The age of the pigeon is over....

Not something you see everyday thats for sure. A pelican, waddling along in the park, deciding, that instead of a nice bit of fish for his tea, he'll sample the gastronomic delights of a pigeon.

Luckily, a tourist was on hand to capture the evidence. A clash of feathery cultures, clearly.

Van is the man.....

I've spent most of this evening immersing myself in the back catalogue of Van Morrison. What an absolute genius he was in his hayday. An astonishing songwriter, a natural musician and WHAT a voice.

I was also pleasently surprised to find his 'golden period' remarkably well catered for on the marvelous youtube. Some great footage from some great live shows with some terrible haircuts. Below are a few links to some of the best stuff I found. Whether you are familiar with Van or not (well, we've all heard 'brown eyed girl'), they are worth checking out.

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=MarkoSommers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urpnB_5E4ro

Many thanks to youtube user "MarkoSommers" who's Van collection has been a pleasure to watch all evening! Good man!

Homebrew?

It is always nice to discover a beer that shares your family name.

Distant relatives? Great. A namesake who happens to be a director of The Humane Society of the United States? Positively chipper.

But nothing beats discovering that your venerable name is connected with beer. But not just any beer, oh no, this sounds like a seriously tasty example of central european jungle juice. "Brauerei Reder" from "Pfeffenhausen" sounds like the real deal to me. But where can a 20-something London dwelling suburbanite obtain such a beverage? A road trip deep into the Bavarian countryside fills me with dread, as my car is of the 1988 Nissan variety.

Will I succeed? Will I be reunited with my long lost beer-brother? who knows.