"Roll on those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. Those days of soda and pretzels and beer..." this is the one song that, in my opinion, captures the essence of summer. Although pretzels and beer have been replaced with wasabi peanuts and martinis, Nat King Cole couldn't have said it better. Summer is here, and yours for the taking, it really just depends on what you're after – lazy, hazy or crazy?

The 177th edition of the world's largest piss-up starts on Saturday, September 18. Having barely survived last year's edition, Piet van Niekerk does his best to avoid political correctness as he explains what it's all about.

"Belissima", I thought when I drained the last of the bitter brew from a chipped, white, porcelain cup. After years of imagined ideas of what Venezia might be like, I was here - just before the rains start.