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FOR 40 years, manufacturers Algalite of Milan have been producing paint and plaster products forexterior and interior use, preserving ancient buildings while keeping faith with the original designs. The interior paints have been available in Britain for a while. Now the Algantico range of extraordinarily hard-wearing water-based stucco paints is being imported. For further information contact ROS Marketing, 140 Battersea Park Road, London SW11 4NB (071-720 8618).

EVEN committed vegetarians of long-standing can experience a pang when exposed to the whiff of frying bacon. Waitrose has stepped into the breach with their new bags of Bacon Flavoured Bits. They look and taste like crisply-done bacon - but are made of soya. They are 75p for a 100g pack and are on sale in the stores' fruit and vegetable departments.

IF YOU can find a road speed-trap not already on the London Speed Trap Map, The Clever Map Company will send you pounds 5. Their updated version pinpoints more than 50 new speed-trap and red-light camera sites all over the capital. Even the police think it's a good idea. 'We welcome any means of securing further compliance with speed limits and automatic traffic signs,' said Commander David Ray of New Scotland Yard. Projects in the pipeline at the Clever Map Company include a National Speed Trap Map to be published in 1994. The London Speed Trap Map costs pounds 4.25 and is available from good bookshops.

TRICK or treaters can horrify the neighbours at Hallowe'en with the Hasbro Monster Face. Each skull-mask comes with 30 repellent extra features, including a supply of yellow slime which, when poured into the brain, drips from the nostrils. A concealed, easy-to-use attachment lets the wearer shift his eyes and pulsate his boils. It costs around pounds 30 from toy shops.

GOOD value bras have long been a Marks & Spencer standard line. Now they're moving into brassicas too - pretty, mauve-edged ornamental cabbage pot-plants. They are selling at pounds 1.99 each in 100 of the larger stores. The plants need not linger indoors; they can be bedded out now and their colours will become even sharper once autumn cold snaps begin.

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