Three Records by Planxty lead me to A NEW GAME

Planxty The Well Below The Valley
Planxty Cold Blow and the Rainy Night
Planxty [Untitled first album]

My beloved bought these to play on her new iPod. Rather than talk about the music and all that on them, I will instead introduce you to THE PLANXTY DRINKING GAME. The rules for this are simple:

• If the song mentions a soldier, take a drink
  
• If the song mentions a beggar, take a drink
  
• If the song mentions a young lady being relieved of her maidenhead, take a drink
  
• If the song mentions a young lady being relieved of her maidenhead by a soldier, empty your glass
  
• If the song mentions a poor Irish emigrant pining for his home, take a drink
  
• If the protagonist of the song beats the shite out of someone, take a drink
  
• If Andy Irvine sings about how sad he is because some stage of his life has passed, take a drink
  
• If the song is called "As I roved out" take a drink

And so on. Actually, these records are great, featuring excellent playing and excellent choice of tunes, mostly trad arrrrrs but the occasional Andy Irvine composition. And they also do well-known Provie classic 'Only Our Rivers Run Free', which is not actually from time immemorial but was written only the other day by some whiny nornie. I should not actually mock the old 'Only Our Rivers Run Free'… not merely do I value my kneecaps, it is also a rather gentle and affecting tune, not like the come-all-ye-s one normally associates with Irish patriotism. One great thing about this tune is that it makes its way into a RuneQuest scenario; I think it is in one of the Sun County or Shadows on the Borderlands books, though I am open to correction. These records merge into each other, so I have difficulty recommending one over another. The Well Below The Valley maybe wins thanks to the title track, a song that is musically charming and easy on the ear, while lyrically it is about incest and infanticide.

NAE BUCKY??!?

Naturally it was Eoghan Barry who put me onto this.

War Is Over

You will recall there was a war in Lebanon this summer. It seems that the country is finally back on its feet again, with Chateau Musar and Ksara wines back in the local off-license; so Christmas is not cancelled in Carwash Mansions after all. Still no sign of any arak, though some might see this as a good thing.

Do you want to party?

Do you know me or my beloved? Do you want to come to a party? Do you like fun? If so, you are in the right part of the internet. My beloved and I are hosting a party experience in Carwash Mansions on Friday 22nd December. Breaking with tradition, we have decided to go for a mulled wine style ambience, with cheese and crackers and hummus and pitta bread and mince pies and stuff. Mmmm.

We have also decided to solve the problem of Christmas presents by adopting a new regime - RANDOM SANTA. This is an opt-in game that everyone who comes to the party is invited to play, though no one has to. My beloved will now go all technical writer and explain how this works:

1. Come to our mullet wine partay on the 22nd of December.

2. Bring a present that you have wrapped. You can label it "from [you]" if you must, but we wouldn’t encourage this sort of thing.

3. TAKE a wrapped present FROM the big receptacle under or near the Christmas tree (we will put some presents there at the start of proceedings... we are not complete tightwads... so if you come along early you stand a higher chance of getting an amazing present from us as opposed to some used socks). This is your present to keep.

4. DEPOSIT the wrapped present that you have brought INTO aforementioned big receptacle.

5. (Optional) Unwrap the present you have just received, and try and guess who it’s from. Fun!

6. Drink mulled wine, demolish mince pies, feel yawning existential chasm, etc.

I must stress yet again that people are welcome to come along and party on without playing Random Santa, but we will not be giving any presents except through Random Santa, and any presents people give us will go straight into the Random Santa receptacle.

October Fest Palestine

Although the one in Munich is more famous, true beer aficionados will soon be heading to the West Bank for Taybeh's annual October Fest.

If you are ever in that part of the world, make sure to check out the Taybeh. They serve it in the Jerusalem Hotel and the George's Hostel.

(some embarrassing typos corrected)

and make them large ones

When Britain was at its greatest, the country was ruled by men who were drunk morning, noon, and night. So why are the Liberals looking for a new leader?