Well, it's almost 11pm and this is the first chance I've had to actually post my blog because I've been tearing about all day like a headless (non-frozen! ) chicken.

It's the wedding - now that we have a date before Christmas, everything has to be done yesterday - if not sooner.

And of course, we Penry's being such a frugal lot, much of it is being done by family. This includes cake, flowers, invites....

Anyway, I'm going to try and catch up with some blogs now and hopefully things will be a bit quieter tomorrow!

I have often wondered why Mr Penry is so fascinated with ballistas (you know, those giant catapults of the ancient and medieval world.) I suspect it may be connected with his early job working on airoplane windscreens.

'Bird Strike' is the term often given to flocks of birds that suddenly fly in the path of a plane, wreaking havoc by smashing against the windscreen. Debris, feathers and all sorts of unmentionables then obscure the pilot's view, and in some extreme cases either crack or break the windscreen altogether.

Well, back in the days of his youth, Mr Penry had a job testing airoplane windscreens. He had to fire dead chickens at the glass from a large, catapult like contraption. On the first day his boss told him how to operate the machine, and then later on dropped by to see how he was doing.

Mr Penry, being enthusiastic had used up all the chickens, and negotiated the use of some more from a nearby store. He fired the first of the batch and it went straight through the windscreen.

His boss was astonished. 'Good God!' he said, 'I've never seen that happen before! Try it again.'
The same thing happened. The chicken hurtled through the windscreen leaving a neat, round hole. It landed not far from where the boss was standing, and he went to pick it up.
Then the penny dropped. 'You silly bugger, Penry,' he said, 'you're not supposed to use frozen chickens...'