Yes, what precautions are YOU taking for "Storm Floris" tomorrow, dear Reader, if that's not too personal a question (!).
With all the conflicting advice in the tabloids currently, it's a bit of a head-scratcher isn't it! And for me and my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois, since we're still fine-tuning our response to Floris, it's not too late to add YOUR advice to "inform" our brain-storming on the issue (no pun intended !!!!) - (postcards only) !!!!!!
Storm Floris is practically the only story in this morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire. It's on every page of the 94-page print edition, I notice, and no surprise there!
Storm Floris, expected to "breeze in" (no pun intended!!!!)
from North America tomorrow (Monday) and set to give
the UK a collective 'punch on the nose' - yikes !!!!
Even though the storm will only really affect Scotland and the North, there'll be some "collateral" damage hereabouts in mine and Lois's new home-town of Liphook, Hampshire, with winds gusting to as much as 20 mph at times, so definitely time to "batten down the hatches", to borrow a nautical expression !!!!!!
However, Randoph should thank his lucky stars that he's not living in Perth, Western Australia, at least according to the weekly whatsapp video call Lois and I have at 9:30 am this Sunday morning, with our daughter Sarah, who lives over there, down under, with husband Francis and their 12-year-old twin daughters Lily and Jessica.
mine and Lois's weekly whatsapp video call this morning with
our daughter Sarah and our twin 12-year-old granddaughters Lily and Jessica
[That's enough unfunny puns! - Ed]
Outside of Sarah and family's house, however, in Perth's northern suburb of Yanchep, just a few minutes drive away from the mighty Indian Ocean, there's torrential rain and a gale blowing in off the sea! Lois and I aren't too surprised, because we've seen all the news reports coming on our Facebook feed for the last few hours, and continuing through the day today - yikes !!!!!
During our whatsapp call with her this morning, Sarah points her phone out of the window from time to time, so we can witness Francis's abject misery (!) !!!
Poor Francis !!!!!
as Lois and I hide our faces in horror [inset], we watch our son-in-law Francis,
in the back garden of the family's home in Perth's northern suburb of Yanchep
just minutes from the ocean [see first picture above], with a stylish winter "beanie"
on his head (!), digging out a septic tank in their back garden, in a howling gale.
Still, it keeps him out of mischief, doesn't it!!!
10:00 Lois and I meanwhile, with no septic tanks to dig out (fortunately!!!), have something else to keep us out of mischief - brushing up on our Latin, would you believe !!!!
Since moving to rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire in January, we've been trying to join some of the local U3A "Old Codger" groups, and one group in particular, area man Joe's popular "Intermediate Latin for Old Codgers" has caught our collective eyes (!).
flashback to last September: local "old codgers" queue up outside
the Town Hall in a bid to be accepted as members of local man
Joe's popular U3A "Intermediate Latin for Old Codgers" study group
Unfortunately, however, local widower and retired Latin teacher Joe sets some pretty high standards for potential new members of his group. A couple of months back, he called Lois and me to his lovely retirement home near Haslemere, just over the county line in Surrey - ostensibly for a "coffee and cake getting-to-know-you" session, although it actually turned out to be a "first-stage interview" to "vet us" as a preliminary step in the process of agreeing to our application for membership.
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
(left) flashback to June - despite the then current intense heatwave,
we "sweat our way" through Wheelock's 300-page "Intermediate Latin" course,
before dressing up in our most stylish of outfits (see picture above!), to face the terrors
of a gruelling interview in the 'lair' of local retired schoolteacher Joe - yikes !!!!
When we met Joe formally in June, he sent us away with a loan of one of his Latin primers, and this morning he emailed me saying he'd like a "follow up phone-call" with us this week, "to see how we've been getting on with it" - with the primer, that is, not the drinking and sex (!).
flashback to Thursday: I showcase the primer that Lois and I
are currently diligently studying, prior to joining Joe's
local "U3A Intermediate Latin for Old Codgers" group
Lois and I have been on a bit of a Latin "jag" recently, trying to get ourselves in the mood. This week we watched the first of Dan Snow's new Channel 5 series on Pompeii, during which we tried translating for ourselves some of the bits of cheeky Latin graffiti that he and historian Dr Kate Lister have been showcasing from ths old Roman town's brothels, graffiti that miraculously survived the catastrophic eruption of the nearby volcano Mt Vesuvius in AD79.
Also, in a couple of weeks' time, we've been hoping to take part in a group outing to the nearby ruins of the Roman town of Silchester, Hampshire. The outing's been advertised in the newsletter put out by Lois's church, which meets every Sunday morning in nearby Petersfield, just 10 miles to the south of us.
Unfortunately, however, when we drive down to Petersfield today for the church's Sunday Morning Meeting, intending to sign up for the outing, we find that it's been cancelled "due to lack of interest". Only 4 church members have signed up for it, apparently. What madness !!!!!
our drive to Lois's church this morning - we take the route through
the lovely Hampshire village of "Snug Interiors" incidentally, a bit longer, but
avoiding the traffic on the county's "bustling (!)" A3 - makes sense to us!
we take our seats and wait for the meeting to begin -
attendance is sparse today because of so many church members
being away on holiday, which makes it "nice'n'quiet", which we like !!!
After the meeting, Lois approaches the "brother" who had been organising the "Silchester jaunt", and she tells him how keen we are to take part. Obviously pleased by our interest, the guy says that with a potential group of 6 now wanting to do it, this could tip the balance, and allow the outing to go ahead, so fingers crossed!
Our new home in Liphook, Hampshire is actually only a couple of miles from the old Roman road between Silchester and Chichester, Sussex. Iinredibly, some of that ancient road still survives and is in use - it's practically the only road in these parts that isn't bendy and twisty - unlike our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, those Romans knew how to build a road - that's for sure!!!!
On UK Father's Day back in June, Lois and I actually celebrated with a pub lunch on that very road, the Rising Sun in the village of Milland, with our other daughter Alison and family.
flashback to UK Fathers Day, back in June: we have a celebratory pub lunch
with our daughter Alison and family, in the village of Milland, right there
on an old bit of the straight-as-a-die Roman road from Chichester to Silchester
included for comparison purposes: the current route from Chichester
to Silchester, via the horrendously wiggly "replacement road", "designed (?)"
by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors - what a crazy world we live in !!!!!
Lois and I have actually visited the ruins of Silchester before, in 2005, as sprightly 59-year-olds, just before we retired, but we're keen to go again on this outing on August 16th, because it'll be led by Graham, a church member who's a semi-famous archaeologist specialising in Roman excavations, would you believe. Over the years, Graham has "hobnobbed" with all the celebrity TV archaeologists on Channel 4's beloved, and much-missed, "Time Team" series.
What are the chances of that happening, eh? !!!!!!
Channel 4's "Time Team" archaeological series, including
lead presenter Tony Robinson a.k.a "TV's Baldrick"
flashback to 2005: mine and Lois's visit to the ruins of Roman Silchester -
(left) Lois at the site of one of the town's gateways, and (right) me in
in the town's amphitheatre, scene of gladiatorial combats and other "sports" (!)
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!
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