It's a crying shame.

Jim Jump can't get into Wetherspoon's with this...

According to the Portsmouth News (and several of the national newspapers), two Royal Marines were turned away from a Wetherspoons pub for not having the right ID. Apparently, military ID isn't valid ID for proving you're over 18, as jobsworth bouncers can only accept driving licences, passports and those PASS card thingumys.

Now, I can see this in landlocked Barnsley, say, but this is Portsmouth, where there have been naval dockyards (and hence sailors - military personnel) for centuries. They all have IDs - although not quite like the one above with names, dates of birth and photos clearly displayed.

So it's with regret (because Wetherspoons do serve decent beer) that I've joined the boycott. Until Wetherspoons apologise publically to squaddies everywhere, then I ain't going in.

Here be dragons

I survived, although things weren't as raucous as I imagined. We are all that bit older, you see. The plan was to go into Nottingham, but the pub by the station had a load of pool tables, so we got stuck. Jason, who works in the City and is a gadget junkie, showed us his new toy - an iPod Touch. I wanted to dislike it for being too clever, but it really is quite swish. It's something I have no use for, though.
Then we saw the dragons that were parading down St Peters St in Derby as part of the celebrations for the new Westfield Centre. They were impressive. Here's a video:


The chaps and chapesses pedalling them did quite well pedalling down a narrow, pedestrianised, crowded street.