Internet radio, pub glasses, doors, extraordinairy Bill's, whisky, Lewes and bonfire night

Some things I've just got to mention:)

Pandora: what a find, thanks to Sue, really, really cool personalised internet radio stations from the genome music project. The Balvenie: A very gratefully received Christmas present from Lars. Well I never realised whisky could taste this good! So smooth and tasty. Now I can see why people like my good friend Mark have a thing for fine whisky. Reminds me to tell him about it... Pub glasses. Am not a big fan of pubs, except the really traditional variety you luckily find tucked away on a wintry English night, but I have a thing about good solid pub glasses. I've a few of indeterminate age from the 20th Century, but I'd really like to get my hands on some 18th and 19th Century ones. Should google it. Perhaps there is a public house museum somewhere not too far away... Doors. I don't collect them;) but for some reason I like them and started photographing them last year. Lewes is my home town where I spent most of my childhood and I went there with my mum and we went into the spectacular Bill's produce store which has an utterly refreshing take on displaying and selling raw produce and restaurant food. I had quite simply the best desert I've ever tasted. It was banoffee pie with a crunchy layer (which I think was toffee) on the pastry base, then layered on top was the sweet soft caramel, then thick coffee flavoured cream, then bananas with their skins on! An espresso was included. Sheer class. There are 2 of these gems (the second is in Brighton, but I have not been to that one though my mum says it's packed out). If you're near there, go. Words and pictures are impossible to describe just how good it is. Ignore the middle aged ex-yuppies/hippies with their kids - it's an extraordinary place that overshadows it's clientele. Truly extraordinairy. Of course the main thing that Lewes is famous for is it's annual Lewes Bonfire Night one of things we always used to look forward to as kids. I just found a great slideshow of this year's event which Sarah and I just missed, after telling everyone how it's always on Guy Fawke's Night, this year we rolled up on Sunday evening only to discover we were one day late:( My mum told me they "don't want to burn the effigy of the pope on a Sunday out of respect to the church". The irony. On this night there is a blunt disrespect for official authority in the town: the police are tolerated, and then only just. It's the townspeople's night, even though tens of thousands trek in from all over, swelling the town till it's bursting. It's one of England's great traditions and like some others you'll find in the shires and corners of this magnificent land, it's not for the faint-hearted. Here's some neat panaromas of Lewes the paddock I used to play football in most days and the mound overlooking Priory school me and a classmate climbed up to escape the weekly cross country run. Bit naughty.