Tuber Mirum

At 76 Shirley is getting on a bit and she has already had cancer once. Worth keeping an eye on if you ask me.

This is appauling: "quite frankly" is clearly a sub-clause and, therefore, needs commas on either side and "This is more harsh" simply continues the sentence so the "t" should be lower case! This from someone who thinks "peddling" has something to do with riding a bicycle

That's a lucky break for Mary then. Still strictly speaking a breach of the spirit of the rule, but possibly meriting a slightly lesser penalty.

There was a small DL Con held on Tuesday last in the Dutch town of Utrecht. Magere Hein was there and I think I was there too. Much beer was drunk. Of that I am certain. A most enjoyable event, hopefully to be repeated.

Well. I'm reminded of something I wrote a week or two ago about Rule 5: "I think the spirit of the law in this case intends to penalise those selecting very young, low hanging fruit of the tabloid variety." Admittedly he isn't extremely young, though far too young to die. I can't imagine how he could be more tabloid than he is. I mean his widow's name is Cola for pity's sake. I don't know, I've been out of the country for 20 years, but back then you would have got in the papers just for being called Cola. Low hanging fruit definitely. Which brings us to the question of his celebrity. Taking the rule literally. it follows that since his death was reported in the paper he must be famous enough to qualify for celebrity. Unfortunately his death was reported in the Mail, an organ which no intelligent person in the world, never mind Notapotato, could consider to be a reliable, respectable source of international news. So that's definitely an infringement, unless someone can find an obit somewhere else. The rules don't specify the penalty for breaking rule 2 but the tacit implication is that the candidate is not a valid choice and thus scores no points. Include with this the penalty for breaking Rule 5 and Mary should actually be getting minus points for his candidate. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That was me summarily ridiculing MPFC. Others should feel free to join in. PS: I'll leave it up to Rotten Ali to decide what really to do. He does a grand job and is probably a bit fairer than me.

It's unpredictable and arbitrary. It has HDP written all over it.

She was 29. I'm only 25. In my view, that makes her ancient. I think the spirit of the law in this case intends to penalise those selecting very young, low hanging fruit of the tabloid variety. The above exchanges sort of imply that Notapotato's definition of tender years is a somewhat higher age that I would have expected. Nevertheless, I don't think Hallenga falls into this category. Just to keep things fair, I'd like to propose a new rule: "Notapotato reserves the right to ridicule any participant at any time for any or no reason. In the absence of Notapotato this task may be performed by anyone else so inclined."

Ok, I suppose people have got the bonus for less.

Hmm. Hard to say. Give me some examples.

I can now confirm that Notapotato considers the Huffington Post to be a Reliable and Serious Source of International News.

I had to think about this one because I've never really considered Misch to be a particularly nasty piece of work, but I suppose on the bottom line protecting the Führers life has to be considered a crime against humanity, whatever he may or may not have believed he was doing. So yes. Crimes Against Humanity Bonus for Rochus Misch. I just went through the teams to see which one might be eligible for the prize for the most interesting or original or unusual or whatever selections. None of them made me laugh, which may have been a decider. I'm still thinking about it. Can anyone be bothered counting to see which teams are the most original, in that they have the most unique picks? That might help.

Well Bruges was lovely. A bit expensive on the whole but very beautiful and only a bit too full of tourists in one or two places. Took me an hour or two to stop repeating the mantra "this place is a complete feckin' shithole", but after that I had quite a lot of fun with my festival friends. Sadly no Deathlisters were there; Hein may have come if I'd stayed a day longer but it wasn't possible

Hein: see above.

So folks, sorry to be so unpredictable. I've decided not to drive to the UK. There's a festival on in Bruges I'm quite interested in so I'm driving there tomorrow morning. I'll stay for two, possibly three nights, though hotels seem to be pretty pricey. If anyone wants to come by for a Grimbergen or three then please PM me. I'm now going to prepare for my trip by watching the film.

Don't worry about it; he loves you. £200 for the ferry? The ones I'm loooking at cost between €80 and €130 return with a car.

So Tu and Wed, in the middle of the week. And getting to Calais... It's possible, but not quite what I have in mind. I need some persuasion. regards, Hein I'll pick you up in Antwerp. I understand Wednesday/Thursday might suit Six better.

Six says no to Bruges. For me if I were planning to drive that way, It wouldn't be much further, and still cheaper than flying, if I went on to Calais, got on a ferry to Dover and we met somewhere on or near the South coast. Hein?

How about Bruges on Tuesday/Wednesday then?

Well August is here and my diary has surreptitiously filled itself up with the exception of next week. Anyone up for a pint, anywhere, between now and next Friday?

I met him once. I used to play in concerts in the old Krupp villa, Villa Hügel to which he occasionally came. That's a brilliant place where as a privileged person I was able to sit behind Krupp's enormous desk and imagine him receiving Hitler there. I often went up the huge staircase with one arm behind my back as I imagine the Führer must have done (a posture Hitler copied from Kaiser Wilhelm who did it because he had a withered arm). Krupp didn't like Hitler; he found him a bit too common. The story of the Krupp family is really interesting. The reason why Berthold Beitz took over the firm is because the actual heir of the Krupp family, pouf-célèbre Arndt_von_Bohlen_und_Halbach was completely useless and forewent his inheritance for the good of everyone. Very interesting chap though and well worth reading up on.

Well I have just watched Who Do You Think You Are with Barbara Windsor and would like to pronounce her as being in the Rudest of Good Health. I had to google her and was a bit distraught not to say distressed to learn that she is over 70. She is definitely Well Fit and I hereby predict that she will do for a good few years yet. Thus Spake Tuber Mirum.

So that's a no then?

Does it absolutely have to be a weekend?

The last weekend in September is fine for me too. That's not to say something won't come up.

Hm. The only good date in August for me is the first weekend. When LG can't be there Another possibility might be the 31.08/01.09 or the weekend after that (which has the advantage (?) of avoiding the Edinburgh Festival). Don't make it dependent on me though.