Notes:

1. The haiku is probably the easiest form of poetry for the beginner. If you don’t usually write poems, why not give it a try?
2. I am not an active football fan — i.e., I do not attend matches. I’m more of an armchair fan; stuff the match — just look up the results on teletext later.
3. And that last line is sure to cause controversy. As former Liverpool FC manager Bill Shankly once said, “Football’s not a matter of life and death … it’s more important than that.”

But it did prove one thing: I’m one heck of a worrier. Why else would I have suggested, on looking out onto our back garden, that “perhaps we should put a cold frame or a cloche over our weeds”, or “protect our delicate baby nettles with a fleece“.

However, besides being a worrier I am also (no surprises here) a real meanie. Hence, there’s no way I’m forking out (little gardening joke there. Get it?) for ‘proper’ horticultural fleece when I can save money by using a fleece I already own.

Let’s just hope our fashion-conscious exotic weeds don’t realise they’re wearing a surplus hoodie.

This might be a good time to point out, for the benefit of anyone else who is about to purchase the boxed set, that the discs you buy might not be arranged in the best viewing order. In fact, they might not even be packaged in a sensible order at all. So, before you even insert the first disk, go and get the Babylon 5 master list. We cannot guarantee, however, that it will help you to learn to speak Vorlon.

Puzzled? Let me explain…

Having let it languish on the shelves for a couple of years, I’ve just started reading John Todd’s ‘Race for the World‘, and it’s already thrown up some amazing facts, including this bit where the author is describing his journey through Canada:

The single disappointment was Niagara Falls, which had been turned off while some repairs were done. [A] large notice informed me that this was the opportunity of a lifetime, to stand where normally thousands of tonnes of water cascaded down.

But what if you’d actually come all that way just to see the water?

I’ve never heard of Niagara Falls being ‘turned off’. It’s never cropped up in a TV general knowledge quiz or trivia book or anywhere; once heard, it’s something you’re unlikely to forget. And, in case you doubt, it’s also absolutely true.

When you get thirsty, there’s nothing better than a cool refreshing drink of fruit juice. (Well, except for a good strong cup of tea, maybe.) Try to find a soft drink that doesn’t contain glucose-fructose syrup (aka high fructose corn syrup outside Britain) and you will have a tough challenge on your hands.

Belvoir cordials, however, do seem to be free of all those nasty obesity-inducing supergloops found in so many other products. They not only taste sublime but also leave you without any sickly-sweet aftertaste.

Disclaimer: Unlike so many quasi-commercial blogs on the ‘Net, this is not an advertisement disguised as praise. We are not employed by Belvoir to advertise their drinks. And neither are we receiving free samples of delicious cordials as an inducement to say nice things about them. Frankly, we says it ‘cos we means it.

(…although, as per usual, if anyone wants to send us a crate full of elderflower or apple ‘n’ pear cordial we’d prolly be far too polite to refuse.)

Regarding your blog about William McBeath in Canwick Road cemetery. A group of Rangers supporters have purchased a 50 year lease on the plot, and a fund of nearly £2500 was raised for a headstone. Work is underway on the headstone and a funeral service will be held for William. I was the one who placed the plaque there, and the flag.

Thank you for writing about William.

Anyone unfamiliar with the story can find the full details about William McBeath in that earlier post.

Update: [15 Feb] Courtesy of reader John Hamilton, and for anyone who would like to see it but maybe cannot get there in person, here’s a photo of William McBeath’s headstone. (Click the pic for the full-size version.)

The price has gone up a bit since these tickets were issued. Adult admission is now £11.81, so remember to take out a small mortgage if you’re thinking of going. Oh and by the way — don’t feed the bears!

It’s funny though: this must be the only magpie in the country who, barely five minutes after settling down for the evening, has had his pic splashed — thanks to Shana — all over Facebook. What will he say to his fellow magpies tomorrow? ‘Hey guys. Guess what: I’ve been poked!’