As the more observant will have noticed, the website has had something of a ‘tweak’ over the summer. Nothing major, just things moved around a bit, some coloured bits and a few more pictures. Still no fancy animations, pointless games or other nonsense. Partly because I can’t help thinking that any beer in need of a fancy website (the ones with 47 sound effects, 237.8 rollover effects and more flash than talent night done at the Pervert & Raincoat) must be lacking anything else that appeals, and partly because we can’t afford to pay someone clever, and so we have to rely on my limited talents.
However, on the whole the new look has ticked the right boxes with most people. But you can’t please everyone it seems, as we (indeed I, for ‘tis my fault) have offended a group hitherto unknown to anyone here. The ‘Sparrowhawk Anti-Deformation League’. Yup, them. As I am sure you are all aware, we have a picture on the website (and possibly in the gallery part of this here blog) of a Sparrowhawk enjoying a bit of pigeon for breakfast – and who doesn’t. I am not going to put a link in, so you’ll have to go and find it. Think of this as a little ‘Easter Egg’. Anyway, it appears – and I quote - ‘That in the 21st century it shouldn’t need to be pointed out that such images portray sparrowhawks in a bad light, and do great harm to the efforts made by many forward thinking sparrowhawks…’ ‘The fact we are happy to portray them (sparrowhawks) as aggressive meat eaters incapable of forming empathic symbiotic relationships with their so-called traditional enemies shows a level of ignorance we had hoped never to see again’. And so it goes on, in much the same tone. It seems that we are backward in not recognising that modern sparrowhawks, far from eating their fellow birds, are know helping them cross the road. I should apparently now be feeling ashamed to have not considered that there are vegetarian birds of prey, who have the right to be portrayed in a positive light that reflects ‘their invaluable contribution to modern society’.
Well, next time we’ll use an organic pigeon, stage props and special digital trickery to stage the whole photograph. Then feed both birds to one of the Montagu’s Harriers that spent the summer round here. Smashing.
On more positive, if less interesting matters, the really observant – or indeed the plain bored – will have spotted our use of Google Maps/Calendar to promote customers and festivals. Still unsure if this is a tool to help promote our more regular customers by pushing trade their way, or a means of coercing the less regular ones into buying more beer to get a listing. The festival listings – a calendar with map links – is perhaps the more useful for many, but then like all great ideas it has a major flaw. We don’t deal with many festivals… Oh well!
