Again with the leaving the links until I have time to write the post and then realising that such a time is unlikely to arrive before the events ....

- UCL Classics dept tackle Agamemnon at the Bloomsbury, tonight and tomorrow.

- Freeborn John @ The Union Chapel : A star studded cast of English folk royalty perform the world’s first historical folk opera. English history has provided us with no more dramatic or colourful a character than England's first radical, ‘Freeborn’ John Lilburne, unsung hero of the English Civil War. Brought to life in an astonishingly vivid and tangible way by the inimitable Rev Hammer, Freeborn John tells the story of this true English people’s hero

(I'll shoot for writing them up after the event instead, but I've not done so well with that on anything else this year, so no promises!)

And I am walking in london

Walkit.com's managed to improve its already excellent service by adding an option to search for routes that avoid busy, high-polution, roads, thus making your walk easier on the lungs, often at only a few minutes' cost. (I have also, while playing about testing that out, realised that one of my regular routes is about a mile longer than it needs to be - you live and learn.)

Unrelated thing: I have Samuel Pepys' Diary RSSd (it's a little overwhelming as a giant volume). Today's entry, with its reference to Pancake Day pleases me.

flip reverse it

Pancake day tomorrow. Sad to see in the Metro this morning a piece about how few people apparently celebrate it any more, partly because it's not a fixed date to remember (it's tied to Easter, so it's a movable feast, and this year it's crept up early, the earliest it's been in 60 years), partly because it's less commercial than other celebrations (surely that's a good thing?) and partly because people claim not to know how to make pancakes.

Pancakes? Are really really easy. You can get fancy, sure, but the basic model? flour, milk, eggs, frying pan, enjoy. (there's the recipe I use here if you want more specifics.)

When I was 14, our Young Enterprise Scheme company made and sold hot pancakes to fellow pupils in the breaks at school. If a bunch of teenagers with a hot plate can turn out saleable results in a fifteen minute break, how hard can they really be? (It is, however, practically impossible to get the first pancake of any batch to go right, so don't let that put you off.)

Ok - *flipping* the pancake is a bit tricksy, but it's also totally non-essential. It is, in fact, mostly for showing off with. All you really need to be doing is turning the pancake over, which I tend to do with a wide spatula, and at least one of my friends does with the aide of a plate.

So, in conclusion. Pancakes aren't scary, and they are tasty, so: what are you cooking tomorrow?