Danskcolin: Saturday July 19th 2025 "Those blasted Chinese! But will we Brits ever 'get even' with them? I don't think so!!!"

The Chinese always seem to be "one up on us", aren't they, or at least they say they are!

The downside of that widely acknowledged phenomenon, however, is that it tends to make those Chinese ever so slightly big-headed. And those thoroughly black-haired heads will be swelling even more today, if they've read this morning's Onion News, that's for sure!

Slightly annoying, though, isn't it, you've got to admit !!!!

But what nobody so far has looked into, as far as I know, is the possible negative impact that that newly discovered "Oriental Shakespeare" is going to have on tourism in the UK, particularly in relation to Shakespeare-dependent "hot spots" like the already struggling "Stratford-on-Avon" in Warwickshire.

And as my medium-to-long suffering wife Lois said to me this morning, "Is there, now, to be a new world-class tourist-magnet, 'Stratford-upon-Yangtze' ???"

I think we should be told, don't you !!!!

Stratford-upon-Avon, until recently thronged with Chinese tourists -

but will 'the boot soon be on the other foot'?

I wonder.....!!!!

And it's a topical subject today for Lois and me, because our daughter Sarah (48) plus husband Francis and their 11-year-old twin daughters Lily and Jessica are staying with us here in rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire at the moment - they flew into London from their home in Perth, Australia at the weekend for a 17-day visit to the UK, their first since moving to Perth from the UK last September.

flashback to last Saturday - our dear daughter Sarah, plus husband Francis

and their 11-year-old twins Lily and Jessica arrive at our house in Liphook, Hampshire,

after a punishing non-stop 18-hour flight from Perth, Australia.

Sarah and family have been staying for a few days in Stratford-on-Avon this week - Sarah, an accountant who does both a Perth job and (online) a UK job simultaneously, has been "touching base" with her UK colleagues in nearby Evesham, and the twins have taken the opportunity to see their former classmates and teachers at their old Church-of-England primary school in nearby Dunnington.

(left) Lily showcasing her shiny-new "Class of 2025" wristband, as mum Sarah looks on,

and (right) flashback to Wednesday: the twins attend a Year-6 Leavers' Ceremony

at their old Church of England primary school at Dunnington, Warwickshire

Their visit to Stratford now over, however, Sarah and family arrive back at mine and Lois's house here in Liphook around 2pm today, after a punishing 126-mile, non-stop drive from Stratford, with a massive bag of dirty laundry (!), and just in time for a late lunch on our newly extended dining-table.

Our daughter Sarah and family's punishing non-stop 126-mile drive today,

from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire to Liphook, Hampshire

While they've been away, Lois and I had the bright idea of bringing one of our patio tables indoors, and sticking it at the end of our existing kitchen dining-table. This is because most of the time, Sarah tends to be doing either her Perth-accountancy work or her Evesham-accountancy work on the table, and it gets a bit crowded at meal-times, with her computer, extra monitor, mouse and mouse-pad, not to mention all her Perth-accountancy-papers and her Evesham-accountancy-paperwork, all vying for places alongside 6 plates, with accompanying drinks-glasses, sauce-bottles, cutlery etc.

It's been total madness at every mealtime (!), to put it mildly!!!!

(left) my medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois hangs out the newly-washed

laundry for our daughter Sarah and family, and (right) I showcase our

newly-extended dining-arrangements: normal table upgraded with supplementary patio table

Now, at last, Sarah will be able to "work through" her lunch-breaks, as well as her "breakfast breaks" and "dinner breaks" - you name it haha !!!!

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

It's nice for Lois and me today, however, because, after the family's return, our normally quiet house here in Liphook is once again ringing to the twins' laughter as they "bomb" around upstairs and downstairs, inventing new fantasy games with their stuffed toys, and doing their "puzzle books" and all their other delightful nonsense (!).

At 8pm, however, all falls finally silent as I bring out the DVD of "The Sound of Music" that Sarah had brought with them, and we watch the second half tonight.

It's a bit of a tear-jerker, isn't it, and we're all soon becoming "dewy-eyed", to put it mildly !!!!!

(left) I produce Sarah's DVD of that old tear-jerker "The Sound of Music",

and within about 5 minutes we're all becoming a bit "dewy-eyed" (!)

We all saw the first half of the film last weekend, and watched as renegade nun-turned-governess Maria (Julie Andrews) rehearsed her charges, the impossibly adorable children of crusty Austrian naval hero Baron Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), in preparation for a grand concert in Salzburg Town Hall, or something like that - you probably know the story better than I do, if I "know my onions" (!).

And as you probably know, just before the grand concert is due to take place in Salzburg Town Hall, the Nazis inconveniently invade Austria and, amongst other demands (!), insist that Baron Von Trapp report for duty next day at some German naval base on the Baltic or some-such nonsense (!). To avoid this, the family escapes in a car during the one of the concert intervals and they drive up into the mountains, eventually reaching neutral Switzerland on foot.

the Von Trapp family escape Nazi-occupied Austria across the mountains into

neutral Switzerland, led by their father (left) and their governess Maria (right)

Meanwhile the Nazis are unable to pursue the family, because one of Maria's fellow nuns has taken some bits and pieces out from under the Germans' car-bonnets, don't ask me what they are (!), but they anyway render the vehicles totally immobile and undriveable, which "does the job", to put it mildly (!).

the nuns secretly remove some apparently essential components

from the Nazis' vehicles in Salzburg, preventing them from pursuing

the Von Trapp family refugees escaping to Switzerland

Nice one, Sister!

The twins have been thoroughly "invested" in the story and in the music right from the start, I have to say. They learnt about the Second World War at their old school in the UK under the tutelage of their charismatic and inspirational teacher Mr Palmer, but for kids, nothing brings history to life better than a film, does it, to put it mildly.

Just last summer, shortly before the twins left for Australia, Mr Palmer buried a time-capsule filled with his students' suggested 'mementos of life in the UK in 2024', and the twins each got the chance to hold the capsule before it was put into the ground, which was nice.