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Boozing hamsters

Feedback has a soft spot for hamsters, whose hoarding and nesting behaviours are similar to our own. Our feeling of oneness only increases with an article in The Atlantic forwarded to us by Peter Hamer: .

Hamsters have a high tolerance for strong alcohol, we read, scoring low on a special scale of falling over sideways no matter how much they imbibe. We wonder how the statistics are skewed if you鈥檙e just going round and round on a wheel at the time, but nevertheless we add hamsters to our pile, accumulated over aeons, of animals that science says can take their booze.

This list includes bonobos, chimpanzees and bats, which is just as well, because getting entangled with an inebriated bat is a thought that doesn鈥檛 bear much thinking about. It most definitely doesn鈥檛 include cows, horses, rampaging elephants and the cedar waxwing bird. Their frequent collisions with fences and glass windows in the Los Angeles area were shown in 2012 to be down to the fruit of the Brazilian pepper tree fermenting in their internal food storage pouches.

Don鈥檛 try that at home. This being Dry January, we burrow deeper into our extensive piling system and root out a Physiology & Behavior that we were saving for bedding material. Entitled 鈥淭omato juice, chocolate drink, and other fluids suppress volitional drinking of alcohol in the female Syrian golden hamster鈥�, it provides a way to get your hamster off the wheel and onto the wagon: ply it with calorie-rich hot chocolate. We rarely say no to that, either.

What鈥檚 in a name?

鈥淚 know it鈥檚 a bit early to get up this year, but nominative determinism won鈥檛 go away just because you鈥檙e having a lie-in,鈥� writes Mike Egan from County Meath in Ireland, ignoring the squeaking of our treadmill. We have only ever expressed that as a hope, Mike, not an expectation.

, he writes. Others point out that Mark Rocket is the , and duck lover Alan Gosling was named last week as the first person known to have contracted bird flu in the UK. Vegetation of the Peak District is a book by Nature on publication in 1913 that , authored by C. E. Moss. Our sincere thanks to all as ever.

Big in Basingstoke

A tweet from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council sent in by Gwynneth Page indicates that we may have followers in that jewel of northern Hampshire. 鈥淥ur street cleansing team have been sweeping leaves from the borough鈥檚 streets as part of our annual leaf clearance schedule,鈥� they . 鈥淪ince October, the team have collected 560 tonnes of leaves 鈥� the equivalent to 112 adult elephants!鈥�

Gwynneth confesses difficulty in visualising a pile of leaves equal to an elephant in weight. Us too, but we reckon that, spread out thinly, the whole lot would cover an area about the size of Basingstoke.

Pitch perfect

How much is that in football pitches? Courtesy, in a convoluted way, of an in the Financial Times drawn to our attention by Michael Zehse, we find ourselves consulting the for a steer.

If that sounds like fun, it is, revealing a line-up of recommended football pitch sizes ranging from 40 by 30 yards for the little 鈥榰ns to 110 by 70 yards for the fully sized. Pre-revolutionary units still reign supreme in this corner of Merrie Olde England. We make that a full factor 6.4 range in football pitch sizes, which is a satisfyingly variable measurement standard. Just don鈥檛 complain about shifting the goalposts, they can be anything from 12 to 24 feet apart.

Ashes to ashes鈥�

Congratulations to 鈥淗untingdon in Bloom鈥� 鈥� the Cambridgeshire town has received an Outstanding commendation in the Green Solutions category of the . Our thanks to Ralph Platten for pointing out that 鈥渙f particular note is the recycling of heat generated by the UK鈥檚 first electric crematorium to warm a glasshouse that will be used to propagate and grow plants for the town鈥檚 flowerbeds, containers and community projects鈥�. Charming.

Elementary, again

鈥淎nd finally鈥� is a phrase that strikes fear into the hearts of UK TV news viewers, . So, and finally, Dave Hawke from Devizes, UK, wins some form of kudos, not just for rocking one of the few English place names not stressed on its first syllable (Penzance; Carlisle; the -hamptons; feel free to go on your own mental journey), but for a late-breaking reply to our call for elementary names (11 December 2021).

He introduces us to the Um siblings, Ray D, Barry, (H)erbi, Ceri, Reni, Ruby and Moly B. D., 鈥渓astly not to forget Uncle Nick Hall鈥�. Thank you, Dave, although if you鈥檙e looking for Pseudo Names, it is . But frankly it鈥檚 Dry January, and we鈥檒l do anything for laughs.

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