Friday July 4th 2025 "Sitting in our cars in traffic - it can be a wonderful 'haven' from this busy world, can't it !!!"

Our cars - they're wonderful havens in which to think things through, aren't they, particularly in traffic. Local man knows, to judge from the front-page "splash" in this morning's East Hampshire Onion News, which you'll know all about if you live in this "neck of the woods" (!), like me and my medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois, to put it mildly (!).

Poor Wylie !!!!

But at the same time, "Kudos, Wylie!" for discovering one of the pluses to owning a car that a lot of people have yet to "stumble on", if I'm not much mistaken (!),

At the same time, it's important not to let your car slowly disintegrate due to numerous unattended faults and potentially fatal malfunctions, or even to find yourself "hauled up in court" just because you haven't got a valid, current MOT certificate. If you think this over, you'll have to acknowledge those sometimes painful truths (!). 

a typical, "official looking" (!) MOT test certificate

And that is why, my medium-to-hard pressed wife Lois and I find ourselves this morning in the unaccustomed surroundings of Churt (Surrey)'s iconic Honda dealer, "Yeomans", while their hard-working staff work unseen for 2.5 hours to get our little 13-year-old Black Honda Jazz "up to scratch" for another year!

[Excellent summary, Colin! - Ed]

It's our first time at Yeoman's, the local Honda dealer, because Lois and I only moved to this area in January, and it's always a bit of a worry going to a new garage. However everything turns out well, and the car passes its MOT test "with flying colours" according to staff, which is nice! 

And when we get the car back, we find it's even been cleaned - the first time since last year's MOT at Worcester dealers Startin Honda, would you believe. We normally leave it to be washed over by the rain, which is an efficient method, but doesn't give it much of a shine, so it's real treat today when we get to drive it home to show off to our new neighbours in rural, semi-leafy Liphook Hampshire. 

We bought the car back 11 years ago, in April 2014, having been introduced to Honda Jazzes in Denmark, where we rented one on on one of our many trips to see our daughter Alison and family in Copenhagen, where Alison's husband Edward had a seven-year-long hotshot lawyer job.

flashback to my Danish-language blog for 12th April 2014: we buy our current car

at Wessex Garages, Gloucester. when it had a mere 5500 miles on the clock !

In the summer of 2013 we had driven our little Danish Honda Jazz all over Denmark, on the "wrong side of the road" (!), visiting Viking ship burials and the like, with the voice of James Bond, a.k.a. actor Roger Moore, on our GPS satnav, gloriously mispronouncing the Danish place-names and road-names as if they were in English; and we visited the province of Angeln, where our Anglo-Saxon ancestors once lived, the province which gave its name to our country and to our language.

Happy days!!!!

flashback to May 2013: the little Honda Jazz we rented in Denmark

on one of mine and Lois's trips over there to see our daughter Alison

and family in Copenhagen: it had the steering wheel "on the wrong side" (!),

but otherwise suited us just fine, which was nice!

flashback to May 2013: (left) me at the Ladby Viking ship burial mound with (inset)

James Bond, a.k.a. actor Roger Moore who guided us there on our

English GPS satnav, gloriously mispronouncing the Danish place-names

and (right) the remains of the Viking ship buried so carefully, so long ago

us in costume, at the visitor centre

Happy days!!!

Our "English" Honda was only about 18 months old when we bought it, a year later, in 2014, with about 5500 miles on the clock. And I can now proudly reveal, exclusively (!), that after 11 years, we've put the mileage up to an astonishing 42,672, so you can see we've certainly "put that little car through its paces", as people say!

You do the maths haha !!!!

[Not much of a driver, are you, then, Colin, to put it mildly ! - Ed]

And it's nice also today, while "the chaps" at Yeoman's are working on our dear little car, to pop over to see our daughter Alison and family, who live nearby - they've been back in England for about 6-7 years now following their 7 years in Denmark. They're currently renting a house in Churt, Surrey, while their proper house in Headley, Hampshire is being extensively refurbished.

(left) the family's crumbling Victorian mansion in Headley, Hampshire, currently

being extensively refurbished, and (right) their slightly-less crumbly rental home

in Churt, just over the county line in Surrey

Today, our son-in-law Edward is busy in his little home office, working remotely for his hotshot lawyer job in London, and our grandson Isaac (14) is at school. However we can chat to Alison and our two granddaughters Josie (18) and Rosalind (17), and have a bit of a rough-and-tumble with their 2 dogs, Sika and Bjorn.

while our little car is being serviced and MOT'd, Lois and I spend some time

with our daughter Alison (49), and with 2 of her daughters Josie (18) and Rosalind (17)

at their home just over the county line in Churt, Surrey

Josie has been taking her A-Levels and will be starting uni in September, maybe in Bath, Somerset, which is her top choice at the moment. 

It'll be Rosalind's turn next year, and she's already been to several university open days. Her top choice at the moment is UCL, London, where she could do, say, geography or psychology, with a language option. They currently offer Danish, amongst other languages, which will suit Rosalind down to the ground. It would give her a year out studying in Denmark, an idea which attracts her, and which would be nice for Lois and me, who could maybe fly out there again and visit her.

19:00 Home again now in Liphook, with our shiny polished car standing proudly outside our house, Lois and I relax tonight with the BBC's Nick Robinson, who's interviewing UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer about his first year in office.

at last - Nick Robinson's programme, and a welcome relief

from all the wall-to-wall sport that's on the "telly" at the moment (!)

It's so nice just to sit down for a bit (!). 

We missed our afternoon in bed today because of the car business, plus we have been working hard in the house to get it ready for a visit by our other daughter Sarah, who'll be flying in to London's Heathrow Airport from Australia with husband Francis and their 11-year-old twins Lily and Jessica. And we also even found time for a punishing walk in Liphook's Radford Park which is about 2 minutes walk from our home. 

Busy busy busy!

our busy morning - (left) getting our house ready for next month's visit by our daughter Sarah

and family, assembling the soft toys for our twin granddaughters Lily and Jessica,

and even finding time for a punishing walk through nearby Radford Park - busy busy busy!!!!

But back to Starmer! 

He's our kind of a guy, is Keir. Not brash, not "smooth" maybe, but the big thing is that he's in politics to try and do good for ordinary people, and not in it for the glory or the money. Not a "bullshitter", and no massive ego, which Lois and I like too, in the tradition of our other "faves", like Theresa May and John Major. He's sensible overall, and he freely admits it if he gets it wrong, shock horror!

What's not to like!!!

To end his first year at No.10, Starmer has certainly had a bad week just recently, admittedly, but as he says, he can be proud of what he and his party have achieved in their first year, and why not?

That's right, you tell 'em, Sir Keir !!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Thursday July 3rd 2025 "Where will you be taking YOUR visitors this summer? It's a head-scratcher and a half, isn't it !!!!!"

It's a problem that's been around for millennia, experts report - deciding where to take your visitors, be it friends or family - when they "descend on you for a few days" !!!!!

It's an issue that's very much exercising the minds of Yours Truly at the moment, not to mention my dear wife Lois, or "Mrs Y.T." as I call her (affectionately!), that's for sure! Because, in just 9 days' time, our dear daughter Sarah (48) will be arriving here from Perth, Australia, together with husband Francis and their 11-year-old twin daughters Lily and Jessica.

flashback to 2022: our dear daughter Sarah, husband Francis

and their twin daughters Lily and Jessica sailing their boat

on the Swan River with the skyscrapers of Perth in the distance

Yikes!!! Where to take them !!!!  What a dilemma !!! And by coincidence, this story grabbed our attention at the breakfast table this morning, with news that this dilemma is nothing new, to put it mildly. Did it catch YOUR eye too, I wonder? 

Yes, "where to take our Australian visitors" - that's the "head-scratcher" that's taking up my time this morning, while Lois is dusting and scrubbing everything in sight, including me, I might add - despite my protests !!!!

You see, quiet rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, where Lois and I live, hasn't got a lot of world-beating tourist attractions, unfortunately, after you've seen the bay window at the Royal Anchor Inn, where the young Princess Victoria practised her "royal wave" for the first time, in front of a crowd of cheering "Lip-hookers" (!), back in the 1820's !!!

Liphook, Hampshire's main claim to fame: the bay window in The Royal Anchor inn,

where a very young Princess Victoria practised her first "royal wave" back in the 1820's

By the end of the morning, however, I can now exclusively reveal that I've at least "sorted" the showpiece of my "programme" for our Australian visitors - a day-trip to London, a city which is only an hour away from here by train; a trip which will include visits to a host of world-class attractions including a ride on the London Eye, a river cruise on the Thames, then, a lunch overlooking the river, followed by sightseeing trips on the on-off buses, and visits to museums like the British Museum and the Natural History museum.

Lois and I will go with them, but we'll just be doing the tour's "cheapo" version - the London Eye, the river cruise and the lunch, yes, but skipping the on-off bus sightseeing and the museums etc, so we can come home and go to bed for the afternoon. Call us lazy if you like, but we don't like to miss our "nap-time", to put it mildly!!!!

(1) the full tour that will keep our 'Australian visitors' busy all day, to put it mildly !!! .....

...and (2) the 'cheapo' version, half-day only, 

just for Lois and me (!): 'EBLAB' - Eye, Boat, Lunch and Bed!!!

Sorted !!!

13:00 And by lunchtime today, I've provisionally scheduled the London day-trip for (probably) July 23rd, and Lois has scrubbed everything in the house to within an inch of its life (!). So now we can celebrate with our "fave" lunch of bacon-and-anchovy sandwiches and then go up to bed for nap-time with a clear conscience, which is nice! 

us - a recent picture: London trip now sorted, we can enjoy 

our "fave" lunch of bacon and anchovy sandwiches, which is nice!

14:00 Our nap-time today, however, proves to be a bit less relaxed, and a bit more curtailed, than usual, because we're aware that our other daughter Alison's son, Isaac (14), will be dropping by here after school, so we've got to listen out for the doorbell. 

Isaac be a bit later than usual this time, however, because he'll have been taking part in another "final rehearsal" (!) for the school's production of Wizard of Oz, in which he's playing the Tin Man, and singing the iconic song "If I Only Had A Heart". Lois and I have got tickets for next Friday's performance at the Bedales Theatre, which we're very much looking forward to.

flashback to last month: early school rehearsals for "The Wizard of Oz"

Isaac will be turning 15 next month, By coincidence Isaac has the same birthday as our Lily and Jessica, our "Australian" twin granddaughters, so part of our planning for "the visit" will be about celebrating their joint birthdays, when the twins will be turning 12. We think we'll probably be having a big three-way-birthday meal at Liphook's iconic "Guido's" Italian pizza restaurant, with all 11 of us - yikes!!!! I guess we'd better book it - they may not have many "tables for eleven", to put it mildly !!!

Liphook, Hampshire's iconic Guido's Italian restaurant, where 

Italian tourist Angelina Biasella Amato famously said on social media,

she had had "the best pizza she had tasted in England",

which may not be saying much, on reflection (!!!!!)

One of mine and Lois's most iconic memories is from July 2013. We were giving our grandson Isaac a birthday tea and cake in the garden of our then home in Cheltenham, when news of Lily and Jessica's birth in Gloucester Royal Hospital came through on my mobile, together with a picture of the sleeping new-borns.

flashback to July 2013: just as we were celebrating little Isaac's 3rd birthday,

in the garden of our former home in Cheltenham, news came in that the twins 

were being born in Gloucester, and we saw first pictures of them on Alison's phone

Awwww!!!! Memories !!!!!

18:00 We wave goodbye to Isaac, who is picked up by his dad, our son-in-law Edward, and Lois and I can relax with some chicken thighs (yum yum!), followed by an evening on the sofa watching a bit of "telly", which is nice!

(left) we wave goodbye at the door to our grandson Isaac and

his dad, our son-in-law Edward, before enjoying a dinner for two of chicken thighs

("yum yum!!!!" ) followed by a relaxing evening in front of the "telly" 

And that's the way you do it - if you're us, that is, which you probably aren't haha !!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Wednesday July 2nd 2025 "Pop festivals are back - but audiences will need nerves of steel, sadly !!!!!

Well, it's here again, isn't it - pop festival time and pub live music time, but for audiences it isn't all "beer and fiddles" (!), to put it mildly. Because so much can go wrong, can't it, to be frank!! See this story in this morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire, and weep! 

And weep particularly if you've got "family" in the pop business !!!!

Poor Brandon !!!!!

And reading that story here in nearby Liphook, Hampshire, my medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois and I have to admit to having a sudden pang of worry for our own grandson and budding vocalist, Isaac. who, we know, started on his own pathway to potentially global 'pop royalty' last night during an 'open mic' session at a pub just over the county line, in Guildford Surrey.

flashback to May: (left to right) Lois, our daughter Alison (49)

and her son Isaac, seen here in a car-park in nearby Godalming, Surrey

Later today, a social media post by Isaac's mum - our dear daughter Alison (49) in nearby Churt - lets us know that all went well last night at the pub, and that Isaac's band is now setting their sights on the next daunting stage in their campaign -the Tilford (Surrey) village fete, a 'gig' notorious for being a bit of a 'graveyard' for up-and-coming new pop groups. But we'll see !

Fingers crossed!!!

Break a leg, Isaac (not literally !!!!!) !!!! Lois and I missed the Guildford 'gig', but we hope to be there for their next performance, at Tilford village fete, so watch this space!

As our daughter Alison said in her post, it was super hot in the pub last night, but the good news this morning is that the recent heatwave has broken, which is quite a relief to Lois and me, especially as we've got some appointments today, starting with a visit from Angie, who gives quotes for electrically-powered garage doors, and after that we'll have a 2-minute drive to the library, because Lois's books are due back. And that's not the end of it - we'll somehow have to fit in a walk before our usual afternoon in bed.

Busy busy busy!!! It's no picnic being retired is it !!!! 

[You should have my job, Colin, to put it mildly! - Ed]

at last the recent heatwave has broken, with high of only 75F (24C) today

down from 88F (31C) yesterday - what a crazy country we live in !!!!

(left) us this morning on our walk round the "rec", and (right) the cooler weather

has brought out the local young mums exercising with their weights etc in the rec car-park

What madness, isn't it!  And it's so nice to get into bed this afternoon to "nap off" this morning's frantic 'round' !!!!

And we've got the perfect excuse for doing it today, I might add!

You see, all fired up after seeing all those sweaty young mums showing off their muscles in the car-park, Lois and I now have got to get in training ourselves, before we start watching even more sweaty young women in tonight's much-awaited viewing of "Copa 71".

It's the extraordinary story of the unofficial Women's World Cup, staged in Mexico City in 1971 in front of capacity crowds in the city's Azteca Stadium, an event which, under pressure from national and international football associations, was afterwards quickly excised from the record-books, as though it had never happened. 

Just the thing to get Lois's hackles up, to put it mildly!

The England team didn't do particularly well, it has to be said, but they almost qualified in the opening heats, and they were expecting some sort of welcome when they flew back into Heathrow after the tournament - but no luck, as England captain Carol Wilson from Newcastle, only 19 years of age at the time, reports: 

But wait - it got worse! 

Later Carol was invited to a special dinner at her local men's professional soccer club, Newcastle United, as she tearfully recalls in tonight's programme:

Surely now at last Carol would be getting some recognition for her achievement, you might think?

But no luck again!

And tonight a sports historian explains why, back in the 1970's, the world's football associations were so keen to kill off women's football:

Those days are gone now, and the Women's Euro tournament is starting just this week, which is a comfort. But, as Lois points out, there are still questions to be answered.

And surely, the excising from the record books of some major world event couldn't happen today, could it, just because a few rich, powerful interests wanted it "deleted"?

Or could it?!

Women's football flourished in England during the Victorian era and Edwardian era into the early 20th century, with over 100 clubs in operation, with more on the horizon. And during World War I (1914-1918) women's football was all that was on offer for the home crowds, with all the men being away on military service over in Europe.

women's football in England in the 19th and early 20th centuries

Then after the war, the men came back to Britain, wanting to take centre stage again, and all sorts of doctors were writing articles in medical journals saying that football was potentially dangerous for women, because they had such fragile "lady parts", breasts, wombs, ovaries etc. Who knew?!!!!

Is it too late now, perhaps, to hold these doctors to account?

I wonder.....!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed

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