The whole is often better than the sum of its parts, and it's been an excellent time for good things being mixed together to make fine new metathings.

Firstly, we have the Spike Island open day. They show off their artworks, and they scatter bars liberally through their complex. Is it a pub, is it an art gallery, no, it's an artpub, and they even manage some decent beer.

Then, I find out you can put chicken with bacon. I can't be bothered with some kind of conjoined name, just try it. You know you want to.

Now, as if good metathings just had to come in threes, there's nano robot football. Thanks to Glenn for the link. All I need now is some chess pie.

But just to remind us that metathings have their dark side, we have the Spice Girls reunion. Frankly, it's bad enough when good bands do it, but are we really to suffer the reimagineering of every pop svengali's instant celebrity cloneset?

They were supposed to have been packaged so carefully, there'd be one for each of us, as I recall. Fat chance. No, I didn't. No, really. Oh all right, Sporty. Happy now? No, you don't need to know what she'd be wearing. There is such a thing as too much information you know.