Month: September 2008

First in a series of articles. It seems to play down the likelihood of a Flemish/Walloon split, but the few people I've spoken to about this (all Flemish) might not agree.

I've passed the sheet test. Hurrah!

How handy. I'm rather hoping that the addition of the juice of half a lemon will make my not-particularly-promising crab apple jelly set.

James May rides an ekranoplan. I live in (the probably forlorn) hope that ekranoplan technology might one day go mainstream – it would be a seriously cool way to cross the Channel.

One child at a time. Use a safety net. No child under 5. Hmm; try telling that to Tom when he sees a trampoline. I think we may have to be more firm in saying "no".

Interesting. Makes you wonder if those "green energy" deals really are green. Waitrose are making a big thing out of using only green energy in their stores at the moment – I wonder if the claim stands up.

This looks good. I like the way it will run on a page rather than in a post.

Robert Peston pulls Gordon Brown to pieces. Worth reading, just to see how far the man has fallen.

I find myself driving with sidelights on almost all the time now. Seems sensible, even if it does damage the environment just a little more than driving without them.

Brighton beat the world's wealthiest football club at the Withdean. Fantastic.

I might replace Phorm with this. I wonder if I can run this plugin in a page, rather than a post. I guess it also means it is time to upgrade WP (and probably install the WP auto-upgrader).

looks like I need to add this to my work website. I use Phorm to power a feedback form there, but suddenly I'm getting gazillions of nasty spam messages. Phorm is doing a good job of keeping out malicious file uploads, but not the spam.

Good advice on how to learn a language as an adult, something I keep threatening to tackle (but when? when??).

No mention of the Iberian lynx in this article, but I've long made a point of only buying wines with cork closures. Not all stores show what type of closure is used – Waitrose are strong on this point.

Growers and purveyors of apple plants grafted on a variety of rootstocks, including M27, which is the first choice for growing in a container (although that's always going to be inferior to open-ground cultivation).

Hurrah! Sounds like a great match to have watched. And I reckon Goodwin should be the next captain.

Caitlin Moran on why it is a good thing that our politicians are not like Sarah Palin. Brilliant stuff (and please don't take it as seriously as some of the commenters!).

German-made shoes. They make slippers that Hels really likes. I've just had an unsubtle comment about Christmas gifts.