Pig Sty Avenue

She's doubtless a very good MP, and I'd probably quite like her if I met her socially, but Sarah Teather , who was on Question Time tonight, does, in a certain light, bear an uncanny resemblance to the Tweeny, Fizz. Or is this just an example of parent cabin-fever? Watching the telly programmes, reading the books, singing the songs... Sometimes Balamory seems more real than Hebburn. Or something. The Lib Dems do, though, have more than a fleeting resemblence to The Tweenies . They look a bit like them, have childish squabbles, but use singing and dancing to iron out their problems... Well, okay, not the last bit. And whilst we're on the subject, the whole issue of how much time Molly should be spending with Cbeebies, if any at all, is rather vexed. She really loves to watch In the Night Garden , for example, (and I'd have to confess to finding it rather trippy myself), but then maybe she shouldn't be watching telly at all, according to this ...?

I've been re-reading Anthony Powell's book , and I'm on for the penultimate volume, Temporary Kings ; (I realised with a jolt that the first time round, I had no clue about the title of that volume, no knowledge of The Golden Bough , much less of Graves and The White Goddess , a book which changed my life). I was a new graduate, studying for the Solicitors' Final Examination when I first read it. I loved it then, but reading it again I get so much more. In the twenty two years which have elapsed, I've had more than one failed marriage, love affairs, seen friends come, go, and come back again. Now, the convolutions of Nick's social circle seem comprehensible. I had planned to read the book now, and then again in my sixties (assuming I was spared), but it's been such a pleasure I feel like going right back to A Question of Upbringing and starting again forthwith.

Brilliant picture, eh? Clearly, Giotto had seen a punch up or two in his time.

walker naval yard II , originally uploaded by /pɪgstaɪævnjuː/ . I keep photographing this crane. We had a nice walk on Sunday, along the river to The Cricketers. It's difficult to recall when it was the main rubbish tip for Jarrow and Hebburn along there, when I was a kid, now that it's all landscaped. The landscaping was done when I was an undergraduate at Newcastle Poly, and I remember cycling to college along that way - CYCLING from Hebburn to Newcastle and back, as a matter of course. Now the trees are maturing and it looks great.

mr peanut has a nightmare , originally uploaded by inverted R.I.P . I thought of something really interesting to blog earlier... Oh aye - I've remembered now.

There's: "Before You Know It" . Hmm. Learn Arabic Online Which looks Classical... Babel: arabic with some annoying pop ups. There are some links to these and other sites here . Most of the sites are not multimedia and rely on grammar-translation methodology. This looks a little more like it.

When you're being pestered on line.

amadaesposa , originally uploaded by casting.shade . The tattoo artist could have said, "I don't really do faces very well". Which reminds me of the story I read recently about the mural painter in Belfast. There's some dispute as to whether the aggressive, sectarian murals should be painted over, or retained as historical documents... Anyhow, some peaceful ones are being painted, now that the north of Ireland is peaceful. But the man who painted a lot of the old ones is now out of a job. It's not that he objects to the peace-process or anything, but he can't paint faces - "that's why all the people in my old ones are wearing ski masks", he explained.

Pigsty as vase , originally uploaded by NatHamlin . ...or even leave you feeling quite poorly. That's a Joel-Peter Witkin, as adapted by Nathamlin. I think it's a compliment... That quiz was silly, but I'm really pleased that I bothered with it because I'd never heard of Witkin until yesterday. Now I have and I find his photos thought provoking, to say the least. As good as anything by Man Ray , anyhow. Or something.

Again? With my reputation? Are they mad?

Which famous photographer are you? Joel-Peter Witkin: Known for photographing human spectacles including hermaphrodites, dwarfs, amputees, androgynes, carcasses, people with odd physical capabilities & fetishists "When I produce a photograph that totally satisfies, a part of me actually dies. And I think that death is an aspect of myself being burned away or dissolved, because that part of what I had to work out is taken care of." Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Horses for courses, I suppose. And I do believe that some horse drugs are found to be fun by some people. But one shouldn't mock - this slim volume has no doubt diverted many a young life from the path that would have lead to them sitting in a pool of someone else's urine in a crack house. Or something.

I love this story . The detail I like best is Gobeil going across to the priest and saying, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

guinness can , originally uploaded by /pɪgstaɪævnjuː/ . I think that this is the best photo I've take in ages.

babycool , originally uploaded by /pɪgstaɪævnjuː/ . Have I blogged this before? Going through some old photos on flickr... She's still as gorgeous. Just bigger.

psa , originally uploaded by Vertigogen . I'm deeply flattered. Well, it made me laugh.

teaching the kids to goose step , originally uploaded by /pɪgstaɪævnjuː/ . We've had a splendid afternoon at Washington WWT . Photos here .

I never intended do this, but I just seem to run across strange posters, mostly from the Second World War, get intrigued by them, and blog them. Most recently, there was this rugby one - from The Great War. And of course there was this lad , on the back of a Penguin paperback. And there was this one , which I'd thought was blogged here, but can't find now. And now here's Mr Peanut. Strange, the things you seem to collect without ever having set out to do so.

twins. , originally uploaded by zombizi . My mate Zombizi took this. He combines an astonishing creative imagination with enviable post processing skills. A jolly good chap all round, too, and not a bit weird in real life. I say took it, but you could use other verbs, made or created . IS it a photo or not? Does it matter to anyone who isn't a numpty?