The gushing Hose of News has been turned off.
The last article has been checked, corrected, rechecked and hand-burnished by craftspeople. No semicolons survive. The Editor is having a hissy fit. Spurtle’s legal adviser has gone to bed with two Ibuprofens and a bottle of whisky. All is well in the barony.
Issue 237 has now entered the eye-swivelling production stage and will be out on the streets of Broughton within days.
It contains mind-bending morsels on all manner of neighbourhood topics, including: retail developments and anniversary discounts, artistic endeavour, fun with secateurs, Post Office reading, a lofty absence, a revised political presence, an exasperating champion sorely missed, tweets, e-goolies, firework fun, history, mysterious depths, Groundhog Days, the Moon and Space, awards, brickbats, guinea-pigs, dream gigs, confined spaces, creativity with kail, grating gates, poetry, prose, photography, and – finally – the closest you'll ever get to Ursula Andress in Broughton given that we're not talking about a scantily clad woman striding out of the sea.
All this and more will soon be yours, in newsagents, pubs, cafés, clubs, studios, workshops, hair salons, large hadron colliders, restaurants, libraries, and purveyors of specialty requisites for those with more money than sense. You name it, Spurtle is probably cluttering up one of its corners.
Alternatively, you’ll be able to download it in colour from our Home page at the beginning of February.
In the meantime, if you have more news for us over the next few days, or would like to offer your services to the cause of independent hyperlocal journalism, please get in touch at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook