Tuesday June 17th 2025 "Today's a day to celebrate - so break out your "bippety-boppety hats" haha !!!!"

"Get ahead, get a hat!" - that's what people used to say, wasn't it! And with all this "heatwave" weather finally starting to show its face, hats are "in the air", that's for sure, so make sure you catch up if one is falling your way!!!

Only joking, my "Colinketeers", needless to say!!! But have you read today's headlines - or should I say "hat-lines" ??? The front pages are just "brimming" with hats this morning, aren't they - no pun intended !!! 

Poor Molly!!!

Fortunately, however, my own medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois is enjoying better luck than Molly today - to put it mildly! And with Yours Truly's full backing, might I add !!! [No, sorry, there isn't time for that! - Ed]

Yes, the weather outlook's looking good - it's official! And with my full encouragement, Lois is "crushing" her trademark "bippety-boppety hat" look today, here in rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, as we wander through nearby Radford Park, "birding" as we go (!), before coming back for lunch in our modest back garden.

And here's "chapter and verse" if you insist on it !!!! [Personally, I won't mind if you skip this bit, Colin. Just saying! - Ed]

Lois "crushing" her "bippety-boppety hat" look this morning

It's a "bippety-boppety" hat day today, no question about that - "brimming" with good news (no pun intended!!) [You've done that one already, Colin! - Ed]

The day had even started auspiciously, when an early morning phone-call revealed to me that our new Portuguese-Kiwi dentist José, from the mellifluously-named Bay of Plenty, New Zealand is ill (!!!!) - hurrah!!!, meaning my much-feared appointment with him this morning has been shelved till next week - what luck for me !!!!!  

flashback to earlier this month: our new Portuguese-Kiwi dentist José

flashes his perfect teeth on Linkedin, while I cower with a book of crosswords

in his waiting-room, fearing the worst for what José is planning for my mouth !!!!  

Poor José, maybe !!!!! But "kudos" to me haha !!!!! Final score: Colin 1 José 0  !!!

"Back of the net" haha !!!!!!

Only kidding, by the way. José is a lovely guy, and he's expected back at work in a couple of days, so no harm done, which is nice!

14:00 And there's even more to celebrate when Lois and I "plop" into bed this afternoon for statutory nap-time: yes, you've guessed it! We haven't been in bed 5 minutes before Lois's Huawei is beeping again under the bedclothes (!).

Did you see the letter also in next week's Radio Times, by any chance? Yes, exciting news - my family worldwide is at last getting the recognition it fully deserves, and not before time !!!

Step forward, my close relative, actor David Neilson, top TV soap Coronation Street's iconic character "Roy Cropper", who has been so royally "feted" in this year's British Soap Awards !!!

As you will remember, Lois and I have always modelled our favourite position on the sofa on the one pioneered by my close relative's "Corrie" character Roy Cropper and his current "squeeze", Hayley, in the top ITV soap opera Coronation Street, or "Corrie" as it's affectionately known (!). 

(left) my close relative and Corrie actor David Neilson as Roy Cropper, on the sofa 

with current squeeze Hayley (played by Julie Hesmondhalgh), and (right)

Yours Truly with "Mrs Yours Truly", my medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois 

I'm closely related to [actor] David [Neilson]  - did I mention? [Only, like, a billion times! - Ed]. He's the brother of my cousin Kate's husband Martin - and you can't get much closer than that, can you!

I've never actually met him, but he did send us a lovely personal greetings card decades ago, when Lois and I were still working, which was nice!

A lovely gesture, but marred a little bit by what he wrote on the back of the card [not shown] - he wrote the three words, "Up the Unions!", on the back, which was "a bit political" at the time. You see, I was working as a deskbound medium-to-top-secret agent for GCHQ, where Maggie Thatcher famously banned union membership back in the 1980's. Nevertheless I wrote David's words off as just a youthful indiscretion on his part, and we actually fully forgave him just 20 years later, so no need to mention all that unpleasantness now! [Why did you, then?! - Ed]

Now, here's chapter and verse - DAVID AND I, COLIN: HOW WE ARE RELATED !!!!

my close relationship with TV's "Roy Cropper" - David Neilson, 

the brother-in-law of my cousin Kate

The big question now is - obviously: could his latest prestigious TV soap award to my close-relative David be the "trigger" that "kick-starts" my family's possible future meteoric rise to national recognition and fame, at long last?

I wonder.....!

I had high hopes back in the 1970's when I exclusively revealed that I was also related to Hollywood Royalty. Yes, step forward, those two Hollywood greats, Irishman Richard Harris (the future Harry Potter's 'Dumbledore') and quintessential Englishman Rex Harrison (!), not to mention Welshman and Liberal Party bigwig David Rees-Williams a.k.a. "Lord" Ogmore, President of the Liberal Party 1963-4, no less  !!!!

my illustrious family: (left and centre) Hollywood Royalty Richard Harris

as Harry Potter's 'Dumbledore", and Rex Harrison as accent buff Prof. Higgins

in 'My Fair Lady', and (right) Liberal Party 'bigwig' David Rees-Williams (Ld Ogmore) 

And here's chapter and verse on this particular "bombshell" news item - RICHARD, REX, DAVID AND I: HOW WE ARE RELATED!  

I wonder.... !!!!

[That's enough questionable name-dropping! - Ed]

Well, there's one "name" I do want to hold on to, and not "drop" just yet, thank you very much (!). And that name is "Dumbledore", the name of the wizard in Harry Potter, played so gloriously by my close relative and Hollywood Royalty, Irish actor Richard Harris.

And here's the thing... here in Hampshire, beneath the radar, over the last few days, a quiet tragedy has been playing out, but a situation thankfully now resolved with a story-book happy ending to boot, which is nice!

Let me put my cards on the table at this point, if you'll permit me (!).

Lois and I have a daughter, Alison, who now lives with husband Edward and their 3 teenage kids, in nearby Headley, Hampshire. Not so long ago, however, they were all living in Copenhagen, Denmark, where they adopted a street cat living rough in the backyard of "Books And Co", the city's English Bookshop. And this cat they named "Dumbledore" in honour of JK Rowling's famous fictional wizard.

flashback a few years: (left and centre) Books & Co, Copenhagen's

English language bookshop, and (right) Dumbledore, the street cat living

in the bookshop's backyard, who was adopted by our daughter Alison and family

Dumbledore suddenly went missing from Alison and Edward's home last Friday night, and this was causing grave concern to all, especially to their kids. It threatened to cast a shadow over Sunday's Father's Day dinner at the Rising Sun pub, Milland, particularly for Josie, who's currently taking her A-Levels, so she's been suffering more than enough distress already, the poor mite!

flashback to Sunday: and on the surface it's "all smiles", as Lois and I celebrated 

Fathers Day with a lunch at the Rising Sun pub in nearby Milland, with our daughter 

Alison, husband Edward, and their 3 teenage kids: beneath all the smiles, however,

there was heartache: the family's cat Dumbledore had not been seen for 2 days

Yes, there was much anguish below the surface during that Fathers Day lunch, and, also at the weekend, Alison put this anguished message out on the local area neighbours news website, Nextdoor.com or whatever it's called:

Was Dumbledore lying dead, or, worse, painfully injured, maybe in some ditch in the forested area surrrounding the family's house?

After there had come no immediate response from area residents, however, middle child Rosalind (16) took matters into her own hands, as she recounted to Lois in this text late afternoon today:

Awwww!!! And so heart-warming for Lois and me to see Rosalind's determination to get to the bottom of the mystery, and her refusal to just "let it go" !

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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