Old Dog, New Sticks

I Think That's Pretty Clever, Myself
But then I would.  I can provide some evidence to back up my claim to be clever, if that idle Neanderthal Art can put down his plate of coal for a moment - 

Evidence!

     This is Kakuro, which is a damn sight harder than Sudoko, I can tell you.  Normally I avoid doing these, because your humble scribe is gifted with words and letters, not arithmetic, yet these things are horribly compelling.  It's taken me an hour to get this much done, and one can tell if it's gone wrong because things won't add up correctly.
     No, Art, don't pick up your plate and fork just yet.  We still have to explain today's title.  Go ahead!

A snack on a stick

     This is my very own veggie kebab: halloumi cheese, red pepper and button mushrooms, done on a Foreman Grill for about 5 minutes.  After all, your modest artisan always has loads of bamboo skewers lying around (a million and one domestic uses don't you know) - hence the sticks of the title.  I knew you wouldn't quibble about the difference between sticks and skewers.
     They were delicious, by the way.  I shall definitely be making more of them.
     Okay, time to put the motley off-balance mentally, by giving it a cream tea with strawberries!

I See, C-23
Yesterday I posted a picture that had been Tweeted by Brian M. Bendis, which we can reproduce here on a small scale.  Art?

     As mentioned yesteryon, all I knew about it was the comic's title: C-23.  It took a lot of digging around on teh interwebz before I found a review of it and - that cover art is a come-on, because the series is described as being quite rubbish.  Not only that, it was intended to promote a card game, which wasn't successful, either.
     So, Travis Charest, consider yourself chastised!

Kurdish Ingenuity In Action
We saw one of the Peshmerga's improvised armoured vehicles yesterday, although only from the rear, and I couldn't find any other shots of it from another angle.  I would now like to present to you another improvised AFV.  Art?

No M C Escher camo?  Shame!

     I believe this to be an armoured personnel carrier; note the large armoured cabin to the rear, able to carry men or supplies, and the machine-gun turret for defence.  No, it's not a Warrior nor a Bradley, but if you were Daesh, you'd probably rather not have it trundling towards you, spitting lead and debussing infantry.
     Conrad will keep on looking for more of these vehicles. O yes indeed!

The Allotment Illusion Inclusion
Yes, I refer once again to that Beeb article about locations in the Allotment of Eden pretending, convincingly, to be somewhere else.  One example they cite is "Les Miserables" 2012 iteration, which I am going to take on trust, since I never intend to see the wretched musical abomination.*
     The film is set in Paris, yet apart from beauty shots of landscapes, most of it was shot here in the Allotment, and there must be a joke in there somewhere.
     Anyway, Inspector Javert finally realises that his final curtain is about to fall, and his way wasn't the right way, so he chucks himself into the River Seine.  Art?

Hmmm.  Dark, wet and not at all inviting

     Except not!  This is, in reality, the River Avon, in Somerset.  Clearly, a long way from Paris.  Art?


     And no,I don't know why they carved the river bed into that curious shape.   Looks good on film, however.
     Aha!  I looked it up: it's a weir, put in place to manage water flow.  So now we all know something new.

Oh Goody!
I see the football season has started again, which is great news for me.  Not that I have any interest at all in seeing a load of overpaid prima donnas kicking a pig's bladder around, and fainting in coils if anyone brushes their ankles with a boot, oh no.
     No, what this means is that the BBC will be allowing HYS Comments again on football matches, which are an hilarious array of bilious, venom-laden invective.

Pig's bladder, modern iteration

     I know, I know, this makes me a terrible person.  What can I say?  My only excuse is that I was raised by weasels.

Finally - 
This will make sense on Facebook, once I post it there, honest.

"Health and Safety?  What's that?"

*  Conrad - still HATES ALL MUSICALS!