Free Tibet (with 10 ring pulls)

Tombolablog's hopes were raised and rapidly dashed by Freecycle this week. An email dropped into the inbox with the title:

"Freecycle: offered Hardcore"

Apparently, hardcore can also be the term used to describe a clay-based substance that you could use for laying a path.

:(


I'll stop talking about Freecycle soon I promise, but this message from last night was another highlight:

Hi All,

I am in desperate need of a small car that i can drive from A to B with my energetic two year old son. MOT and Roadtax can be paid, if you have any car you do not need any more please let me know.

Yeah. Good luck with that.


Anyway, back to hardcore....

Tombolablog went to Bruges and all he got me was this lousy confectionary biff

Tombolablog recently went on a weekend Eurostar jaunt to the lovely Belgian city of Bruges. I could write here about the many picturesque canals, the vast array of exotically named and headbangingly potent beers, or the stunning medieval architecture. And at some point I might actually do that. I could even recount the sickening anecdote about being spat on [that'll be what they mean by Flemish]* but I'm not sure I want to ever think of that again. Never. However, I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that I'll kick off this travelogue (should I say travelblog, hem hem) with something puerile.

Here is the shop front from one of the many chocolate & gift shops on one of the main shopping streets of Bruges:















Ay caramba! Let's take a closer look at that shall we?











Oh my! I like the way the rabbit on the right is staring so intently at that. I don't know what 'Zoete Kutjes' means but it might be fun to find out.



Who made the mould for that?






That'll be the chocolate money shot! Eh? EH?














No wonder CP looks so appalled.








* sorry Robson, there was no way I was letting that one go!

Free Barry Bulsara (with 10 ring pulls)

Tombolablog is a recent convert to the sharing world of Freecycle. I signed up as I was about to bin an old wheelie trolley bag but instead of chucking it in the canal or something*, I offered it on Freecycle and someone else found a home for it. I've been amazed by just how much is on offer though: had I needed to, I could have kitted out a house within a month. Seriously, among loads of other things, in my local area alone has been offered: beds (single, double, futon), cookers, fridge freezers, shelving units, DVD players, videos, books, clothes, vacuum cleaners...someone recently asked if anyone had a geopathic stress neutraliser going spare. Well, anyone? I'm still trying to get my hands on a lolly making set - somebody must have beaten me to that. You'd never need buy anything again. The highlight so far though, has to be this offer of boy's underpants:

"They are in very good condition as my son was actually too big for them and only wore them a few times. They are clean (no skid marks) and have been washed."

Aren't similar items available from Japanese vending machines?

* of course not

How do you like them apples?

Peppers!









Potatoes!









Tomatoes!







Runner beans!

Bird's dead revisited

Tombolablog was in the Notting Hill area of town at the weekend and decided to make a short detour to the site of a rather macabre and gruesome event from last year: the bizarre, and, to this day, unresolved hanging of a pigeon in a churchyard. If you wish, you can read the original posts here and here.

This is how the site looked on Saturday. Not surprisingly there was no sign of a skeleton still swinging from the bough.




















Yeah, alright. This is a far from interesting entry, but I was proud of the title, ok?

Ah...so you're a waffle man!

In these days of ever-increasing types and varieties of foods, eating out can be a tricky business. Foccacia, rye, soda, ciabatta, baguette.... even something as seemingly simple as selecting an accompaniment for your soup can now become a nerve-shredding, anxiety-inducing dilemma.

Hats off, then, to the Yorkshire restaurant that harks back to less complex times:

If there's a sadder sight in the world than this, I'm yet to see it

May I recommend the rather smashing dumplings?

Fnarr fnarr!

Would you care for a piece of breast, sir?

[Spotted in Derry]