The worst thing about being arrested on your birthday is it rules out the possibility of getting a cake with a file in it for another 364 days.

Wednesday

A brown bear on all fours in shallow water as a tern flies above and to the left.

tern left and bear right

People are claiming Pancake Day wasn’t originally a pagan festival, when you only have to look at the name to know it was once a day when cakes were offered to Pan

Tsk tsk!!!

William Blake’s illustration for “The Tyger” has what appears to be a dippy grin for some reason.

The wonderful thing about Tyggers
Is Tyggers are burning bright
Their tops are made out of rubber
In the forest of the night

What bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy,
Immortal hand or eye
Did frame the most wonderful thing about Tyggers,
Their fearful symmetry!

“Just like you asked, sir, on the ‘ousekeeper’s instructions sir, each of the maids ‘as trimmed their bush. Now where would you like ‘em, sir?”
#GirlsOwnCC

Actually what’s needed is an AI bot that churns out easy anthems for church choirs called “I Can’t Believe it’s not Rutter”.

Birmingham International Airport Station would suggest an element of BIAS.

Lufthansaellenbogenraumhoffnung?

I’m sure there will be a tea room and gift shop involved. Probably a small second hand book shop at the back somewhere.

Err ... thank you. I think.

Is it safe to Google it? Or should I just assume that Falcon Sexhat is the star of a slightly louche 1960s sci-fi series?

At the “dress to represent your sexual fantasy” party, Muriel had dressed as a well stuffed codpiece. However, she felt totally eclipsed by Cicely, whose costume was simple but perhaps a little too obvious.

#GirlsOwnCC

Rabbits conspicuously mating in a public pen

In case anyone wants to buy a pair of exhibitionist rabbits, these two were entertaining the crowds at my local branch of Pets At Home.

But if Bangor gets a stop then why not Morpeth, Cramlington, Bangor (Northern Ireland), Isle of Arran, and all the other equally important places en route?

The flooding is still there.

17,000 of those square miles are called the Irish Sea.

29,000 of those square miles are called the English Channel

The other 154,000 square miles are part of the North Atlantic

About time they fixed it! So much of Cornwall is under water!

Can’t disagree. I guess it depends on timescale. In the first 5 years then yes it may work. In 50 years I’m less sure.

We have a live test case in Berlin. Obviously some differences, but let’s see the extent to which relocating a national government affects local economy in the short and long term…

Fair. That would be an advantage. Aardvark Kingdom would be even better to ensure it’s easier to click on than Austria and Australia.

But wouldn’t the result be that all the businesses and lobbyists and influencers who want face time with politicians would move to Bham, which would become expensive, displacing the “real” people to a surprisingly cheap London. Thus undoing the benefit by reversing the roles of the two cities?

No - it’s short for “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. But I agree it should be written out in full.

Very disapppointingly, they let us off the train. Police were at the station talking to the victim, and presumably they looked at the CCTV footage.

Sadly it didn’t show all 300 passengers each taking a small piece of fabric until the bag disappeared.

There were several police on the platform when the train arrived and the train manager and victim were talking to them… but no one stopped us leaving so I don’t know how it was resolved.

No idea. I guess they decided that reviewing the CCTV recording was the more proportionate action.

A small selection of police on offer at the station but no obstacle to exit. Probably just as well.

Perhaps we’ll be stuck in a snowdrift for a few days while some Belgian bloke solves the crime.

Apparently it’s a black backpack. Everyone is side-eying everyone else’s black backpack as we approach the first stop.

Wonder if they’ll let us off the train…

This is turning into a fun train journey. Apparently a bag with valuable contents has gone missing since we left London. And so unless it is “found” very soon (on a no-questions-asked basis), the train will stop while the police review the security camera footage…

#infectionsongs

I got you under my skin…

Newspaper cutting: The owls are not what they seem ARLINGTON, North Military Road, 3000 block, 5:20 p.m. Nov. 10. Responding to a call about an injured owl on the side of the road, an officer found a large mushroom.

Morning Bluesky.