Like many of our readers, I continue to miss Gary Larson's The Far Side cartoons. Now I have 366 of them in a millennium collection brought up to date with color and appropriate historic dates which the publisher, Andrews McMeel of Kansas City, calls "a refreshingly irreverent retrospective of the last thousand years." It is ecologically correct because the calendar and the box it came in are made of recycled and recyclable paper, a new claim to me. The first cartoon shows a burning village in the background, a Viking boat beached far above the shoreline and a group of Vikings. The leader says, "Everyone can just put down their loot and plunder, and Sven here -- yes, Sven, who was in charge of reading the tide chart -- has something to say to us all." The historical note, dated 1003, says, "Vikings begin a three-year visit to the northern continent in the Western Hemisphere. Indigenous people thought it was only going to be for a couple of weeks." It is going to be a great year.

We have been reading a lot of promises about the wonderful future soon to unfold as computers take over. One idea being hailed as a miracle breakthrough in our daily lives will allow us to check our refrigerator by computer so we can know what to buy at the supermarket on our way home. If that is one of the best ideas for our bright future, I think we are in for a lot of problems, one of them being a realistic perception of what should constitute a miracle breakthrough. I have already made my choice: Keep my carefully nurtured ability to make a list and decide what should be in my refrigerator. Like warnings on cigarette packages, there should be one on such appliances. Being told what to do too often (keep within the yellow lines, don't leave things on trains, buy eggs) may cause a diminishing of traditional thinking abilities.

Today's readers are more concerned with what has disappeared rather than what might be available in the future. There are two gentlemen with cashmere coats. The misfortune of one is that it is purple. He would like to have it dyed a more conventional color. The other is distraught because on the first day that he wore his, he snagged the shoulder on a nail resulting in an unsightly tear.

Dyeing and reweaving are not unreasonable requests. Only a few years ago they were provided by most department stores and dry cleaners. No more. I suppose it is inevitable. Reweaving is labor intensive and dyeing has become unpredictable because many of today's fabrics are mixes of synthetic and natural fibers, each of which takes dye differently. Even if it is all cotton or all wool, there can be shrinking or uneven coloring, and disappointed customers may refuse to pay even after being told that it would be done on an at-your-own-risk basis.

Still, with perseverance, it is often possible to achieve success, although for both coats, the companies must see them first. The two cleaners that offered at least to consider repairs are neighborhood shops, so if you, too, need such services, check places near you. Sentakubin in Shirogane, phone (03) 5790-2327, will do reweaving. There is a free pickup service if the customer's place is not too distant. Their specialty is service. One friend asked if they could do something about her white blouses which had become rather gray. They asked for a little extra time and returned them to her sparkling white on a holiday. She had told them she would like to have them by then.

The cleaner that may be able to do the dyeing is Seven for Seven, Mita, phone (03) 3451-7659, near Azabu Juban. They explain the name: Seven is one of the lucky numbers so they doubled it. It is located on a street that somehow preserves the old Japanese feeling which has almost disappeared in this upscale part of town -- open-fronted stores, a bathhouse, a tofu maker and a street too narrow for cars which of course doesn't stop drivers from using it. While they are reluctant to recommend dyeing, they would like you to know about their fast service for cleaning, about two hours. Because results of dyeing are so unpredictable, it may have to be sent to the dyer for checking before the work will be accepted. But then, with a purple coat, one will likely be willing to take chances.