bunn

Some years ago in a fit of enthusiasm, I made elderberry wine.  The enthusiasm lasted long enough to get it into a demijohn, and then faded away, so in the demijohn it had sat ever since.

Today we attacked the Things that had built up in the library, one of which was the 'wine'.  I almost poured it away untasted, but then that seemed wussish, so I drank some.  To me at least, it actually seemed quite palatable, though it's bloody heavy on the alcohol.  Sadly I cannot drink a whole demijohn of it at once...  Am off to the village show shortly, where I have a vague memory last year someone was flogging off old bottles cheap.  Fingers crossed!

Driving back from walking the dogs, I had the Ipod on random shuffle. First it gave me 99 Red Balloons, which for those with imperfect memories of 1980s pop, is a dystopian tale of how a day beginning with a minor act of environmental vandalism ends in global nuclear catastrophe. It ends with the singer standing in the dust that was a city.

And then my Ipod, which, it appears, is an unsung musical genius, swung straight into Bill Bailey's Cockney Medley : I swear the join was completely invisible, I didn't even realise the first song had ended until suddenly the lyrics. (And wtf, youtube, with the visuals on that Bill Bailey video? But it does start at just the right point).

And Helga Saab, whose internal IT originates from 2002, and so has a somewhat shaky relationship with the Ipod, who she considers newfangled and confusing, announced the second song on her display by saying BILLB LOONS

... perhaps you had to be there. But I almost drove into a hedge I was laughing so much.

Weasel Hair Brushes
Wolf hair brushes do not exist. The legend comes from an unthinking translation of the real name: "langhao", which calls a wild weasel from Siberia. Its tail hair are yellow, terse and sharp but never very long so there are no large brushes in this material, and they don't keep large amounts of ink. Anyway that's the best tool for awkward beginners in calligraphy and there is nothing better for traditional drawaing and painting

www.thegreatcalligraphycatalog.net/acatalog/Weasel_hair_brushes.html


Da lang tou : Important and rare pure langhao brush (weasel have rather short hair and make it impossible to ask for bigger than this). Handle of bamboo and horn, in a box, made in Anhui

If I had a spare 145 Euros, I would already have ordered one.  An important brush in a box, made in Anhui.  It sounds like a Le Guin artefact.

LANGHAO! Come, oh wild weasel from Siberia, with your sharp and terse tail hair!