Do you sometimes go home from work in the evening feeling jaded, and thinking about maybe calling in sick next morning? Most of us do, most weeks, don't we - and I think some NHS "health boffins" are working on why this is, but their report isn't out yet.
Even my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I, ourselves now safely retired for19 years (!), are beginning to notice that it's affecting a lot of people around us here in semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire.
The papers this morning were headlining one of their heart-rending stories - did you see the Onion News "take" on it?
Just today, mine and Lois's grandson Isaac (14) rang our doorbell around 5pm. He'd been due to take part in a "dualogue" with a fellow student at his school here in Liphook, in preparation for his forthcoming Drama GCSE exam, but this was all thwarted when his opposite number suddenly went off sick just as they were about to go on stage in his school's assembly hall, which was a pity. Isaac says that the guy actually threw up, just before going on stage, which put an end to the charges of "faking it", to put it mildly!
Our grandson Isaac, seen here in a recent picture,
with Lois (left) and Isaac's mum, our dear daughter Alison
Isaac had a tough decision to make, but it was the right one, Lois and I think, when he abandoned an attempt to do the dualogue "solo", unable to think of a way of making his unanswered "lines" sound 100% convincing.
To be fair, however, Isaac's classmate's "no show" turns out to be a somewhat isolated "duff" moment in an otherwise successful day, which was a relief!
Let me put my cards on the table at this point. As well as being young Isaac's drama rehearsal, today is also Lois's long-awaited 79th birthday, and although in another "duff" incident, delivery company Evri has not managed to deliver my present to her, due to unexplained "delays" (!), I save the situation, quite deftly I think, although I say it myself.
I decide to give Lois a blank cheque to pop into a clothing and knick-knacks shop in nearby Grayshott today to choose a little extra gift for herself from me, by way of compensation, which was nice of me - I'm all heart haha!!!
She selects a nice pair of earrings, and then we drive on to Adriano's Italian Restaurant in nearby Beacon Hill for a slap-up birthday lunch - Italian style!
we pop into a knick-knacks shop in Grayshott, where Lois chooses a pair
of earrings as an extra birthday present, and then we drive to Beacon Hill
for a slap-up Italian-style birthday lunch at Adriano's
Because it's actually a really cold, damp day, which is a pity. As we Brits always say, however, the rain will be good for the garden, and after the meal Lois and I go home to sleep the meal off in a nice warm bed, which is a comfort, to put it mildly, and it gives Lois a chance to showcase her shiny new birthday earrings, which is nice!
We can't stay in bed too long this afternoon, however, because we know our grandson Isaac will be coming out of school and ringing our doorbell after his school drama practice, which we duly does, bless him (!), and we drive him over to his home in nearby Churt, where Isaac's mum - our daughter Alison - has prepared a special birthday tea for Lois, which is nice.
it's a cold damp day, but when we come home to sleep off
our lunch during statutory "nap-time" it gives birthday girl
Lois a chance to showcase her shiny new earrings
(from the left, clockwise round the table: Lois, Isaac (14), our granddaughters
Rosalind (16) and Josie (18), our daughter Alison (49), and me (79)
Alison's husband, our son-in-law Edward, can't be here for Lois's birthday tea, because he's away on business doing something important (!). He's a hotshot London lawyer working for Transport UK, and only this week he was meeting with former Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Conservative Party leadership contender, James Cleverly, for talks about the current problems of some of Transport UK's railway companies, or something of the kind - we're not sure exactly, and we don't always understand Ed when he's "talking business", to put it mildly!
"Railway Ball" at London's Intercontinental Hotel, and (right) former
Foreign Secretary Sir James Cleverly meeting Japan's Yoshimasa Hayashi:
Sir James was Ed's "eleven o'clock" one morning this week
Edward himself has just turned 50 a week or so ago, and there's lots of his left-over birthday wrapping paper and cards in evidence in their house today, to put it mildly! There's even a left-over "50" on Lois's birthday cake when she blows out the two left-over candles.
Lois blows out the two left-over candles on the birthday
cake our daughter Alison has baked for her for the occasion
Ali didn't have a "79 set" handy, apparently, and who can blame her! She and Edward will have plenty of time to stock up with one of those: they won't be 79 till the year 2054 - yikes, what a horrible thought!
When that day dawns, Lois and I will be 108 "if we're spared", as Lois's dear late dad Dennis always used to say !!!!!
Lois and I pause to look at our son-in-law Ed's left-over cards
and souvenirs etc from his recent 50th birthday celebrations
The family are currently living in a rental home in Churt, Surrey, while their real home over the county line in Headley, Hampshire is being "refurbished" - "gutted" might be a better word for it, at least as it looks now (!). Their current landlords are a Swedish couple, hence the "retro" Swedish "Mora" grandfather-style clock in the picture above. Just saying !!!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!
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