Thursday August 28th 2025 "Are YOU in turmoil today - well so is the Universe, so join the club haha!"

Yes, Friends, you've got no excuse for not noticing the trouble all over the Universe this morning - it's "all over" today's Onion News Print Edition (see page 94!) - so it's pretty much a universal crisis (no pun intended !!!!!). 

Quite a story, wasn't it, and proof, if proof were needed, that we're now living in a universal world, not a "global" one [Don't say it! - Ed]. Or should I say "universal universe" haha! [Just quite now, Colin, don't push it! - Ed]

And did you notice that "killer" reference - no pun intended again! - to one of the Earth's major downsides for Universal Estate Agents - yes, "microplastics", a bit of a slow "killer" but they'll get us all in the end, that's for sure!

My light-to-moderate wife Lois and I have been concerned by the microplastics problem recently, after seeing a scary article in our monthly copy of "Which?", the consumer magazine.

my light-to-moderate wife Lois and me - a recent picture

We're worried now because we tend to keep our left-over food in old plastic margarine tubs and old ice-cream tubs in the fridge and freezer, which must be leaching microplastics at a rate of knots. 

our copy of "Which?", the consumer magazine,

that "plopped" through our letterbox earlier this week

And this morning, before our daily walk - today over Old Man Lowsley's Farm, we stop by the local hardware store to pick up some tinfoil containers to keep our food in, by way of an experiment. See what you think, but we think that the score-line now is "Colin-and-Lois 10, Universe 0" - back of the net (no pun intended!!!) !!!!

[That's enough unfunny puns! - Ed]

(left) I showcase our shiny new pack of tinfoil containers for our future leftovers, as we say 

"goodbye-for-ever" to what we're calling "Microplastics Inc.", and (right) our smug faces 

as we do our daily walk, today over Old Man Lowsley's Farm

If we can dodge the rain, it's what we call a "normal day" today here in semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire - a walk in the morning and an afternoon in bed, but things are going to be hotting up from tomorrow onwards, that's for sure. 

Tomorrow (Friday) somebody from our new water company South East Water is coming to check for leaks - since moving to the South East Water "catchment" area in January, our water bills have mysteriously tripled, from 50m3 to 150m3. And then on Saturday my sister Jill is arriving from Ipswich for a couple of days; and we're planning a big meal on Sunday for Jill and our daughter Alison's family, who live 5 miles away in Headley. Exciting! But also busy busy busy! 

Lois and me with my sister Jill - a recent picture

By the way, I hope you weren't taken in by that Onion News story about Estate Agents trying to "gentrify" the Earth - it was just a spoof, and another sordid case of "clickbait", I'm afraid to say! The clue is in the page number - p94, where the Onion regularly includes its popular "Leave Time For A Smile" column: need I say more!

 

The Universe and the intriguing question of "Are We Alone in the Universe" comes up again this evening, as Lois and I settle down on the sofa to watch an interesting documentary on UFOs, or "UAPs" (unidentified Aerial Phenomena) if you please, as they're called these days! What madness!

It's interesting, and revealing perhaps, that UFOs,  be they alien spacecraft or USAF experimental aircraft, have tended to change their shape with the times. They started off in the 1940's looking like giant saucers - hence the name "Flying Saucer" - or looking like various pie-shaped containers (let's hope they weren't plastic ones!).

And then suddenly, following some sightings from a medium-to-top-secret USAF project at its Area 51 base in Nevada, the supposed "aliens" switched to triangular spacecraft. All the saucer shapes went out of fashion, and triangular ones are what you mostly get "sighted" these days, from all over the world. Could it be that UFO-spotters are influenced by what they've already read about in the tabloids? 

Surely not! That would be madness !!!!

But how likely is it that we're being routinely visited by aliens from across the Universe?

And Pluto's just a planet in our own dear Solar System, so one of our neighbours almost. What madness!!!

A bit of a long journey, to put it mildly - and you'd have to take plenty to read with you on that trip, that's for sure!

Phew! Kudos, that woman!!!!

But at the same time, we can't 100% rule out alien visits n the future, unfortunately:

Well, you can't be too careful can you, when it comes to aliens. But at least we're in better shape now to notice an alien invasion if it does happen, which is a comfort!

One question remains, however. Do the aliens routinely sample our media? Are they subscribers to Which?, the consumer magazine. And if so, won't they just decide to go somewhere else that doesn't have serious microplastic issues - microplastic issues, like the magazine itself produces every few years: no pun intended!

I wonder.....!

[Just go to bed, Colin! - Ed]

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