• BBC SPORT | Football | Football's free transfer rat race
  The life of the players who haven't made it yet, made it a few years ago and are passed it and those who will never make it – all of whom are looking for a job at the end of the season. Amazingly, one in six players will find themselves looking for a new team at the end of this season. A world apart from the Premiership namby-pamby primadonnas.
  (tags: football commentary news transfers)
• BBC SPORT | Paul Fletcher blog
  Excellent article on what the transfer window means for clubs in the three "proper" football divisions. Life isn't easy.
  (tags: football news transfers commentary)
• Boris Johnson interview
  The Marketer interviews Boris Johnson. Interesting to read what he says were the most successful tactics from his election campaign. Also, he says that "It’s better to do fewer things well than a whole load of things half-arsed." Wise words, indeed.
  (tags: Boris politics marketing interview)

• Self catering holiday villas in Spain – apartments in Spain
  Self catering houses and apartments in Spain. Most budgets catered for.
  (tags: accommodation holiday travel Spain)
• Casas rurales Turismo Rural Hoteles con Encanto Turismo activo Restaurantes Ofertas España
  Agri-toruism in Spain.
  (tags: accommodation Spain travel holiday casas-rurales)
• Paradores Spain – Spanish Paradors – Parador hotels
  Really rather smart places to stay in Spain.
  (tags: Spain accommodation hotel travel holiday parador)

• WARP RECORDS | WARP NEWS
  And a BoC EP I missed too! This is what happens when you become a parent…
  (tags: Boards_of_Canada Warp music)
• WARP RECORDS | WARP-OS
  Oh dear, a whole Broadcast album that I missed. Now, where's that credit card?
  (tags: music Broadcast European_Library Warp)
• RA: Various Artists – Space Oddities: A Compilation of Rare European Library Grooves – Album Review
  I've discovered a whole genre of music that I already like and actually possess some examples of: European Library. Who thinks these names up?
  (tags: music European_Library)

• BBC NEWS | England | 'Worst fishing season' in decades
  Worst season for years, perhaps, but we have had some excellent fish from our local fishing fleet. More and more, we are trying to buy local fish when we can. The quality is certainly very high.
  (tags: news fish Sussex)
• BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Tough choices' for UK broadband
  Hmm. "Tough choices" for UK broadband probably can be translated as "if you're outside of the cities, you're stuffed", as usual.
  (tags: news broadband internet UK)

• Forget Sarah Palin. Three cheers for British weediness
  Caitlin Moran on why it is a good thing that our politicians are not like Sarah Palin. Brilliant stuff (and please don't take it as seriously as some of the commenters!).
  (tags: news commentary Sarah_Palin Caitlin_Moran Times politics)
• Haflinger
  German-made shoes. They make slippers that Hels really likes. I've just had an unsubtle comment about Christmas gifts.
  (tags: shoes Germany Haflinger)

• Bernwode Plants-Traditional British Apple Trees
  Growers and purveyors of apple plants grafted on a variety of rootstocks, including M27, which is the first choice for growing in a container (although that's always going to be inferior to open-ground cultivation).
  (tags: apples plants nursery)
• BBC SPORT | Cricket | Counties | Goodwin fires Sussex to title win
  Hurrah! Sounds like a great match to have watched. And I reckon Goodwin should be the next captain.
  (tags: Sussex cricket)

• How to be a polyglot – Expatica
  Good advice on how to learn a language as an adult, something I keep threatening to tackle (but when? when??).
  (tags: language education advice)
• BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Urging vintners to put a cork in it
  No mention of the Iberian lynx in this article, but I've long made a point of only buying wines with cork closures. Not all stores show what type of closure is used – Waitrose are strong on this point.
  (tags: cork conservation Portugal news wine)

Miffy: Giddyup!

Pedro: Geddoff!

Miffy has a quiet moment on the shingle at Bexhill.

• Secure Form Mailer Plugin For WordPress · Dagon Design
  This looks good. I like the way it will run on a page rather than in a post.
  (tags: wordpress forms blog tools plugins wp)
• BBC NEWS | The Reporters | Robert Peston
  Robert Peston pulls Gordon Brown to pieces. Worth reading, just to see how far the man has fallen.
  (tags: UK politics Robert_Peston BBC commentary)
• News Cars in EU to be fitted with daytime lights – News from The Netherlands – Expatica
  I find myself driving with sidelights on almost all the time now. Seems sensible, even if it does damage the environment just a little more than driving without them.
  (tags: EU law car)
• BBC SPORT | Football | League Cup | Brighton 2-2 Man City (5-3 pens)
  Brighton beat the world's wealthiest football club at the Withdean. Fantastic.
  (tags: football Brighton)
• cforms II » delicious:days
  I might replace Phorm with this. I wonder if I can run this plugin in a page, rather than a post. I guess it also means it is time to upgrade WP (and probably install the WP auto-upgrader).
  (tags: wordpress software tools forms plugins blog)
• The Official CAPTCHA Site
  looks like I need to add this to my work website. I use Phorm to power a feedback form there, but suddenly I'm getting gazillions of nasty spam messages. Phorm is doing a good job of keeping out malicious file uploads, but not the spam.
  (tags: captcha security spam internet tools software)

• BBC NEWS | Health | Under-fives trampoline ban call
  One child at a time. Use a safety net. No child under 5. Hmm; try telling that to Tom when he sees a trampoline. I think we may have to be more firm in saying "no".
  (tags: trampolines children health news)
• News WWF fear consumers will shun green energy – News from The Netherlands – Expatica
  Interesting. Makes you wonder if those "green energy" deals really are green. Waitrose are making a big thing out of using only green energy in their stores at the moment – I wonder if the claim stands up.
  (tags: environment energy EU)

• BBC NEWS | Magazine | Riding the Caspian Sea Monster
  James May rides an ekranoplan. I live in (the probably forlorn) hope that ekranoplan technology might one day go mainstream – it would be a seriously cool way to cross the Channel.
  (tags: ekranoplan technology television)

• National Center for Home Food Preservation | How Do I? Jam and Jelly
  I've passed the sheet test. Hurrah!
  (tags: jam jelly advice food)
• Jam Making – Making Jam and Jelly at Home – Ingredients, Fruit and Pectin
  How handy. I'm rather hoping that the addition of the juice of half a lemon will make my not-particularly-promising crab apple jelly set.
  (tags: food jam jelly pectin advice fruit)

• BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Rich Flanders seeks more autonomy
  First in a series of articles. It seems to play down the likelihood of a Flemish/Walloon split, but the few people I've spoken to about this (all Flemish) might not agree.
  (tags: Belgium politics Flanders Wallonia)