years, its fame has spread abroad with people who are regular visitors to the Island.

That was confirmed last weekend when Mrs. Kitty Dukakis, wife of former Massachusetts Governor and Democratic Presidential Nominee Michael Dukakis, was here visiting at Chelston in Paget with her good friend, new United States Consul General Mr. Robert Farmer.

During a wet and windy Saturday morning tour of St. George's, which included visits to St. Peter's Church and the National Trust's Tucker House, Kitty Dukakis was anxious to do a little shopping. And shop she did, especially for a young granddaughter.

But on the top of her shopping list was Outerbridge's Sherry Peppers. "I have to buy them for Michael,'' she said. "He's run out. Michael got to love fish chowder when we were here before.'' In she went to Terry Roberts' gift shop beside the square to buy not one but two bottles.

Then she confided that the famous man can only cook two things: "One of them is Bermuda fish chowder and it doesn't taste the same without sherry peppers.'' *** Life goes on at the US Naval Air Station as a job ad in yesterday's Royal Gazette showed.

Readers might have thought some local company had already struck a deal with Government to set up business on vacated land at the base when the Navy withdraws next year as scheduled.

The ad called for a chartered fishing boat and captain, a Tang Soo Do Korean Martial Arts instructor and an aerobics and fitness instructor willing to teach lunch and evening classes.

Bids were to be submitted to Room 302 of the USNAS no later that October 20.

Some kind of special-interest fun centre? Not quite! The base's Department of Moral Welfare and Recreation was just continuing its task of looking out for its personnel.

"It's tense times for the people on the base. It's not fun closing down,'' recreation director Mr. Jeff Stadler explained. "We want to continue to offer as many positive outlets for the people in their free time as we can.'' He noted the base had contracted charter fishing boats for the last four years for its employees' use. Before that, NAS had its own charter fishing boat.

*** The Royal Gazette's Let's Fix It column has been going for about six years now and is carried along by tips from concerned citizens about the look of the Island.

We have shown all sorts of dangers and eyesores from overgrown foliage to garbage piled high and uncollected.

But a call we received this week beats them all.

A man, who every day travels down Stowe Hill on his way to Hamilton, finally couldn't take it anymore. He called Let's Fix It to "clear up something that's been left too long''.

Just after the first bend on Stowe Hill, he said, there's a black and white spot on the road. It's a cat. Dead flat in the pavement. Been there for years.

Not really believing him, Let's Fix It went to the spot out of, er, curiosity.

Sure enough, there flat in the road, arms outstretched in its last desperate reach for safety, lay the black and white cat. Unfixable.

*** The apparent decline in education standards has been going on for as long as most people can remember. Horror stories abound, of students graduating not knowing how to write, of children unable to add and subtract without a calculator.

But where does the decline begin? Television? Bad teaching? Uh, bad grammar in newspapers? A letter this week to parents of Purvis Primary School pupils indicates how deep-seated the problems are. It was penned by the school's deputy principal.

Although Bermuda schools teach English spelling, the letter was full of Americanisms: `program' instead of `programme', `personalize' instead of `personalise'.

In addition, the writer clearly did not understand the use of the comma, which in this case was used unnecessarily to separate words in sentences that didn't need separating.

Example: "The purpose of the fund-raiser this year, is to raise money to purchase educational supplies and equipment for various areas.

'' *** Just in case you're inspired to follow the example of Mr. Noel Lathan in yesterday's page one photograph and pick a large coconut from the grounds of the Botanical Gardens, read this message faxed to us by Miss Sarah Vallis, the Gardens' curator, just hours after the newspaper hit the streets: "We have a number of signs posted in the Botanical Gardens Arboretum that ask people not to pick the fruit. They are there for people to see and for scientific research to determine their suitability to the Bermuda climate.'' Miss Vallis cited clause 3.d in The Bermuda National Parks Act which says: "No person shall, in any protected area...remove, uproot, destroy or injure any tree, shrub or plant or break any bough or pluck any flower or leaf, or dig, cut or take any turf, soil, gravel, sand or other substance.'' *** Publishing is such a difficult business to control what with the myriad bits of information that can go wrong.

Take this year's programme for the Omega Gold Cup Match Racing tournament now underway in the Hamilton Harbour. Page six features "A Special Welcome'' from Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan, Omega president Mr. Gerald Batt and Royal Bermuda Yacht Club commodore Mr. Brian Billings.

Beneath their respective paragraphs of welcome, the page features their signatures over their typed names. But what's this? The Premier's signature is on a sticker. Ever curious, we peel it back to find on the page the signature of one John Thompson.

Bermuda Publishing president Mr. Kevin Stevenson admits: "We screwed up. It's the kind of mistake that happens in the age of computers. Mr. Thompson's signature was in the system and just got misplaced.

"But everybody loves the magazine.'' Mr. Stevenson said once the mistake was spotted stickers with the Premier's signature were printed and applied to all 3,000 copies.

Who put the stickers on? "Why the president of the company, of course.'' Dukakis loves fish chowder Bermuda style! PHOTO MRS. KITTY DUKAKIS -- Her husband Michael loves Bermuda fish chowder.