Pancakes!

Unless I am much mistaken, it's Shrove Tuesday in a couple of days, one of the vanishingly few bits of the Christian ceremonial calendar I like to observe, by ritually attempting to create an image of the face of Yeshweh Carpenter on disks of slightly scorched batter. Failed efforts are destroyed by means of ingestion.

It occurred to me that others might wish to join me in so doing.

So, if you're at a loose end on Tuesday evening, feel free to drop round and share a pancake or three with me. Do please drop me a line to let me know, so I have an idea how many to expect. I shall procure additional supplies of lemon juice and sugar, and have jam and chocolate spread and suchlike laid in; heathens and Colonials who wish maple syrup or other aberrant toppings should bring their own.

I daresay there'll be some alcohol involved too. I have spirits but not a lot of beer, so BYOB.

In the unlikely event of lots of people mailing me and going "yay!" I'll ask a few of you to bring pans and ingredients, too. :¬)

So... See You Next Tuesday?

They say travel broadens the mind/So I went over the falls in a barrel

Spot the song lyric. I quoted it elsewhere recently.

It has been a weekend of unexpected pleasures. Friday I met up with mr_flay, jfs, augeas, sneerpout, mr_tom, the lovely Laura WINOLJ and Tiffany (who is, but whose ID I didn't catch) and others in TPTMNBN. After this, many of us wandered off to "ROCK at Astoria 2Mean Fiddler" (definite articles, who needs 'em?), which we more or less stumbled across. £6 or £5 with a flyer, but helpfully, the bouncers on the door were handing out flyers. Very considerate of them. Ed and Giles are wusses but the rest of us stayed on 'til 3. It wasn't a great rock club but it was quite fun - a repeat visit is worth contemplating.

Saturday I rook myself off up to Cambridge for groliffe¹ & Caro's party. (Happy birthday, Caro!) I was, in a shocking development, slightly late, but while in the local Coop buying some caffeine-free Coke as mixer for my rapidly-becoming-traditional party tipple of a bottle of bourbon, I was discovered by bugshaw and Barbara, who escorted me to the do. Good natter with coth and a briefer one with Brian, caught up wth esteemed hosts and other people I see all too infrequently, including Bug's other half major_clanger. Austin's been inviting me to parties up there for years and this is the first time I've gone. It was worth it.

Barbara woke me at 11:30 Sunday, distinctly bleary and sniffly due to a quite inordinate number of cats in the house. Certainly not the Jim Beam, perish the thought. I accepted her kind offer of a lift back to London, but alas, the traffic was our undoing; we got snarled up for a couple of hours, making me some 3h late for lunch in Beckton with jhaelan, a man of saintly patience. He had vegetarian fajitas ready to prepare, and damned fine they were too. This man knows how to wield a chili. I merely go for maximum pain, myself, James for the slow-building burn. Delicious. Some hours of pleasant natter followed, before a brisk hop down to Croydon for my habitual Sunday evening drinkie, where I was interrogated about Dublin. Will write about it soon, honest. Really I will.

Actually, mention of that reminds me of something. I think it's time for my first-ever poll...

---

¹ With profuse apologies for my forgetfulness.

A poll on behalf of the lovely Caitríona

She needs the heights and weights of 15 men for a project she's doing at college. However, she is too bashful (or forgetful, or something) to wonder around asking people. So, I'm asking you for her.

Honest, factual figures only, please, though your names will not be used if you wish. Shout if you want a pseudonym.

Males only, please.

TIA!

Right, that's enough. Got 15 now, including me. Many thanks all, especially random passer-by ___chris___ who gave us the maximum height at 202cm, which must rival even childeric. Results manually tabulated, plotted in XL2K and even threw in a regression analysis for a laugh. I can probably find a way to post the graph if anyone's hugely curious or alternatively just DIY.

Cheers!

[Poll #252690]