Blogwatch

Welcome...

I Look Ill (via Casino Avenue)

Welcome back...

Agnes, back after a short hiatus

Michelle, back after giving birth (Black Dove has consequently mutated into "Black Dove: The Pushchair Years" - a companion blog to Speaking As A Parent, perhaps?)

Mish, back after an operation and a period of recovery in the wilds of Scotland - "As you may have guessed, I don’t look out upon a vista of green sward with a sigh of bucolic happiness. I stumble and slide around with little shrieks of fear upon un-tarmaced paths and wonder What I’m Treading In. I expect in-breds with shot guns and interesting dentistry to be around every corner and I lie quaking in my bed, with the covers over my head, dreading the darkness, hating the silence and expecting the wolf-red devil eyes to press up against the windows every time I open the curtains".

Meanwhile...

Pete embarks upon his Going Deaf For A Fortnight project - fourteen gigs in fourteen days - and, in the write-up for last night's Jug of Ale gig, he manages to be even more scathing about local bands than me - "I found myself realising why no-one goes to gigs unless they know the band - you're suddenly find yourself at the whim of people who can play guitar but have no idea what a guitar is really for".

Reluctant Nomad recalls the time he was stopped at customs in possession of a banned book, 'The Exorcist'.

Jonathan begins a new series presenting us with the "sleeve notes" he wrote to accompany a mixtape he made for a friend, "30 Songs - An Indiepop Odyssey". (The series will also be appearing on The Art Of Noise, Jonathan being the newest contributor.)

Swiss Toni goes to see / endure KT Tunstall - "a tiny, Scottish Rowley Birkin" - and somehow resists the temptation to top himself.

Backroads relates an everyday tale of illegal mink immigration - just as well we've got someone prepared to write about this kind of thing given JonnyB's (very quiet) announcement that he'll be leaving the Village temporarily.

JonnyB's Vegetable Delivery Lady gets her own blog and wastes no time in revealing her true feelings for him - "It is important to avoid a scene. Much as I loathe delivering vegetables to this pervert and would love to tell him what I really think of him on my last day, I just want to get out of here alive and not end up locked behind a bookcase or something".

Betty speculates as to what happened to the Famous Five - "I prefer not to detail what happened to the shadowy figures of Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin. Suffice to say that their allegiances during World War Two were rather suspect, and there was a long trial a few years back at great expense to the taxpayer".

Paul contemplates whether his new camera phone has made him a coprophile.

And finally...

Blogwatch not enough for you? Then get over to Troubled Diva, where Mike's started up an interactive Post Of The Week feature. Bigger, bolder and better than anything you'll find here, that's for sure. Good to see SWSL favourites Musings From Middle England, JonnyB's Private Secret Diary and Little Red Boat nominated. The verdict is here.