Blogwatch

Congratulations...

Anna, Girl, Diamond Geezer and Zoe whose sites have all been nominated for the 2006 Bloggies.

Welcome...

Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day, a remarkably wide-ranging blog that covers everything from politics to the arts.

Gordon McLean, whose comments on others' sites I've read for ages and whose own superb site I'm only belatedly linking to.

Ditch Monkey, a gem thrown up by Swiss Toni's Blog Of The Week series written by a chap who works in London but lives in Oxford. Oh, and who lives in a bivouac in the woods.

Meanwhile...

Inspired by the Bloggies, Betty suggests a shortlist for the inaugural Crappies - "LIVING WITH HALITOSIS - The daily diary of 36 year old Timothy from Chipping Norton. People give him a wide berth but he refuses to give in. Details his frequent visits to the dentist, homeopathic remedies, purchase of a tongue scraper etc".

Elsewhere...

Simon casts his eyes over the NME Awards nominees - "It's pointless really to complain how the NME Awards, with Shockwaves lest we forget, mirror the Brit nominations more and more, although which organisation changed more to make this the case is a moot point".

ByTheSeaShore has a close encounter with his former boss - "The choice was mine. Should I say hello? I recognised her and she probably recognised me. I used to be a favourite, in the way that Darth Vader was quite fond of his Admirals".

JonnyB receives a bequest - "I pace around a bit. With money comes worries, and I do not want eg to be ripped off in the Village Shop by the Village Shop Man dressed as a fake sheikh. My celebrity status also brings the risk of extortion, blackmail etc by those who would forge photographs of me with prostitutes. Fortunately I think of this immediately, and am able to provide an alibi by saying here first that people might forge photographs of me with prostitutes, thus proving that any subsequent photographs of me with prostitutes will be forgeries, especially ugly ones".

A tearful farewell...

Musings From Middle England, indefinitely suspended by its author Willie - it'll be sorely missed.