Patience.org

I have a funny feeling that Peter Crouch could be shaping up into an English national hero, if he continues to score and dance like this and this [all links to videos].

Tragic news that the local Wansdwroth brewery is selling up and more importantly, closing its brewery in Wandsworth High Street. Perhaps inevitable, given property proces in the area I guess, but having done my formative dirnking on the local brew and considering it’s been “round the bend since 1851″ as a long standing ad hoarding says just round the corner, it’s sad news indeed.

They still do tours of the brewery, so get yourself along there if you can, while you still can.

Youngs used to be different. It reverted to delivering its beer by horse and cart many years ago after it worked out it got it there faster and cheaper than deliveing by truck. The horses still live within the brewery.

And how more English can you get than if you ask for a “pint of ordinary” in any of its pubs, you wil get a pint of best bitter, rather than someone looking at you as if you’re mad?

I’d have a Ram & Special to commiserate, if I could find one in New York.

I finally uploaded the pictures (sans kids) from our trip to Lancaster, PA in April, like this one but more here.

Never mind present-day thirsty Jack Kerouac’s, what about our 451 people, who have a special place at this bar, which is set to close for 6 months so condo’s can be built on top of it?

It was on page 2 of this free rag today – should’ve been the lead story!

We’re going to Paris in a week or so for a couple of days – taking the kids to their first European country outside of the UK (and yes, that is a European country, despite what some people there and elsewhere might think!).

So my eye was caught by an announcement from Google that it’s improved its imagery coverage for a few European countries for Google Earth & Maps, resulting in aerial shots like this one of the Eiffel Tower.

It’s almost as if you no longer need to go up it, which with two small kids, I’m pretty sure we won’t be this time around.

The Empire State Building is 75 years old today.

While no longer referring to it as the “flash building” (because he watches the camera flashes at night from our bedroom before he goes to sleep each night), when I told the little man it was its birthday today, he commented – not unreasonably – that “they should put 75 candles on top of it,” and wondered why the lights were just plain old white tonight, of all nights.

I wondered too, but it turns out that was the color they were that first night, back in 1931. From Apr 28-30 they were turned out, apparently to represent the skyline before it was built, or at least that bit of the skyline up there at 1,250 feet. Mind you seeing as color wasn’t introduced until 1976 according to the NY Times recently, that’s somewhat misleading.

Nonetheless, happy birthday Empire State Building.