, toys, etc. which are supplied to, or generate income to help, the elderly, the poor and the less fortunate who can also receive advice, help and financial support where necessary. Tom being physically infirm himself, his van has been specially adapted to enable him to help others, but wasn't that always the way?

If you wish to have large unwanted items of furniture collected, phone (01494) 443459, small items (01494) 441520. If you have a student flat to furnish and want to do so cheaply, while helping a worthwhile cause at the same time, make an appointment to visit the Furniture Project on Tuesday or Thursday mornings between 9.30am and 11am.

Call (01494) 535890 for more information