Notes (28/04/2010)

An election candidate in Liverpool is claiming that the eruption of Eyjafjallajokullis a sign from God that Britons should repent. Elsewhere, I note, a blue stork has arrived in Germany.

Two kittens born in Cheshire have crosses marked on their fur, a strange sheep-pig is being pictured all over the internet, and a Foreign Office official has been moved to other duties. I can resolve one mystery: the sheep-pig is, in fact, an Austro-Hungarian pig, the Mangalitza. It's related to the extinct Lincolnshire Curly Coat; you can knit a good jumper from its hair, which is also excellent for tieing flies.

For balance, I should mention that Eyjafjallajokull coincided with the date on which Rome's chief Vestal Virgin burnt cows so their ash could be scattered in a fertility rite. The kittens have been named Jesus and Mary.