Extreme prevarication

While doing some research for work, I just came across this gem:

Welcome to perhaps one of the most interesting web pages on the Internet. Why you ask? Well, perhaps after going through it you will understand why. This web page is devoted to "The Russian Stove". You may not have the slightest idea what the "Russian Stove" is. It is our goal that after you have visited this web sight and have understood its content, you will not only know exactly what a "Russian Stove" is but you might desperately wish you had one.

Get on with it! "Welcome" would have done....

UK International keyboard – new version

New version of the UK International keyboard is now available from zolid.com, now with support for all European languages written in the Latin alphabet (hopefully). New letters! New accents! Combining accents option! Daggers!!! [That's enough exclamation marks – Ed]

I have an editing job coming up next week where I'll be typing Polish and Turkish placenames, so this will come in very handy. Bring on the ogoneks.

Ice cream and mushy peas (not a recommended combination)

I had occasion to visit that London this week, so I called in at the Leicester Square Haägen-Dasz emporium, as you do, on the off-chance that they might have come up with something new and exciting. Well, they had something new and exceptionally pleasant: a new Crème Brûlée variant (complete with crunchy caramelised bits) plus a limited-edition Coconut Truffle flavour. I stood at the window while I savoured said creamy concoctions, and looked out at the drizzle and the square being comprehensibly dug up for some reason or other. Probably something to do with the Olympics: everything in London is currently "re-opening in May 2012".

Then yesterday I got chatting with a friend who's a synaesthete. For him, voices have tastes: when his old Maths teacher was speaking, he could taste orange chocolate; now, the voice of Prime Minister David Cameron fills his mouth with the flavour of marrowfat mushy peas, and he has to turn the TV off in disgust. The human mind is a remarkable thing.