I went out in my car today for the first time since having it MOT'd on Monday. I took the cross-country route to Manningtree, via Stutton, where I saw a sign near Griff Rhys Jones' house saying "Partridges - £2 each". Having narrowly missed a couple of pheasants half a mile earlier, I did feel it was a bit like putting "Roadkill - two for a fiver", but I was still quite tempted. If I could get my hands on a pear tree, I'd have one heck of a Christmas display.

Anyhoo, having arrived at the Co-op car park in Manningtree, I noticed this little green tag hanging from my car's indicator arm:


It would have been nice of them to have pointed it out to me before I'd driven the 15 miles home on Monday, and another 14 today, but hey, you can't have everything. And there was me thinking the pheasants were the lucky ones when I braked hard on the way there.

But even more exciting than my ability to survive that journey, was my visit to the charity shop where I once obtained under-the-counter adult videos. Sadly there was nothing of that nature there today, but I did buy a game called 'Perudo - South American Liar Dice'. I bought it partly because it was only £1, partly because it contains 30 dice, meaning I'll never be caught short for a game of Risk again, but mainly because it says this on the box...


... which made me laugh enough to part with a pound.

Upon returning home however, I've discovered that Perudo is far more than just a charity shop stocking-filler - you can play it online at www.perudo.org. And what's more, it has its very own world governing body - FISA (Federation Internationale de Sanataba Association) (no, really) - set up in Italy in 1857 by a band of professional dice-chuckers. Their website states:

"As Perudo comes back into fashion we've had a lot of visitors asking what the difference between Perudo Santaba, Perudo, Liars' Dice, Liari, Dudo and Cachos is".

It's something I've wondered myself. Fortunately FISA can tell us:

"The answer is not much really".

So that's cleared that one up.

But most exciting (and life-changing) of all, is this nugget o' news...

"You can download and play the official FISA online version of Sanataba below. The game can be used freely for a 60 day period at which point you can register to continue playing. Please note, this game awards official FISA seedings; if you achieve a top ten ranking you will be eligible to play in the 2005 FISA Roma Championships".

Oh yessss! You can play for free, and if you're any good, you get invited to Rome to join the ranks of the Perudo pros, and a life of laughs, luxury, and professional Perudo playing!

So that's my future sorted out. All I need to do now is learn how to play...