Thursday August 6th 2026 "Do YOU scare the opposite sex, when you try to approach them?"

Yes, Friends, do YOU habitually scare the opposite sex when you try to approach them? 

It's a theme that echoes down the centuries, doesn't it, and one which was finally "put to music" by that iconic Scandinavian heart-throb "Ylvis" - Scandinavia's answer to Elvis - in his cry-from-the-heart "Someone Like Me" - remember that one?

Poor Ylvis !!!

But yes, what IS "Ylvis" doing wrong? Answers on a postcard haha!!!! Some would say it's his entire "over the top", and totally unsubtle manner of approaching 'the ladies' - see picture - but your feedback welcome as always!!!

However, Ylvis's heartfelt lyrics are firmly on the lips of me and my wife Lois this morning, here in sunny Liphook, Hampshire, this morning - that's for sure!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

Yes, "all things Scandinavian" is a theme definitely on our minds this morning, as we brace ourselves, with some trepidation, for another fortnightly online meeting, this afternoon, of our local U3A "Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" group, which we allegedly "lead", "for our sins" (!)

Perhaps predictably, this afternoon there's another big bust-up between members over what Danish soldiers wear below the waist, as we read another 5 pages of our current Danish murder mystery, Anna Grue's "Judaskysset" (The Judas Kiss) - I could see bust-up coming a mile off, actually !!!! Luckily our only genuinely Danish member Jeanette, was on hand to settle the point, which is a relief!

(left) Lois and me, trying to lead one of the rowdy fortnightly meetings of our

local U3A "Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers Group", and (right)

Jeanette, our only genuinely Danish member, seen here on holiday in Australia

In our story, the Danish weather has suddenly brightened - see page 258! - and I quote, "The sky was of course still covered with clouds, but here and there were small blue patches to be seen: enough for a pair of soldier's trousers [Danish: et par soldaterbukser], as my old class-teacher always used to say!", this criterion being the traditional Danish folk-indicator of whether the day was going to 'brighten up' for serious or not (!).

Interesting phrase, though, isn't it, because I can clearly remember, from the Enid Blyton stories of my youth, that in the UK it was very much "sailor's trousers" that provided the key weather-indicator for a possible brightening-up, and Lois recalls that her dear late mum Ruth always used to say that it was "a Dutchman's trousers", that were the key sign of a brighter day. 

Your input vital, however, so get busy on that postcard!!!!

Certainly Mr Google is on Ruth's side, no question about that!!!!!

And in today's meeting of our little group, all we Brit members maintain that blue trousers, however, while being ideal for sailors, whether British or Dutch, somehow don't seem quite right for soldiers, but Mr Google lines up against us, with this neat 'broadside' (!), which Jeanette uncovers for us:

Who knew?

[That's enough blue trousers! - Ed]

And Lois and I are reminded again of how we grew to love Denmark during the 7 years our daughter Alison and family were living in Copenhagen, from 2012 to 2019, when we visited frequently.

For us, it's a "hot topic" currently, because, next week, Alison's daughter Rosalind, now 18, will get her A-Level results back, determining whether she can go on to do an International Politics degree course at University College, London. The course offers a subsidiary "Intermediate Danish" mini-course, with a year in Copenhagen "thrown in", no less (!) - also providing Lois and me with an excuse to go visit her while she's over there, which would be nice. So watch this space!

(left) Rosalind showcasing the locket that Lois and I gave her for her recent

18th birthday, and (right) flashback to 2017: Rosalind (centre) with her siblings, 

when Lois and I were dropping them all off at International School,

during their parents' absence on a business trip to Hong Kong - happy days!!!

20:00 Evening falls, at last! 

And Lois and I, as usual totally exhausted by having to control another rowdy meeting of our Danish group, fall gratefully onto our sofa to binge-watch more episodes of recent Canadian "riches to rags" series "Schitt's Creek".

The series follows the adventures of a billionaire family, the Roses, after they're cheated of their fortune by a crooked business associate, and are forced to sell their mansion and rent two rooms in a seedy motel in the backwards town of Schitt's Creek, a town that family patriarch Johnny Rose, a.k.a. "Daddy Rose" had bought "for a joke" a few years previously - what madness wasn't it !!!!!

Tonight, in this iconic scene over the opening credits, former billionaire Johnny volunteers to play in the local baseball team - baseball is called "ball" in Canada - when a gap emerges in the team just before a vital championship.

"Who or what is a 'latke'?", I hear you cry! 

Well, let's ask that nice Mr Google again !!!

Unfortunately, the team manager, who is also the town's seedy mayor Roland Schitt, is unimpressed at the prospect of fielding 'Old Man Johnny' on the team, to put it mildly!

Ouch !!!! Isn't that a bit 'ageist', Mister Mayor, to put it mildly (again) ????!!!!!

Team  secretary Ronnie, however, protests. She is strongly in favour of including "Old Man Johnny" in the squad, because there appears to be no other option. 

Ouch (again) !!!!

Poor Johnny!!!!!

Glossary: CPR = cardiopulmonial resuscitation, by the way!

[That's enough patronising footnotes! - Ed]

But fabulous stuff isn't it! They don't write scenes like that any more, that's for sure!!!!

[Something to be thankful for, there, perhaps? - Ed]

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Wednesday August 5th 2026 "Friends, do YOU suffer from an oversized 'butt'? A lot of us do, don't we!!!"

Yes, Friends, without wishing to sound overly personal (!), do YOU suffer from an oversized 'butt'? It's a common problem today, isn't it, and sometimes especially amongst so-called 'old codgers', which is weird!

Is "a big butt" all bad, however? 

Colin says "Relax! Because 'old codger' band Saffire has the answer seemingly, to judge from their self-penned song "Too Much Butt"  !!!

Kudos, Saffire! 

And, by the way, congratulations about the somewhat "sassy lyrics" of your song, which bring a cheeky smile this morning to the faces of me and my wife Lois, here in semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, no question about that!

me and my wife Lois - a recent picture

And this morning we hear plenty of "old codger" chat, some of it exrtemely"sassy" (!), as we drop in on the local U3A "coffee morning for new members", that's for sure!!!

Lois and I arrive late, as usual (!) due to parking issues, and when we step inside the building, somewhat nervously, we find that both "the big table" and the adjacent "little table" are already "fully loaded with codgers", so that local U3A organiser with the splendid name of Earwaker, has to set up a second 'little table', where Lois and I just chat to each other for a tense five minutes, would you believe!!!

this morning's U3A "coffee morning for new members" starts off badly for Lois and me,

as both the big table and the small table are already fully 'codger-loaded' when 

we arrive a few minutes late, and we have to be set up with a new table of our own,

leaving us to just chat to each other, which is a pity, because we do that 24/7 anyway!

Earwaker - it's an unusual name, isn't it, and later, when Lois and I are back home I google it and find that it's particularly common in Hampshire, the county we moved to just 18 months ago.

So the ear-bit of Earwalker is really "eofor", the Old English word for a boar. I discover also that it played a part in the English town name of York. Two thousand years ago the Romans founded the town of York, with the name Eboracum, but when the Anglo-Saxons arrived in 410AD they found "Eboracum" a bit of a mouthful and started calling it Eofor-wic. meaning 'boar town'. 

Then, later, when the Vikings moved into York, in 866AD, they modified it again, based on the related Old Norse word for a boar, "yofurrr" and called the town Yorvik, which later became York. 

And the rest is history. Aren't words fascinating !!!!

[If you say so! - Ed]

Eventually, I'm glad to say, Lois and I are joined by another late-arrival, nice new lady-member Chris, and U3A Secretary Rod, at what had  quickly being dubbed "the lonely table", which was nice! And the we soon find out about some weird coincidences which link the four of us: incredibly, it turns out that Rod's son-in-law works at my old workplace in Cheltenham, GCHQ, and, then again, Chris's son-in-law comes from Denmark, where our own daughter Alison and family lived for 7 years, from 2012 to 2019.

But what a small, but crazy (!), world we live in !!!!!

our daughter Alison and family, when Lois and I

    visited them in December 2016 attending the

Christmas service at Copenhagen's Anglican Church

And at this morning's U3A new members coffee morning, there's plenty of chat, also, about various 'old codger' problems, like the fact that our sons and daughters are all very helpful, but are leading incredibly busy lives themselves, with the result that we don't always like to bother them, if we want help with anything too time-consuming - sound familiar haha???

Also, the question arises, "How long can all we go on living 'independently'?" And when today's U3A "new members coffee morning" finishes, Lois and I take advantage of the venue - a newly-built block of retirement flats - to have a look round two of their 'show flats', "just in case" haha!!!

Yikes !!!!!

Nice isn't it, with a lovely walk-in shower, but yikes (again) !!!!

13:00 We have lunch, but it's another hot and humid day here in Liphook, so we cool off with an afternoon in bed for "statutory nap-time". 

The latest edition of my fortnightly political magazine, Private Eye, has plopped through our letterbox, and the talk is all about the constant 'heatwaves', but I also get an email from Tunde, my Hungarian penfriend, revealing that it's even hotter in the suburb of Budapest where she lives - 40C, which is 104F - yikes, again again !!!!

Tunde says that Hungary's current temperatures are unprecedented, and Lois and I can't imagine what it's like in Tunde's flat. However, I think she's got air-conditioning, which we haven't of course - the UK just isn't built for this kind of heat, that's for sure!

(above) the heatwave currently roasting Europe, and (below)

flashback to 2002 - we visit Tunde in her flat in Budapest,

where she had baked us a Union Jack cake, which was a nice touch!

And in another typically busy day for us - neighbours have dubbed us "possibly Liphook's busiest-looking couple". However, Lois and I somehow find the time to drop in at our local NHS surgery today and book our autumn COVID and flu jab, would you believe!

It's weird to have to think about winter and flu, with all this heat around, but it's got to be done!!!

(left) our local NHS surgery, and (right) a typical flu or COVID jab

Busy busy busy!!!!

14:00 And there's lots even more than usual for Lois and me to talk about in bed this afternoon, that's for sure! 

Our daughter Alison's 16-year-old son Isaac and his boy-girl rock band New Horizon had another successful gig at Guildford's iconic "The Drummond" pub last night, with young Isaac on vocals, which is good to read about today on social media!

Also on social media, Lois and I read some interesting facts about Australia, interesting to us because our other daughter, Sarah, lives in Perth, Western Australia.

Who knew that the largest immigrant group in the state of Queensland today comes from New Zealand, which is weird! Chinese immigrants lead the way in New South Wales, and in the Northern Territory it's the Philippinos, which is also weird, amongst other fun-facts !

What a crazy world we live in!!!

[You've done that one once already! - Ed]

20:00 And there's more craziness "on the box" tonight, as Lois and I finally get the chance to relax on the couch with the first programme in a new series about the Victorians, fronted by celebrity presenters Rob Rinder and the wonderful Ruth Goodman, and tonight concentrating on the 1840s.

Who knew that, back in the 1840's, the new invention of the steam train enabled working-class Brits for the first time to travel beyond their native villages? Apparently most people, if they wanted to go anywhere had to walk there, until the advent of trains, that is.

However, the downside of this was that, whereas rich people travelled in nice covered and upholstered, roofed carriages, poorer people were herded into what can only be described as open-top cattle trucks, each one carrying up to 100 people, and no loos, of course - what madness!!! 

And if the train went a bit too fast around a bend, you might arrive at your destination with a black eye, after passengers had been "thrown together", a bit too literally perhaps!!!!

That didn't stop the poorer people from making the trips, however, and most of them took the opportunity to travel to the seaside and see the sea for the first time in their lives, incredibly. 

However, to see the sea, feel the sand under their feet, and hear the cries of sea-gulls, was pretty much all these pioneering day-trippers could do when they got to the seaside: there was, literally, nothing else to do there, in the 1840's. 

No piers (which hadn't been built yet), no benches  (hadn't been thought about), no fish'n' chips (hadn't been "invented"), no ice-cream (ditto), no penny-slot-machines (ditto), which was all totally mad!

Still, it does you good to have a break occasionally, doesn't it haha!!!

What utter utter utter madness!!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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