Today is St Patrick’s Day, where people who ordinarily would struggle to locate Ireland on a map suddenly realise that because some dim and distant relative may, possibly, once have had carnal knowledge of an Irish peasant, that they are de-facto Irish, at least, for the day.

Today, millions of people will gaze lovingly at the alter of the hand-pump as pints of Guinness are drawn out to gasps of delight from the drinkers.

However, it is the Guinness aspect of the whole shebang that puzzles me.

I find it curious – not that a specific beverage has become linked to the Irish culture as that is commonplace – but that it attracts such adoration. To say “I don’t like Guinness” is to attract pitying looks of disbelief as the heretical unbeliever is repeatedly exhorted to repent their sinful views and join the congregation in worship.

Can you imagine any other food or drink where it is presumed that the entire human population must like it? Not even chocolate can command such an abandonment of common sense. If I were to argue that everyone should, indeed MUST like chocolate with the fervour that I have received from the Guinness drinking classes, you’d all think I was going slightly la-la.

No Guinness doesn’t switch from vile to delightful when poured in a special way, and no, I am not going to keep trying something I don’t like on the random off-chance that I might “acquire” a taste for it.

Guinness is to the drinks industry, what Apple is to the computer industry as both command a degree of fervent loyalty that is religious in intensity and goes far beyond logical reason.

An apple computer owning Guinness drinker could possibly be the worst horror ever inflicted upon humanity.

So, tonight I will not be drinking a dark stout in celebration of my non-existent Irish genes. I won’t be racing around the place wearing a giant felt hat that was stitched together in a Vietnamese factory, and most importantly, I won’t be dancing badly to Irish folk music.

I might eat some potatoes though.

I am not actually in the market for some new furniture at the moment – although the sofa could do with repair work – but I do enjoy scanning down auction house website catalogues every so often.

When clicking though auctions for domestic interiors though, I have sometimes been surprised not just how expensive some antiques can be, but also how comparatively cheap some can be.

As a long-term watcher of Antique’s Roadshow, I know that for some reason, tables seem to be shockingly expensive for what they are. I presume this is due to rarity, as not many families would have space for, let alone be able to afford a dining table 150+ years ago.

The same for simple looking kitchen chairs. Again I am guessing that the rickey old kitchen chair got thrown on the bonfire rather than restored after its 500th accident, so rarity adds value.

However, counterbalancing that is the seemingly good value that sofa chairs seem to offer.

Accepting that not everyone wants a chair that looks like the sort of thing your granny perpetually sat in when you were a tiny kid – but I often see chairs that could almost be modern – and at prices not that different from the high street. Oddly, actual modern chairs sold at auction are very expensive, because of the designer label.

I sometimes wonder if the people shopping in Ikea or John Lewis realise that they could buy a Victorian or even Georgian era chair for a price comparable to what they are paying for a good modern version?

Two Late 19th Century Victorian Leather Chairs
Estimate £300-£400 each

Eight 19th Century North European Dining Chairs
Estimate £75 – £110 each

Five mid-18th Century Mahogany Dining Chairs (George II era)
Estimate £100 – £125 each

Late Victorian Walnut Wing Armchair (OK, this is the granny chair!)
Estimate £500 – £700

I think that given the choice between a modern bit of mass production furniture and paying maybe 10% more to get something that looks comparable, but is over 100 years old, then I think I would prefer the older item.

The downside is that you can spend ages waiting for just the right item to come up for sale – then get outbid by another buyer. Then again, it took me over two months to buy my current sofa as it was perpetually out of stock and no other shops sold anything I liked.

I wonder how much cheaper items would be at house-clearance type sales as opposed to the rarefied airs of Christie’s as the items above are from.

My attention has been drawn to a newish feature on the BBC website that aims to review blogs from around the world “for a special BBC season about the power of the internet”.

…well, at least they will until the cutbacks in the BBC’s website start to take effect.

Starting on March 8th the BBC will be airing short TV and radio slots in English, Arabic and Farsi, talking with some of the bloggers they feature. That probably gives you a feel for the sort of blogs they want to review, which for me at least makes the project more interesting as I do like to keep up to date with international news and opinion.

They are seeking recommendations, either via email on super.power@bbc.co.uk, comment on their website, or via twitter @bbc_blogworld.

As a bit of a fan of tunnels under London, I am often asked about the oft-rumoured tube tunnel that allegedly links Buckingham Palace to, depending on the rumour, Downing Street or Green Park.

It is claimed that the tube was built so that the Royal Family can escape in times of war or insurrection.

Sadly, the rumours are utterly unfounded.

There are indeed some tunnels under London that are pseudo-secret, but they can be inferred from sealed files in the National Archives or provable tales from the people who built them in the first place.

However, Annie Mole carried a report about The Queen visiting Aldgate station yesterday to unveil a memorial plaque for the July 7th bombings. Her Majesty was also photographed standing next to a specially mocked up tube station sign that read “Buckingham Palace”.

I give it all of about 15 minutes before that photo is cited by tin-foil wearing brigade as PROOF that there is a secret tube station at Buckingham Palace.

If you want to read about the real “secret tunnel” under Whitehall – click here.

Update: In the time it took me to type this (inc coffee breaks), someone has already questioned the existence of a tube tunnel under Buckingham Palace on Annie Mole’s photo!

There are hopes that one of the Cold War’s most iconic military aircraft, the Avro Vulcan will make a flight over London in 2012 for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee – but the flight is under threat due to a lack of money.

There are a few planes in various states of restoration, and a couple of years ago, one of them was able to make its “maiden flight” as a fully restored plane. However, the charity that maintains it is now in financial problems and may have to mothball the plane.

Photo courtesy of Vulcan to the Sky Trust

With realistically, just a eighteen months to go before the plane has to be confirmed to be part of the fly past over London, the timing is an appalling blow to the charity.

With under £200,000 raised since November against a goal of £800,000, the Trust needs to raise over £300,000 in new pledges by the end of February to justify a stay of execution, followed by a further £300,000 in pledges by the end of March.

At this moment (24th Feb), they have just a few days left to raise the remaining £100,000 needed to stop the shut-down.

At the moment, they are just seeking pledges to donate, not actual cash – so you don’t even need to get your wallet out. Just click a link and fill in the form, or you can make a cash donation right now.

The Vulcan XH558 is the only flying Vulcan in the world, and is also the oldest complete Vulcan anywhere: her first ever test flight was on 25th May 1960, so 2010 is her 50th Anniversary year.

As a fund-raiser, the charity it attempting to set a world record by getting the most signatures on a 50th birthday card, and you can add your name here.

Although it looks like a fighter jet sized plane in the video, it is actually a very big bomber – with a wingspan of 99 feet, about half the width of a football field.

Photo courtesty of Vulcan to the Sky Trust

If you want to see a Vulcan bomber up close, there is one in the RAF Museum in North London – with slightly amusingly – the bomber bay in the plane having been converted into a mini-cinema showing an educational film about the plane. That plane is grounded, but if you want to see one in the air again – click here to pledge a donation.

To add an element of topicality to the blog posting – it should be remembered that it was the Vulcan bombers that made the then record breaking flight from the UK to the Falkland Islands to bomb Port Stanley Airport. With the Falklands back in the news again, you never know, they might need that last remaining Vulcan to be called back into service again!