Tuesday April 29th 2025 "Morals are definitely getting looser and not just in the 'fleshpots' of Basingstoke!"

Yes, friends, if you read the papers conscientiously (if you can bear it!), you'll know that morals these days are getting a lot looser, and not just locally, here in Hampshire, in the 'fleshpots' of Basingstoke, Middle Wallop, and the like. It's becoming a worldwide trend, would you believe!

And if you follow the local news from places like Syria, traditionally a conservative stronghold, you'll see glimpses of the trend even there, which is a worry, to put it mildly!!!!

It's a shocking story, isn't it. And by the way, my thanks, as always, to the late editions of this morning's Damascus Onion for alerting me to this particular development.

It's a worrying trend, no doubt about that, and one which my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I are talking about this morning, as we take our daily walk, this time on Ludshott Common, just 6 miles away from our new home in rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, before later stopping in for an americano at Applegarth's Farm Shop.

As you can see, even on our walk, just like Damascus harlot Fatma al-Qaawi, we're already exposing a "slight wedge of skin below the neckline", and later, at a table outside popular Applegarth's Farm Shop and Café, we throw caution (and our coats!) to the winds, in a daring display of semi-nudity.

Luckily it's fairly quiet this morning. On our 45-minute (4000=step!) walk over the common, we pass only two other people, (1) an overweight, middle-aged Englishman with walking poles who keeps stopping for a rest, and (2) an elderly Scottish woman who bustles past us with a small dog. 

And, despite our near-nudity, the Englishman fails to "proposition" Lois, and the Scottish woman doesn't "proposition" me. And we (obviously) resist the temptation to greet them with a jaunty "Hello Sailor!" or "Fancy a good time, dearie?" as we stop to smell the honeysuckle, so our 'outing' today passes off reasonably peacefully (!).

"Fancy a good time, dearie?"

We've got a good excuse for our daring outfits today, however, you see, because the temperature is going to get up to 77F (25C), the warmest day of the year so far - and that's official. And not only that, but weathermen say there's more to come, which is nice! Phew, what a scorcher !!!!!

A few days ago, in the evenings, Lois and I were turning our little electric mini-heater up to max, but tonight, by contrast, we've even got a window open somewhere. That British weather - I don't know !!!

What a crazy country we live in !!!!!

20:00 Wearing next to nothing (not shown !) and with a window open somewhere - in the kitchen, I think (!), Lois and I settle down on the couch to watch a bit of "telly" before going to bed.

a typical semi-nude couple watching TV

"But what are you and Lois watching tonight?", I hear you cry! [Not me, I'm currently propping up the bar at my local 'gargle-factory' with my jacket partly unbuttoned! - Ed] 

Well, regular readers to this column will have noted that Lois and I tend to eschew drama series, especially the violent ones and all the crime ones generally, of which there are, like, billions (more probably!), and instead go for a nice "poncey" documentary (or three, preferably (!). 

And we're not the only ones, apparently. Tonight, Lois reads me out this thoughtful "reader's letter" that she's spotted in our copy of next week's Radio Times, which "plopped" through our letterbox this afternoon.

Well said, that woman! Or rather "well written!". Our views entirely!

And with Dawn Miller's letter in mind (see above!), Lois and I decide to watch something nice and peaceful again tonight, a reality TV series set in the peaceful Yorkshire countryside, where some local couple, Amanda and Clive are still doing up some old stone farmhouse on their land, apparently.

Amanda and Clive got married about 25 years ago, then separated in 2022, but are now officially back together again, at least on paper. 

And surprise, surprise, the larger-tha-average age difference between them -  Amanda is 50 and Clive is in his 60's - is still giving rise to continued speculation about their love life. In the early years of their marriage, despite their busy life as Yorkshire farmers, they found time to have 9 children, but, since then, the babies have simply "stopped coming", which is a worry. "What's going on, exactly?", is what viewers must be asking.

In tonight's programme, Amanda, in a tender moment, comes the closest she's come so far to revealing that the couple might be having problems. And it comes as she watches poor old Clive "shambling" his way round the farmyard.

And, to make matters worse, Clive is even having problems now with getting on his little 'farmer's quad-bike', which is even more worrying, with a busy farm to run.

Poor Clive !!!!!!

But what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh go to bed! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!!

Monday April 28th 2025 "At last - something to keep local teens off the streets! 'Cool' boardgames!"

Have you heard the news? An enterprising local youth pastor who can talk theology with his "church mates" but can also "get down with the kids" has introduced what Hampshire has been crying out for for years - a 'cool' rec room where they can unwind without bothering their parents or pretty much anybody else! Source: Onion News.

It's true, a lot of young people locally have been criticising the new 'rec room' as "so patronising", "insulting" even, I know, but it's just the kind of 'space' that my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I would have jumped at the chance of using in our own teenage years, that's for sure, and I'm certain we would have described it as "just the ticket".

By coincidence, Lois and I were both "oldest kids" in our respective families, and we both grew up being "the sensible ones", each of us being, at the same time, something of a "goody two shoes", and rather shy with it, I'm afraid

Take me for example - please !!!!

me, (left) reading a book on Burnham beach, Somerset, while my friends 

and siblings were playing beach cricket, and (right) playing chess 

with myself in the back garden of our house in Bristol

Poor me !!!!! 

However, after "hooking up" with Lois in the late 1960's, I'm happy to say that this particular "goody two shoes" found his natural soulmate, who also happened to be a "goody two shoes", not quite as bad as me, although at least a "goody one-and-a-half shoes", thus becoming what we call either a rare example of a "goody four shoes", or at least "3.5-goody-two-shoes, as the case may be, which was nice!

Yes, we weren't "rebels", either of us, in any shape or form, to put it mildly!

[Tricky concept but nicely phrased, Colin, if I may say so! - Ed]

{left) goody-two-shoes me, playing solo-chess, (centre) Lois, 

a goody-one-and-a-half-to-two-shoes playing solo-tennis 

in the park, and (right) us as a "goody-four-shoes"- awwwwwww!!!!

I'm thinking back at all this today, because, sadly, Lois's dear cousin Iris passed away on Saturday afternoon, at the age of 91, and Lois and I have both been looking at our old photos of Iris, and recalling our memories of her.

(left) Iris as a teenager, with her brother Brian and little Lois 

between them, and (right) Iris with Lois the last time we saw her, 

back in 2019, in a Southport care-home, just before Covid 

Iris was much more adventurous than Lois and me in her teenage years, leaving school at 16. No A-Levels or 'poncey' college for her (!). 

On leaving school, Iris trained to be a telephone operator, 'bombing' about Oxford on her moped. And Lois recalls witnessing a blazing row between Iris and her father on what she saw as her right to wear make-up, after which Iris "stormed out of the house", Lois remembers.

We find the picture of Iris getting married to Alex (late 50's / early 60's) where, bridesmaid Lois is looking shyly down at her own feet, somewhat true to form (!). I've got tons of pictures of me doing just that on some big occasion [not shown] !!!!

Dear Iris - rest in peace, you've earned it, if anybody has.

And yes, just like Lois, I'm shy and self-conscious in public too - but that's not a crime (yet!). And I'm also an idiot, apparently, another thing hat I've owned up to publicly on my own social media organ, "Colin Social". 

For a joke last week, I put up a new Facebook "cover photo" of myself showcasing one of my latest DIY disasters, and I also amended the about-me "bio-section" in my Facebook "profile" to the one-word label 'idiot', which at the time I thought was hilarious.

Now, however, LinkedIn, the networkers' website for professional careerists, is trying to "pair me up" with others who've labelled themselves as 'idiots'. Whether, like me, they're joking or  whether they're being serious about it, isn't immediately clear (!). The website's idea is evidently that all us "idiots" might like to "network" with each other - whatever that means !!!

To give you an idea, the following was what the top of my email list looked like this morning - these suggested 'fellow-idiots' just keep on  coming - look, there's another one! 

Poor Tim!!!  Incidentally, I've 'blacked out' poor Tim's last name in the above list, to save him possible embarrassment. There's also, seemingly. another self-confessed "idiot" who's a cinema owner in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, of all places, and whom the website suggests I could network with if I'm desperate (!). What a crazy world we live in !!!

And by the way, don't be too alarmed by the other emails "bubbling up" there in my email inbox this morning (!). 

The "Trump Threatens To Defund Beauty Schools That Don't Comply [With MAGA standards]" item in my mailbox is just a spoof-story. thankfully, a bit of what's called these days 'fake news' (!). It wasn't mentioned in tonight's BBC documentary about Donald Trump, anyway (!).

This is the kind of thing the BBC does so well, in our opinion. Although the view of Trump in the UK is overwhelmingly negative to put it mildly, we would say - I've heard the quote (from myself!) "Making the world safe for plutocracy" (!), the programme tonight acknowledges that Trump has very strong and loyal support in large sections of US society, and the BBC gives us a thoroughly impartial analysis, drawing almost entirely on American opinion, both pro- and anti-Trump in equal measure, which is what we want.

There's some UK contribution from Chatham House, however, the UK's premier independent International Affairs think-tank, which is interesting.

On Trump's trade tariffs, Amesha Cross, former advisor to Obama, says that the biggest loser is the American people, because they bought into the rhetoric, but also because "for whatever reason, they believed Donald Trump would allow for more money in their pockets":

On the other hand, Greg Swenson for Republicans Abroad, puts the opposite view:

And finally we hear the UK's Chatham House think-tank's director Bronwen Maddox, giving her view:

Greg Swenson, for Republicans Abroad, sums up Trump's first 100 days in the following way:

Bronwen Maddox, however, for the UK's Chatham House think-tank, believes that the main beneficiary worldwide of the Trump presidency, may in the longer term, turn out to be China.

Yikes!

I wonder......!

Fascinating stuff, though, isn't it !

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!!