Five things from the grab bag...

Short on inspiration, I'm falling back on the old trope of five things makes a post:

1. having discovered that we share similar musical tastes, I lent PM the first 10 volumes of John Eliot Gardiner's Bach Cantata Pilgrimage — something that resulted in much hand rubbing and many mutterings of, "My precious. They can't have it. Nasty hobbitses..."
2. via Dr S, the disturbing news of a hostage crisis at Météo-France
3. the simple, but surprising pleasures of coloured water on a superhydrophobic surface
4. I've noticed a sudden and uncharacteristic desire to overuse exclamation marks, especially with simple sentences. I have no idea where this sudden sense of enthusiasm has come from, but I'm sure it won't last!
5. there is no item five!