I imagine the 20 or so daily visitors that blog.co.uk invents for this page must be anxious to know how the land lies in the world of number plates.

I have exciting news.

Like Hillary and Tenzing standing at the peak of Everest, assessing their achievement and surveying the descent, so I sit with the symbolic number 500 in the bag. Anyone who thinks that the comparison is presumptuous, think again - it only took them a few weeks to climb Everest, and I've been doing this for about five years. If anything, it is inadequate to compare the travails of a couple of glorified hill-walkers with the dedication required to look at number plates in such a compulsive, irrational way. My commemorative stamp must surely be imminent.

So now it is just back down the mountain to 999. I have seen more numbers than I need to see. Just another five years or so without getting a life and freedom will be mine.

I was watching an interview with Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook last night, an hour long programme called Songbook: Squeeze where they sat and talked about the songwriting process. I was quite surprised to see how current it looked, because they reached a point a decade or so ago when they couldn't work together any more. I knew they were getting back to tour as Squeeze for a few dates last year to promote the re-releases, but that was supposed to be it. It turns out they got on well and it appears they may work together again. Which would be lovely if it happens.

They did a version of Tempted with Glenn Tilbrook at the piano, and much as I was enjoying it there was something I couldn't place which wasn't quite right. It was only when it got to the second verse, where on the record Tilbrook takes the lead vocal for the first time, that I realised - it's one of only two songs of theirs which have the lead taken by Paul Carrack, and as much as I adore Tilbrook's voice it was Carrack that was missing. And it served to remind me that the version of Tempted on East Side Story is about as perfect a pop song as has ever been recorded.

Out of curiosity I had a browse through iTunes to see if there were many cover versions, and of course there are loads - bland versions which remove all the soul, country versions which are an abomination, jazz versions which overcook it, a folk version by Richard Thompson, a bizarre ska version by Regatta 69, even an a cappella version by a sub-Take 6 act called Rockapella... it's like a Noah's Ark of musical styles all trying to put a new slant on this peerless song. Weirdest of all there's a moribund version by Chris Difford, who I suppose at least has the right to murder his own song. And I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at a Jools Holland version - you'd think he'd have realised that the reason East Side Story is Squeeze's best album is because he's not on it.

Anyway, they all highlight the reality that once in a while a combination of music, lyric, personnel, performance and production come together and create something upon which it is simply impossible to improve.

At this point I would embed the YouTube video if I knew how, but I don't. So it's here.