Last year I really tried to sample as many different varieties of English Apples but managed to forget all the names and what they looked and tasted like. This year it will not happen again! I have added a page where I’m going to take a snap of the apples and maybe write a bit about them. It started on the 8th August when my local greengrocers had it’s first Apple which hadn’t been airfreighted thousands of miles from the USA, Chile or NZ. I don’t think we should have a problem with French apples but why not buy something that has been grown very close to home. Its your consumer pound that counts in these cases. Theres a set on flickr too!

I’m not even going to say anything about the so called “terror plot”. Just go and read 1984 and have a think about it.

There will be more updates on the allotment blog soon. Everything is getting ready to eat and my 13 tomato plants at home are starting to get big fruit – nothing has gone red yet. Also, eating freshly picked blackberries and then eating them on your weetabix/museli is one of the most satisfying things ever! This gardening lark is quite good fun…!

The Go! Sheffield crew are currently running a series of events in Sheffield under the name “Summer of Discontent”. Their beef is basically that there isn’t much big stuff going on in Sheffield this summer so they have decided to link some small events together under one banner. You can find out more about upcoming events on their myspace page. Plus you need to read their fanzines, they are fantastic. They were also the people behind try to get the Cooling Towers turned into an arty outdoors superstructure and they won the Channel 4 programme. Not sure it’s going to happen now though cos of the company that owns them. There was a piece on them in the Guardian Society section a while back.

Last weekend we attended the OS120 free party which was good fun if a little unattended (well ok the venue is absolutely enormous so everyone congregated outside). The rest of the weekend was pretty good fun too including seeing Bison (another of Sheffield’s finest) playing at Plug.

As one who used to go to Butlins and absolutely loved it, ButlinsMemories is a great site. I felt a proper nostalia kick reading the brochures for 1986 Summer Holidays. However, for the ultimate in retro design, take a look at these Butlins Top of the Tower Restaurant menus. I never actually realised that Butlins owned the BT Tower Restaurant, the menu appears to be entirely based around French cuisine (well I suppose it was “à la carte”!) (Click on it to see full size)

…And you had to spend at least £2.50 with a Couvert Charge (sic) of 40p!! It’s also good to know that fresh vegetables were served “whenever possible”. I can see the French chef opening tins of Tesco haricots verts.

More stuff:

• These photos of Pennsylvania Station in NYC are amazing. The place was absolutely huge!
• Suppose I’d better drop this Guardian article about Solo Living’s eco threat now I’m living the bachelor lifestyle. I suppose it’s true if you were profligate with energy but I like to make sure everything is switched off at the wall still and the composter is going well (although the worms have died in the Wormery) so I think I’ll be ok.
• If you ever think ID cards are a good think, just read this Wired Article and this Guardian article and then see what you think. I will say no more about it.