As Mehitabel used to say. Mostly to be contrary, you understand. Not that there’s much to be merry about, but it’s the thought that counts. Here be the latest batch. One is a wee Remembrance of Wonderful Women Past. 95 years, 1 month and 20 days ago darling Rosa was murdered by a bunch of fascists and dumped in the Landwehr Canal, like she was so much rubbish. Gone but not forgotten. Not by a long, long chalk. The other is a brief update on the mini revolution Tampopo and her pal, the Puff Fish have started in the deeper depths of the Great Deep. Which only goes to show that you’ll encounter the forces of reaction anywhere and everywhere. Or as the Spaniards say: En todas partes cuecen habas. Coming soon: Fascinating Archaeological finds! Update 01/12/14 Two important dates approach. Dec. 16. Second anniversary of the death of that superb Master-Ranter and beloved compadrito, Ashok Chandra Patel. Still massively missed. And Dec 21. The Solstice. The Return of the Light. Sorrows begin to feel less sorrowful once past this time-mark. So, waiting for these events to come and go we eat, drink, are merry, make silly pics and tell crappy jokes. What else can a girl and her Monsters do? So, here’s 1) the promised archaeological find. (This is for Beth, fearless traveller and reader extraordinaire.): Zippy Stardust, that intrepid explorer and beauty consultant (and a good friend of the Family), has just returned from one of her jaunts into the darkest, farthest reaches of our Earth’s past. And she’s brought us back a photograph of a most wondrous muriel she found in some forgotten antediluvian cave township somewhere in the environs of Uluru (Ayers Rock to the sadly uninformed). See?  Tarot reading goes back quite a long while, as I’ve always suspected. This proves my theory beyond the shadow of a doubt. So there! 2) a little Bull Dancer. She dances with bulls. The story so far: Smitten by her rotund charms and her artless grace, the Sun has climbed down from his fiery chariot to court the little one. He’s trying to seduce her with promises of this, that, the other and a few corny lines from Zorrilla’s Oriental II. The little Bull Dancer is nobody’s fool! and 3) a wee reflection on slavery and the practice of it. Weep not for any idiot who tries either to buy or to sell slaves, if (and hopefully when) they get taken for a ride. Update 11/12/14 To end on a reasonably angry note, here’s a wee photoshop work done on the likeness of a good friend who also loathes photos (not to mention selfies). It took all my powers of persuasion to get him to send me this one but he also appreciated the photoshopping of it. Cheers, babes. ¡No pasarán!