Sleeping car deluxe

The world at your window on the Danube Express. The Indy has the story.

Five hours in a balloon

The Times has the story.

Greedy Greene King throws in the bar towel

Greene King have sold the Lewes Arms in Lewes, East Sussex to Fullers, a London brewery. This brings to an end a saga of complete and utter humiliation for the Suffolk accountants. Lewes drinkers will be glad to see the back of them. Good riddance!
See The Morning Advertiser. See PunchBuggy Passim.

Oil boom in North Dakota

The Independent has the story.
See PunchBuggy Passim here.

The pub singer

To Whelan's Gate Irish Alehouse and Pub, 1663 Bloor Street West, Toronto for a Friday night birthday bash.

Russell Chesham stepped up to entertain us. He had to put up with a barrage of requests for Rick Astley covers and shouts of "Russell, show us your muscle." It is interesting how old schlock comes back into fashion, as among the Barenaked Ladies, Oasis and Neil Young covers came Neil Diamond, which went down particularly well. Russell took all the shouts with good humour and deserved a medal for sticking it out. Or at least a PunchBuggy post.

Igor Kenk goes international

The curious case of Mr Kenk, bicycle repair man. Now in The Independent in the UK.

Brompton fills up at No Frills

To Pacific Avenue in the Junction on the yellow Brompton bicycle for supermarket shopping at No Frills, our local groceteria. We know how to live. Feel virtuous as the front carrier on the Brompton swallows most of our shopping, while Annette carries the residue in a backpack. There is a buzz to shopping without a car. The supermarkets are now charging 5c for carrier bags - we are buying them as they are still cheaper than rubbish bags at the dollar store. BTW we use milk bags for the small garbage cans at home - free. Nothing cheap about us.

Five ring circus II

This column is an Olympic free zone. With the exception of this piece in The Times.

NASCAR takes a raincheck

After the pitiful display at Indianapolis last weekend, with dud tires, NASCAR does it again in the Nationwide series at Montreal. The race is stopped on lap ten so that drivers can fit rain tires and windshield wipers! Can you imagine red-flagging the cars at Le Mans for a shower of rain. These guys have been sand-bagging for years by refusing to run in the rain - now they are having a tea break like cricketers.
Let us hope the road-racers in the field can give a decent display once we get back to green-flag racing.
Update: Some drivers have chosen not to fit windshield wipers to race in the rain. NASCAR has decreed they will decide when teams can switch from wet to dry tires, not the teams themselves. Laughable.
Update: Result: 1. Ron Fellows 2. Patrick Carpentier 3. Marcos Ambrose (led 27 laps). The wet/dry tire decision never arose as the race was wet throughout.