elephantos trumpetos, originally uploaded by benaston.

Summer has arrived and it’s hot. What I really need is an elephant to give me a refreshing shower.

Spare elephant, anyone?

Robo X, originally uploaded by benaston.

In the final race of the day, the 5.45 at Titch Towers, Aston’s Robo X won the 50cm sprint by two lengths.

Probably the greatest wind up racer of our time.

lone cycle, originally uploaded by benaston.

It would appear that the storms have taken their toll on the other cyclists.

Wimps.

Pho, originally uploaded by benaston.

Pho was about to open its doors in Titchfield Street but kindly invited us for a taste of Vietnam to test their kitchen. It’s a bit like Wagamama but tastier and with more manly sized servings. I’ll be going there again.

Go with the Pho.

Soul, originally uploaded by benaston.

The first round of the Titchfield Charade-fest ended in stalemate with neither team able to snatch a point from the other. In a game that lasted just 2 rounds, the most memorable sketch was Alex trying to act our the ‘is’ in Solaris by simulating peeing on the floor.

Stay classy.

foy vance live in london, originally uploaded by benaston.

Mondays are of course normally reserved for swimming club, but after some serious MySpacing, Steve-fun John persuaded me that this should be an honourable exception.

And so it was that I lent my ears to the boy Foy for the evening at Luminaire accompanied by my larney safa chums, Candice and Ryan.

Foy was insanely amazing - that’s coming from someone who couldn’t actually tell you the name of any of his songs for lack of long term fanmanship. It was a musical joy ride; all the track layering you could hope for, soundhole singing and my favourite, the guitello (playing the strings with a bow of course).

It should be said Luminaire is a great venue - it’s tiny and contends with a tube in rush hour for intimate-ness, but the sound was sweet like chocolate balls.

Foytastic.

Creek’s Cake of the Caribbean took the gold medal in the latest round of the Dare Titchfield Towers’ bake of series. With 9 baked treats (and one unbaked) in the running, it was a battle fought over presentation, originality, flavour, texture and the mmmmore factor.

Holland had the audacity not to actually bake anything, but with generous dollops of Banoffee Pie, seduced enough votes to once again make an appearance on the rostrum. Aisha’s Bonkers Banana Bread was hardly bonkers, but picked up the bronze thanks to some top marks in the flavour and texture scoring.

I limped in, in 9th place, hampered, in the judges opinion by my lack of originality and beating only Dahlstrom’s Flat Carrot Cake with Walnuts.

Loser.

carnivalaroni, originally uploaded by benaston.

Probably the most inspired idea to come out of Team Sony at Dare so far in 2008 was the mac and cheese bake off; two titans of the macaroni world pitted themselves head to head in a bid to win the coveted title of Best Mac and Cheese Cook.

Carnivale’s brazen take on a nouveau cuisine macaroni asked those perennial questions of the judges - what is mac cheese? Her bold recipe, cooking macaroni without using even macaroni or a cheese sauce was well received and split the judges’ vote.

After long deliberations and third helpings, a single vote dictated that the smoky robustness of Carnivale was not enough to topple Holland’s simple and reassuring take on the classic.

Holland 1 Carnivale 0.

campfire in the pub, originally uploaded by benaston.

It would have almost have been inappropriate to have a candle, and not played with the fire. And so it was that we began to build our very own campfire on the table of the Whistle and Flute.

You’ll see that the fire is pretty well contained in this picture. Strangely enough, it didn’t take long for things to get a little out of hand.

Cue Fire Alarm.