Before the week is out ...

Buy this: FORGET SCRIBBLED notes surreptitiously passed between desks, today's kids communicate on-line or mobile-to-mobile. So you just try denying them an Ericsson Chatboard. These cunning mini-keyboards attach to your Ericsson mobile phone and allow you to send and receive e-mails and post messages on its special web site. Every Chatboard member also gets their own web page to personalise. The boards are aimed at the 14- to 19-year- old market, but judging by the popularity of text messaging with the City boys, some older children will be after them too.

pounds 19.99 Ericsson Chatboard from mobile phone retailers (tel: 0990 237 237; www.chatb.com)

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slottery

n; the gamble of whether a film schedule will fit in with a star's availability `slots'

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EACH YEAR the Barbican hosts a splendid event that few know about: the London Artists' Book Fair. Here various artisans express themselves in book form and you can buy the results. These expressions take on all sorts of forms - illustrations, hand-written witty phrases, scrapbooks, handmade paper within leather-bound covers. It's a very touchy-feely event, lasting three days. Artist are usually present and encourage you to touch and turn the pages. Prices range from pounds 2 to pounds 1,000 and it's the perfect place to buy unique Christmas presents. Also showing in the ground floor foyer will be 20 designer book binders showing "traditional bookbinding with a modern aesthetic"; prices there range from pounds 500 to pounds 5,000.

The London Artists' Book Fair at the Barbican Art Gallery, from 19-21 November. Admission to the Art Gallery, pounds 2.50; to the ground floor foyer: free (tel: 0171 638 8891)

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EVER SINCE Paddington Bear turned up with his suitcase, soft toys have been a well-travelled lot, but they haven't exactly had much to show for their wanderlust. Photographer David Bache has decide to solve the problem by setting up the first UK Toy Passport Office. From now on all toys can be issued with a passport, complete with nationality, name, photograph and all the usual details. The documents have even been accepted and stamped by the notorious New York immigration, so Bache expects a huge demand. Nevertheless, he promises a quick turnaround and no queues.

pounds 10 by mail order (tel: 0181 789 5589). Email: Bache.photography@virgin.net