Sunday June 21st 2026 "After a thousand years, are YOU still Viking-crazy?!!!!"

Yes, Friends, it's a thousand years since the Vikings last ruled Britain! And yet we still can't get enough of them, can we!

They're even casting their hilarious shadow over the current World Cup - did YOU see those amusing pictures of Norway's team taken before the tournament began?

Even Norway's national football team finds time to do

a bit of dressing-up before their first game!

And stories about the Vikings and their legacy continue to dominate the world's press on an almost daily basis - did you see today's Onion News?

It's madness, isn't it! But reading the Onion stories today, here in semi-aquatic Liphook, Hampshire, brings a vapid glimmer of a smile to the face of me and my wife Lois, that's for sure!

me and my wife Lois - a recent picture

We're laughing because, by complete coincidence, a book about Viking hero Olaf Haraldsson is the star present in the array of Father's Day gifts that I've received from Lois this morning, which is mad!

It's kind of appropriate, however, as a gift for me, because, a few years ago, my sister Jill sent results of her DNA test to the ancestry.com website, and discovered that she, and by implication I myself, are 2% Norwegian, through our father, which is weird!

And Olaf Haraldsson is a real man's Viking, or a real Viking's Viking, should I say! In recent years, there's been a determined attempt to "soften" the Vikings' "ruthless" image, saying that they were just farmers really, forced to leave Scandinavia by population growth, and they didn't mean any harm, would you believe, which is totally crazy!

Well Olaf wasn't that kind of a 'nice' Viking, and tales of his pillaging and ruthless "derring-do" make refreshing reading in these increasingly "woke" times - that's for sure! A busy pillager since his teenage years, and devotee of the Viking goddess Freyja, goddess of copulation and witchcraft, whilst in England, the "busy busy" Olaf somehow found time to destroy London Bridge, as well as annihilating a string of English towns, including Oxford, which was totally mad!

some illustrations from the book on busy Viking, Olaf Haraldsson, that I receive as a

Father's Day gift from Lois today: (left) the man himself, and (right) one of his

inspirations, the Viking goddess Freyja, "goddess of copulation and witchcraft" (!)

What a crazy world they lived in, in those far-off days!!!

To sum today up, I can exclusively reveal, that I have a great Father's Day with enjoying presents from Lois and from our elder daughter Alison, who lives 10 miles away just over the county line in Churt, Surrey. 

Yours Truly's Father's Day gifts today - (left) from Lois, the Olaf book, some of my

"fave" chocolates and a lightweight dressing-gown, and (right) from our daughter 

Alison, some high-end biscuits and two varieties of specialty green tea - yum yum!

Lucky old Yours Truly !!!!

There are no Father's Day gifts this morning, however, from our other daughter, Sarah, but that's to be expected - she lives in Perth, Australia, with husband Francis and their 12-year-old twins Lily and Jessica, and Australia has fixed its Father's Day in September, which is mad, but it will give me a lift when it comes, given how light the UK September is on 'special days' ! So watch this space!!!!

Lois and I actually talk to Sarah this morning via zoom, on our weekly 'catch-up call', and, of course, she herself has got a special day coming up tomorrow, her 49th birthday - yikes! You know you're getting old when your children hit middle-age, that's for sure! 

[What do you mean, "getting" old, Colin! - Ed]

And this morning, husband Francis was looking after the kids while Sarah went for a pre-birthday spa treatment session with her American friend Charissa at a local spa centre, the Swan Valley Retreat, which was nice. The place advertises a "wooden sauna" (whatever that means!), plunge pool, and jacuzzi etc - you know that kind of "malarkey" !!!!!

(above) us this lunchtime talking on zoom to our daughter Sarah in Perth, Australia,

and (centre, below) the Swan Valley Retreat, where Sarah (bottom left) and her

American friend Charissa (bottom, right) enjoyed sauna, plunge pools and jacuzzis

- lucky them !!!!!

There isn't much chance to talk to our twin grandchildren today on this week's zoom call - they're getting ready for bed, it's 9pm in Perth, which is mad, and the twins are tired out, and getting ready for school tomorrow, their last week before the school term ends for their so-called 'winter holidays' - what madness, isn't it!!!

Those two little rascals have been busy working on their "portfolio projects", an expression that Lois and I had never heard of, so we had to look it up on google. And for their "projects", little Lily and Jessica, those clever little blighters (!) have been doing research into such topics as The Black Death in Europe, and World War II, not to mention the arrival of the Native Australians in Australia, which was 55,000 years ago, Jessica tells me, although it didn't "make the papers" at the time, seemingly! What madness, isn't it !!!

Yikes!!!!

We won't need zoom to talk to them soon, because Lois and I will be seeing Sarah and family in person in just over a week's time. The family will be flying into London for a 3-week "break" in the UK, something which Lois and I are hoping will be an annual event. They came here in July last year, so here's hoping!

flashback to July 2025: Lois and me with our delightful

12-year-old twin granddaughters on their last UK visit

Otherwise, for Lois and me, today is very much a day of "hunkering down", as the temperatures climb into the 80's Fahrenheit at the start of what's going to be a week-long heatwave, if not more. 

And Lois decides to join her church's Sunday Morning Meeting remotely this morning, to escape the heat of the journey and of the village hall near Petersfield, where services are held. 

(left) temperatures rising into the 80s F - they'll be in the 90's next week,

and (right) Lois in her "meeting hat" taking part in her church's Sunday Morning Meeting,

with the curtains closed, to keep out the sun and heat - what madness!!!!

And the rest of this Father's Day Lois gives the 'royal' treatment with an afternoon in bed for "statutory naptime ", and my favourite meal - shepherd's pie - for tea. What's not to like!!!

20:00 There's nothing much on the "telly" at the moment other than sports and repeats, so Lois and I decide to "binge watch" another episode of the Canadian sitcom "Schitt's Creek", which BBC3 are doing a re-run of at the moment, and which Lois and I had never heard of, or watched, at the time, so it's a good chance to catch up, that's for sure!

In the series, a wealthy family - a couple with two grown-up children - are turned out of their billionaire mansion, after being cheated of all their money by some crooked accountant or other. Luckily the father had bought a small rural town some years ago, 'as a joke' present for his son, so now, the family, down on their luck, can at least seek refuge in the town they own (!), and they manage to book two rooms on a long-term rental, at the local sleazy, run-down motel, in run-down, backwoods town, Schitt's Creek.

In this scene, pampered son David, who's been told by his dad that he has to find a job - his first ever - because of the family's reduced circumstances, decides to ask the motel receptionist Stevie, how he should go about finding a job in shabby, rural backwater, Schitt's Creek, so Stevie takes a look through the 'jobs vacant' column of the local paper, on David's behalf.

Stevie draws a blank here, evidently, but she's not giving up yet. She asks David if he has any other skills, or areas of expertise, and he replies that he's been told he has very good taste.

This job title - "bag boy at the grocery store" - mystifies the pampered David, however.

David remains cautious about the potential job, however, asking what it pays. Stevie isn't sure, but she guesses "minimum wage", which David assumes must be "about 40 to 45 dollars an hour?", as he comments.

Oh dear!!!!!

Yes, you see, Canada (and even Australia!) - they're both as crazy as the UK, seemingly, so don't look for relief by emigrating to either of those two superficially inviting destinations - just saying!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Saturday June 20th 2026 "Look lively! The 'musicals' season is nigh upon us!!!"

Yes, Friends, have YOU decided which musical you're going to see this summer! Tickets are selling fast, as 'musical' fever mounts, according to media reports! 

Did YOU see the headlines in this morning's Onion News, which should convince you, if nothing else will!

And, aghast at these headlines, they bring a cheeky chuckle to the mouths of me and my wife Lois, here in semi-attractive, rural Liphook, Hampshire, no question about that!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

And we're chuckling for a very good reason! Today is the second (and last) day of our stint as "grandparents in loco parentis", to coin a phrase (!). 

Yes, with our daughter Alison and husband Edward 300 miles away up north, near the Scottish border, collecting their eldest offspring Josie's "stuff" at the end of her first year of maths degree course at Durham, Lois and I are keeping a friendly, grandparental eye on their two younger kids Rosalind (17) and Isaac (15), ferrying them hither and thither as occasion demands. Busy busy busy!

our two grandchildren Rosalind (17) and Isaac (15), seen

here with dad Edward on a recent trip to London

Today, our young grandson Isaac has an appointment with destiny, rehearsing for his part as one of the romantic leads in next year's production of "9 to 5 - The Musical" at local theatre Haslemere Hall, and Lois and I have to leave home at 9:30am to go to Churt and pick him up, delivering him to Haslemere Hall in time for him to do a couple of hours more of practising his vocal 'numbers'! 

What madness, isn't it!

(left) Welsh actress Caroline Sheen as Violet, with beau Joe (Christopher 

Jordan Marshall) performing the musical '9 to 5'  in London's West End, and (right)

Haslemere Hall, the local theatre where our grandson Isaac will recreate the role

Isaac will be playing the part of Joe, the accountant with a quiet crush on one of the three female leads, Violet - see the two 'snogging' in the above picture from the recent production of the musical in London's West End, with Welsh actress Caroline Sheen playing Violet, and Christopher Jordan Marshall playing the quiet accountant Joe, Violet's biggest fan! 

Even Isaac's sister Rosalind has 'somewhere she's gotta be' this morning - her 'stylist' at the local Eden Hair Salon, which is mad! Luckily, before we need to deliver Rosalind to the salon, for a 1pm appointment, we get some time to chat to her first, and show her some dusty old family photos of her distant ancestors (!), like my great grandfather, and also regale her with some of our 'sob stories', all about the 'horrors' of life as it was, in the era before smartphones and the internet, and all that 'malarkey'!

(left) Lois and I show our granddaughter Rosalind some faded old black-and-white

photos of her distant ancestors, before delivering her to the local Eden Hair 

Salon for an appointment with her stylist, would you believe!

We also explain to Rosalind why people in ancient photos always look 'fed up', or at any rate are rarely smiling. It's partly a cultural phenomenon, we explain, but mainly it's because people always had to keep still for multiple seconds so that the photographer could get the proper 'exposure-time' needed to get a good picture in those crazy, far-off days, which was weird, to put it mildly!

a picture from the late 19th century of my great-grandparents John and Elizabeth,

at their home in Bridgend, Glamorgan, with their 9-strong 'brood',

including my grandfather Sidney as a fed-up-looking young boy (!)

Incredibly, the John Evans in that old photo, a local newspaper editor in Bridgend, Glamorgan, is young Rosalind's great-great-grandfather. And that 'very fed-up-looking' small boy is Sidney, Rosalind's great-great grandfather. 

What madness it all is, isn't it! And we tell Rosalind today that that 'fed-up little boy' Sidney, turned out, in a way, to be the 'black sheep' of the family, being the only boy in the brood not to follow their father into the newspaper business, instead becoming a humble tea-taster in a local grocer's shop, would you believe, which was mad!

Sidney made up for his lack of professional achievements in the bedroom, however. Whereas his four brothers turned out to be childless or just have one or two offspring, young Sidney went on to have his own enormous brood of nine youngsters, including my mother Hannah, so that was all good!

flashback to the late 1920's: my grandfather Sidney and my grandmother Gladys

at the beach at Southerndown, Glamorgan with the 4 youngest of their 9-strong 

'brood' - my mother Hannah (foremost) with Ruth, and the twins Joan and Babs

14:00 Time to take our two rascal grandchildren home! Isaac finishes his rehearsals, and Rosalind her hair-appointment, so Lois and I take them home to Churt, where we find their parents have just arrived home after their 300 mile journey from Durham,

in our little Honda Jazz, Lois and I deliver our grandchildren Rosalind and Isaac 

back to the bosom of their family today at their house in Churt, Surrey, shortly after

their mum, our daughter Alison (right) arrives back from Durham with husband Edward

15:00 Busy busy busy! And what Lois and I wonder, is, how did we ever find the time to go to work, back in the day! At last now, however, we can retire to bed for 'statutory nap-time', which is nice! 

What a crazy life we lead these days!!!!

We acknowledge, however, that we were lucky, during our working lives, not to have had to put up with these heatwaves that the Europeans are constantly 'pushing our way', according to the press! No doubt it's seen as revenge for 'Brexit', which seems a bit selfish, to our eyes at least !!!

What madness isn't it! And it's only going to get worse next week! Luckily it'll cool down a bit for the end of the month, when our other daughter Sarah arrives from Perth, Australia, for a 3-week break, with husband Francis and their 12-year-old twins Lily and Jessica.

flashback to July 2025: Lois and me with our little Australian

family, during their last visit to the UK

Yes, "it's all go" for Lois and me at the moment, that's for sure!!!!

20:00 Our daughter Sarah in Australia is an accountant, but she's not a crooked one, an increasingly common occupation in these crazy times we live in!

And tonight, Lois and I find something out about the damage a crooked accountant can do, which is a weird coincidence! Yes, at last able to relax 'for 5 minutes(!)' this evening, we catch up with a Canadian sitcom that started in the lockdown years, and which Lois and I somehow managed to avoid seeing, or even hearing about, which is mad!

In the series, a wealthy family - a couple with two grown-up children - are turned out of their billionaire mansion, after being cheated of all their money by some crooked accountant or other. Luckily the father had bought a small rural town some years ago, 'as a joke' present for his son, so now, the family, down on their luck, can at least seek refuge in the town they own (!), and they manage to book two rooms at the local sleazy, run-down motel.

In this scene pampered son David and his pampered sister Alexis, who've been assigned a twin room in the shabby motel, are squabbling over who gets the bed furthest away from the door.

What a crazy world we live in !!!!

As a couple, Lois and I don't normally 'binge-watch'. We prefer to wait a week to see the next episode of any show - call us inflexible 'old codgers' if you like! - but on this occasion we break our rule slightly by seeing Episode 2 as well as Episode 1, which is something of a sign of approval, in our terms, at least!

[I'll pass your 'recommendation' on to the makers of the show, Colin. I'm sure they'll be very gratified to hear it! - Ed]

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Friday June 19th 2026 "Everybody's on the move at the moment! Where are YOU heading out today !!!!"

Yes, seemingly, everybody's on the move just at the moment, and on some kind of so-called 'trip' or other! And if you want to be 'on trend', you'd better get up off your backside and join the throng - do it now!!!!

It's all over this morning's papers! Everybody's going somewhere, either just locally or even internationally! Take a look at your copy of Onion News, if you want 'chapter and verse' !!!!!! 

And these stories of people 'on the move' bring a faint air of a smile to me and my wife Lois this morning, here in semi-attractive Liphook, Hampshire - no doubt about that!

me and my wife Lois, pictured today on our sofa in Liphook, Hampshire

And this current mania for 'moving about' is even affecting our own family this week, would you believe! 

Our daughter Alison (50) and her long-term husband Edward, our son-in-law, are today travelling 300 miles from their home in Churt, Surrey, all the way up to Durham, near the Scottish border, to spend a few days with their elder daughter Josie (19), who's just about to finish the first year of her maths degree course. 

Alison and Edward are going to be bringing home all Josie's bulky belongings for the summer vacation. Josie herself is going to be staying a few more days up north, but she'll be able to bring her remaining possessions herself in a suitcase, so that's all good!

(above) the route that proud parents Alison and Edward are taking today

to spend a few days with elder daughter Josie (19), before bringing home

the bulk of her possessions for the summer vacation, and (below) flashback

to September 2025, when Josie first arrived at Durham for her maths course

Busy busy busy!!! And while Alison and Edward are away up north, it'll be up to my wife and Lois and me to keep a friendly, grandparental eye on the couple's two other offspring, Rosalind (17) and Isaac (15), and ferry them about if necessary, starting today, which is mad!

Yes, today Lois and I are going to be having to 'get off our backsides' (!) and give those two young rascals (!) Rosalind and Isaac a spot of lunch today here at our lovely Liphook home after their tennis lessons, and drive them back home to Churt. And tomorrow we'll be picking them up at Churt and taking them into nearby shopping mecca Haslemere - Isaac has a rehearsal for the next music-and-dramatic arts production of "Nine To Five - the Musical", and Rosalind has a hair appointment with her stylist at Eden's, so it's going to be 'all go' for Lois and me for the next couple of days - no question about that!!!!

(above, left) the family home at Churt, Surrey and (above, right) my wife Lois

with those two rascals our grandchildren Isaac (15) and Rosalind (17);

and (below, left) 9-to-5 The Musical, for which Isaac will be rehearsing tomorrow

and (below, right) the Eden Hair Salon, where Rosalind has an appointment

What madness !!!! And for Lois and me, it's going to be a busy couple of days, that's for sure!

[Is that all you two 'noggins' have done today, Colin, made lunch for your grandchildren and taken them back home to Churt? - Ed]

Absolutely not, seeing as how you're asking! 

We've actually been 'rushed off our feet' preparing for the visit later this month of our other daughter Sarah, with husband Francis and their 12-year-old twin daughters Lily and Jessica, who'll be 'jetting in' from Perth, Australia to spend 3 weeks with us, so, as far as Lois and I are concerned, it's "no peace for the wicked" yet again haha!!!! 

So today, in anticipation of their arrival in 11 days' time, there's me finishing off mowing the lawn while also somehow finding time to fit an extra bed into our so-called "home office", not to mention us planning day trips for our little Australian family to mighty London, the hub of the British Commonwealth, of which Australia is just one part, which is mad too!!! 

flashback  to July 2025: my wife Lois, with our daughter Sarah

Sarah's husband Francis and their 12-year-old twin daughters

Lily and Jessica on their last trip to the UK

And Lois and I are having to do all this preparation work today, despite the sudden current heatwave, with temperatures of 80 degrees F (27C) which is crazy !!!! I've even decided to break out my stylish shorts [not shown], would you believe!!!!

(above, left) I get our lawnmower out to finish off mowing our lawn, and (above, right)

me showcasing the extra folding bed we've somehow managed to squeeze into our 'office';

(below, left) us on the sofa working out some day-trips for our little Australian family

to do when they're with us, and (below, right) me showcasing the torrid

temperatures we're working under - what madness!!!

Just look at the predicted high temperatures for today - see below! And next week the highs even reach 83F (28C) at one point, according to my phone, which is totally mad! 

What a crazy country we live in !!!!

And, as if to underline our country's craziness, if that were even needed (!), Lois and I relax this evening watching "The Phantom of the Open", the true story of Maurice Flitcroft, the middle-aged shipyard crane-operator from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, who somehow managed to be accepted as a contender in the 1976 British Open Golf Tournament, despite never having played a round of golf in his life.

What a madness it all was, wasn't it !!!!

In this scene, shipyard worker Maurice, played by Mark Rylance, is working on his application form for entry to the British Open, with the help of his long-suffering wife Jean (Sally Hawkins). Maurice is 'poncing about' trying on his new 'golfing hat' and looking at himself in the mirror, while Jean is trying to get him to concentrate on the British Open entry application form she's filling in for him.

In the end, the couple decide to put Maurice down on the form as a "professional", which means

they don't have to list his 'handicap', or 'handicaps'. And this decision by the couple was crucial in getting novice Maurice accepted as a competitor, because the administrators didn't think to check his credentials.

Maurice goes on to take part in the tournament, scoring a record score of 121 for the 18 holes, and, after the tournament, a reporter from The Sun newspaper visits the family home in Barrow to ask for Maurice's wife Jean's reactions.

Oops!!!!

Need I say more!!!!

[No! - Ed]

[Just go to bed! - Ed]

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