The fair has come to Charlbury; had it been the circus, I could have run away to be… the miserable front end of the pantomime cow. Oh well, another day, maybe. Perhaps next week will be filled with fewer disappointments.

Two more temporary interns into the MM menagerie arrived this week in the form of George and Teri, two warring terrapins. It turns out that George is a bit of a bully and Teri is a bit malformed and timid. Hmm. I have had more experience of malformed bullies and less of terrapins, but I’m hoping that we still have two swimmers to return to the eldest sprat’s physics teacher at the end of the summer (and not a couple of empty shells). She quite frightens me.

It’s the annual beer festival tomorrow where I’ll be hoping to get my face painted and drink lots of beer, not necessarily in that order. It has its own ambience, oft associated with persons imbibing plenty of slowly fermented ale. I don’t of course have a beard yet, so some ale might help. And then I could run away and join a beardy band and play the tambourine, the sum total of my musical talents. Well, we can all dream, can’t we?

Half with a voddy chaser, please.

Mrs Mackerel

Now this week’s favourite lyrics were of course inspired by what else (?) other than, Luther. Two beardy whiskers to the first to identify this:

The spider Goddess and the Needle Boy/The slave-dwarves they employ/I give to you/A custard-coloured super dream/Of Ali McGraw and Steve McQueen/I give to you.

(Sorry about the dwarf reference, Pocket, but be comforted by the custard.)

Download The Fatima Mansions – Only Losers Take The Bus mp3 (from Viva Dead Ponies)

Download – Big Joe Duskin – Beer Drinking Woman mp3 (from It’s All Connected: Yellow Dog Records Sampler)

Download