Halfway

As of right now, I am halfway through the 2026 Booker Prize shortlist. 

I finished reading the third novel last night. The next one will be randomly selected sometime today.

The 'Booker Prize Marathon' post for this year will go live as soon as I've completed all six of the titles. However, I have a feeling I've read what will be the winner.

No spoilers.  Not yet, anyway.

We'll know for sure in twenty-seven days.

The Incident At Yorkshire Wildlife Park

I was stunned early on Saturday evening when I came across the footage of a man inside the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

I sensed it wasn't going to end well. For obvious reasons. My fears became a reality shortly after that when I caught the news an hour or so later.

Over the past couple of days, I've read some horrific takes by people on social media. Some claim the tiger should be put down. Then there are others calling the man names. 

In my opinion, the tiger did what is natural. It attacked what it considered to be its prey. As for the comments about the victim, the reasonable conclusion to make is he wouldn't have placed himself in a situation like that had they the capacity to judge the danger he was creating for himself. Empathy should be conveyed here. Not ridicule. 

It's a terrible situation for all involved.

Eagles @ Jacksonville In London (Again!)

The Eagles versus Jaguars has just kicked off.

Jacksonville are the designated home team, but have been booed by the seemingly heavy Philadelphia fan contingent at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Looks like it's going to be one of those games. (I wrote that sentence before the fight thirteen seconds in).

I have Philadelphia to win straight up in the ESPN contest I play in each week. I've also selected them in ESPN's against the spread contest. They're +6.5 in that.

The Eagles are 5-3 (63%) straight up from all eight times they've played the Jags.

Philly are also 1-0 (100%) straight up and against the spread from their previous visit to London. Their opponents on that 2018 day? None other than this week's opponents.

The tables appear in my NFL handicapping book - Taylor's Pro Football Gambling Annual 2026. You can read more about it by following THIS LINK.

Mike Ditka

I realised something yesterday.

Upon hearing that legendary NFL head coach - Mike Ditka - had passed away, I thought about what I would write about him in today's post.

It struck me - Mike Ditka is the first coach that I ever see win a Super Bowl. In fact, I would go so far as to say, Mike Ditka must be the first 'manager' I've ever seen win any sporting award.

I was very young when the 1985 Chicago Bears were doing the business. I didn't follow football (soccer!) much back then. I was still a few months away from from obsessing over the Mexico 1986 World Cup. Before that, the Bears won the Super Bowl.

As I was quite young, I obviously didn't 'watch' the Super Bowl XX win live. But, I kept up on the news thanks to frequently keeping up with the NFL through the Channel 4 coverage. 

I didn't really root much for a team back then. I enjoyed following the Bears' run to the Super Bowl thanks mainly to how much of an iconic star William 'The Refrigerator' Perry was back during my childhood. 

The Fridge scored a surprising touchdown during the Bears' Vince Lombardi Trophy win over the New England Patriots in that game. It was a shocking call because Perry's main position was in defence. He came in as fullback to add to what resulted in a 46-10 score.

The one-yard play was called by Ditka. 

Yet Another McDonald's World Menu Heist Post

On September 23rd, I wrote a post about the return of McDonald's World Menu Heist promotion and mentioned the global restaurant brand had introduced a couple of new burgers. In the post, I wrote about trying out Canada's Maple and Cheddar Chicken and noted I would try the Big Rosti when I next ordered.

Well, it's time to deliver the promise...

McDonald's Big Rosti (Germany)

The Big Rosti burger is inspired by Germany. It contains a British and Irish beef patty layered with a potato rosti (obviously!), streaky bacon, a cheese slice, creamy bacconnaise and cheese sauces inside a glazed bun.

I had asked a friend from Germany if one of these burgers is available on the menus in his country. I was told it might be a special item which appears around Oktoberfest. 

As for the UK rendition - it was okay. I found mine to be a bit messy (as you'll be able to see below). Not that that's a complaint. I enjoyed it. But that's all. The potato rosti sure did make it stand out from other limited edition burgers from McDonald's but it isn't enough to make me want to go out of my way to buy should it appear again in future.

McDonald's Guava X Sprite Zero (India)

I didn't feel compelled to try the Guava X Sprite Zero drink with September's order. 

I don't find guava to be an enjoyable flavour of fruit and I'm not keen on Sprite Zero. Having both in a collaboration made me doubly disinterested in trying the drink. However, I thought 'I may as well' while choosing the refreshment part of the Big Rosti meal.

The Guava Sprite is meant to represent McDonald's restaurants from India. I initially surmised that the reason why may be because guavas originated from that part of the world. They, in fact, don't. According to my research, the fruit comes from the Americas.

My instincts turned out correct. I didn't enjoy the drink. It teased refreshment at first, but I was then struck by the sandpaper-like scratch down the back of my throat. This is the sensation I always get from drinking Ginger Beer. If you know, you know.

McDonald's Szechuan Dip (China)

Another item I had close to zero interest in last month was the Szechuan dip which represents McDonald's China.

I suspected it would be somewhat spicy so passed. However, just like with the Sprite, I concluded 'I may as well' and added the dip to the order.

The sauce was initially used to dip my fries and mac & cheese triangles in. I am pleased to confirm it wasn't spicy at all. It was more like soy sauce.

Off all the items I ordered for this post, I found the Szechuan dip to be the most pleasing. I suppose that's because I had the lowest of expectations. It sure did surprise me.

I ended up dipping the burger into the sauce. That's how much I wanted to experience it.

So, to close, I urge you to simply buy whatever you want for yourself. What ever you do - you must try the dip!

Goodreads Upgrades Its Ratings System

I received an email from Goodreads yesterday with some brilliant news.

The social media website for bookworms has upgraded the way people can rate books once they've finished reading them.

Before now, the way to grade a title is to give them between one and five stars. There was no option which allowed readers to, for example, give a book three-and-a-half stars. That's no longer an issue. We can now do that.

It's not just halves that can be given out. It's also possible to give quarters.

Here's a clip showing how it's possible.

This obviously makes it easier for me when it comes to sorting out the books on the Booker Prize shortlist. In the past, I had to point out which - of at least two novels with identical star ratings - was superior. 

I faced a similar situation earlier this week reading the 2026 shortlisted titles.

I Try Surreal's KFCereal

I've just had KFC for breakfast.

Yes, you read that right. I've just had KFC for breakfast. Not in the way you're imagining it, though.

First, I should back track.

A few weeks ago, I came across a post on TAFKA Twitter which showed a box of breakfast cereal with the KFC logo. 

'Okay,' I thought. 'You have my attention.'

A Surreal purchase and delivery

The cereal is made by a UK company named Surreal. It produces healthy breakfast products made with high protein and low sugar content. I browsed the website and found the KFC cereal for £6. It was an instant purchase.

A few days later, the parcel arrived at my door. Inside was the box of cereal (obviously!) but also a cool bit of marketing - a chicken themed newspaper named The Breakfast Times.

Looks brilliant, doesn't it?

It took me a few days to actually open the cereal itself because I had a plan.

To have the authentic KFCereal experience, I had to try the cereal with real KFC gravy. I ordered a small tub, with yesterday's lunch and kept it until this morning.

Tasting Surreal's KFCereal for the first time

Upon opening the cereal bag, I took a sniff. The first thing I thought was 'it smells a bit like the Walkers crisps from the KFC promotion' 

As you can see above, the cereal looks just like.. well, just like regular breakfast cereal. It didn't with my next act:

After heating the gravy for a minute (with a thirty second stir session in-between!), I poured it on top of my breakfast.

It felt peculiar to have a breakfast cereal with a chicken flavouring. On top of that, it was also off-putting to have the cereal with gravy instead of milk.

Double Discombobulation.

I didn't count how many spoonfuls I had. I suppose I had enough to forget how many. However, I reached a point of realisation where I noticed the gravy had made the breakfast too seasoned for my liking. The spiciness forced me to tap out earlier than anticipated.

Plan B is to try this cereal the old fashioned way.

Would I buy KFCereal again?

To be frank, I consider KFCereal for what it is: a gimmick. It is a brilliant one at that. However, I don't believe I'll ever go out of my way to buy it in the future. I certainly won't try original KFC gravy with it again. On a plus side, the Surreal-KFC collaboration introduced me to Surreal's products. I notice one of their cereals is peanut butter flavoured. Regular visitors will know how much I love both Reese's and Aldi's peanut butter breakfast offerings, so I plan to at least give Surreal's version a try.

Until then, I'm going to battle away at this box of KFCereal. 

With milk.