Funny Cartoon

Thinking about college made me think about this cartoon by Dave Walker:

What do you get when you cross a drunken Swann with a trapped cat?

An amusing court case?

I know drink driving is no laughing matter, but in this case I do confess to a small titter. It appears that England spin bowler Graeme Swann was on his way to Asda to obtain screwdrivers to free his cat when he was stopped by the police. It seems he was over the alcohol limit at the time. 

Police interest was sparked not by his wayward driving, but by the presence of his flashy car in an area where there had been recent burglary incidents. From what I've read, the cat was fine in the end. 

29 days to go - contract on the house sorted out today.

Monday roundup

Some blogs I follow have a Friday roundup, but a lot seems to happen over over the weekend, and I don't have time to cover it all in full detail. So here's my first Monday roundup:

Corrupt Formula 1 - I'm not an F1 fan, and this is part of the reason why. Call me naive, but I thought the point of a competitive race was to see who comes across the line first, with all competitors having given their all to do so. Shame on Ferrari!

Howzat - There's an inherent risk involved in watching a cricket match live. If the batsman has a real heave, it's possible that you could be struck by the ball, wherever you are in the crowd. A couple of cricket fans at a Sussex game must have wondered what was going on when they saw a meteorite hurtling out of the sky in their direction! It landed just in front of them, and no-one was injured.

RIP Hurricane Higgins - After a battle with cancer, Alex Higgins has died. Snooker is a game where the exceptional characters stand out, and Higgins was one of these. I remember watching snooker on my grandparents' TV on a Saturday afternoon, and even as a child, I could see that Higgins had something extra. Why does it seem to be that the brightest stars in our culture are often troubled in their private lives?

BBC News app - I've been waiting for this for a long time, and finally it's here. I have to say, though, I'm not convinced. Of course, it's slick and quick, and I do like the streaming live news, but the selection of stories is too restrictive for my tastes. I like to ferret around on the BBC news website, so only being presented with the top stories isn't quite what I want. This is why I don't regularly watch TV news - it's too filtered.

Royal Flickr stream - You can't accuse the British Monarchy of not engaging with new media, and I think this Flickr stream is a good innovation for an institution that is seeking to maintain public support. Maybe the CofE should take note. I'm not suggesting a Synod Flickr stream or anything, but we don't see much like this from the CofE - another institution seeking to maintain public support.

CofE app - h/t to the Church Mouse for this one. Having just criticised the CofE for not engaging with the internet and new media, they have issued a new app called myDiocese. It's a good start, and it has the much requested daily prayer feed (thankyou!). I have, however, had contact with the developers over the formatting of the offices - they aren't very legible at the moment due to the formatting inherited from the CofE feed. I'm assured that they are working on this, so I'll look out for an update. The app is being developed by the folks behind the methodist app I have mentioned earlier. This is a good start, and I hope they continue to work on it. 

Fame for Newport - If you haven't already seen the internet phenomenon about Newport, you have to go and look. h/t to the whole internet community for this one - it's everywhere, and I can't list all of the places I've seen it!

Pringle jumpers

I came across this animation via Dave Walker. Very Good!

That would be an ecumenical matter

Mike Peatman is obviously not quite busy enough yet in his new role! He's found the time to pen a rather witty Father Ted style summary of the Pope's offer to accommodate some of our more conservative brothers. Go and take a look!

A fine win for England

England's victory over Australia was a great one! The top order scored runs, the tail-enders stuck around and the bowling attack was accurate and vicious. My hero Jimmy Anderson stuck at his task, in the considerable shadow of his Lancastrian colleague.

A note of caution ought to be sounded, though. The Aussies were under par! Their bowling attack was lacking in accuracy and consistency. Their batsmen collapsed (uncharacteristically) in the first innings. We shouldn't be counting on the same thing happening at Edgbaston, Headingly and the Oval.

Also, Freddie may not limp all the way to the Oval, Pietersen is going to see a specialist, Broad isn't there yet (with the ball) and we don't have a performing number 3 batsman. So we're not in a secure position!

I don't want to rain on parades though, and I enjoyed this post that I came across courtesy of David Keen; here's an extract from a liturgy for the defeat of the Aussies:

Archdruid: Haddin may last for the night

All: But Freddie striketh in the morning.

Archdruid: We have waited for many generations. Our parents told us of the day when the English beat the Aussies at Lords. Who could believe what has been revealed before our very eyes, courtesy of Sky Sports and the BBC Website?

All: Truly wonders are seen. Flowers have appeared in the earth. The time of singing hath come. And the voice of Henry Blofeld is heard in the land.

Archdruid: A reading from the Book of Aggers.

Hnaef: And Blofeld said unto him "My dear old thing - verily a pigeon flieth across the ground, and the number of red buses is nigh unto four score that we have seen since last Thursday. And lo - a plane passeth on its way from Heathrow. Maybe it carrieth holidaymakers unto the city of Rome, or even unto Athens or Jerusalem. Don't the trees look nice in the sunlight?" And indeed, as Blofeld rambled on, the English team smote the Aussies one last time and walked from the field rejoicing. But Blowers noticed not. And great was the wailing and gnashing of teeth, in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and even unto Earls Court.

One I meant to post about but didn't... catch the pigeon!

I've been meaning to post a a link to this clip of a Lancashire T20 game where Jaques Rudolph managed to bring down a pigeon with a return throw from the deep. I had 2 immediate reactions: 1) Poor pigeon, though it probably knew little about it, and 2) What a good throw! I bet he couldn't do that again.

Own goal for the BNP

I posted the other day about the BNP's annoying leaflet with photos of fine, upstanding, British professionals. Well thanks to Mrs Lanky's unfortunate addiction to the Daily Mail's website, I have become aware of this hilarious story about the fact that many of the models they used for the photos are of non-British origin! Maybe some prospective BNP voters might stumble across the story when they read their daily paper - not that I'm suggesting a link between the Daily Mail readership and BNP voters.

Back in the loop

Following my previous post (but without any suggestion of a causal link) it looks like Zeffirelli's at Ambleside have come to our rescue (though that's still not on our doorstep). They're showing 'In the loop' from this Friday. The bonus is that they have a very good restaurant in the same building. Sounds like a plan!!!

Bus spotting

I saw my first atheist bus today - I didn't think we'd get them in lowly Lancaster. I also saw this on the Church Times blog.

I throw my shoes at you!

I saw this on the BBC website yesterday, and Bishop Alan has reminded me about it.
I have to say that I was amazed that the Secret Service weren't quicker to respond. I know it was only a split second before they were on the case, but he managed to launch both shoes before the men with earpieces appeared. There was certainly no-one who was able to take the impact of the shoes if 'W' hadn't ducked!