Where Was I? #1,000

[goodgoalie]

Can't believe today's puzzle is the 1,000th - I must have tackled most of those! Eight answers required, but not that tricky, and I don't really fancy Sri Lanka anyway...

[Etch]

Well my paper cutting of the puzzle dated 19 May 1996 is 1,128 weeks old (and that wasn't the first one I'd seen) so a claim that today's is only the 1,000th seems dubious to me!

[goodgoalie]

Blimey, Etch, that's impressive! Do you keep them all? Was it a postcard to Leighton Buzzard to enter?

[Etch]

I've only kept the one cutting, tucked into the relevant page of The Shell Guide to England, because the setting is close to where I live. Entries were to WHERE WAS I?, The Sunday Times, P O Box 6884, London E2 8SS, so before the Leighton Buzzard address came into use.

[Etch]

The earliest puzzle I have found online is this one, that dates from 12 April 1998 and uses the Leighton Buzzard address:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/uk.rec.competitions/fb2_6M02z-s/WJMdyA3MIlcJ

About a year ago I used the same source to extend my collection of "Where Was I?" Word documents, that I had started in June 2010. Prior to that, I used to write answers to the various clues on either the paper's Travel section (only the aforementioned one was kept) or a print of the online version (which I did keep). My collection is now only a few short of the 1,000 mark!

[goodgoalie]

That's interesting, Etch. Good to know there's someone who's been enjoying this puzzle even longer than I have! I have a much-used Blue Guide to England (now out of print, I think) given to me by my ex for Christmas 1999, in which she'd written: 'Sundays are now an excuses-free zone!'
Do you agree that the puzzles are shorter and not as interesting as they used to be? I wonder of Chris Fautley has done them from the very beginning....
PS Did once win a copy of a 'Rough Guide', back when two were given as runner-up prizes