Thursday June 25th 2026m "Have YOU resigned YOUR job yet? Well, do it quick, before somebody else does it for you haha!!!!"

Yes, Friends, it's time for you to resign your job, or lose "face". Everybody's doing it, according to the press! Plus, you KNOW you're rubbish at the job, anyway, so what's holding you up haha!!!!

And you'll feel so much better, after you "take the plunge", no question about that!

And if you believe today's Onion News, you won't be the only one!!!! Just turn to page 94 !!!!

It's resignation season, seemingly, and the "I quit" stories are certainly bringing an ironic smile to the faces of me and my wife Lois this morning, no doubt about that!!!!

me and my wife Lois - a recent picture

We're laughing for a very good reason, because, by total coincidence, the latest copy of political magazine has just "plopped" through our letterbox, with what must surely be a prediction of the dire prospects for a prominent UK Prime Minister-in-Waiting.

Yes, step forward Mr Andy Burnham MP! But just for a minute or so haha!!!!

So it's "Hello Andy" and it's "Goodbye Andy", it appears, and Lois and I aren't too displeased - we never liked the guy anyway, so that's all good!!!!

Perhaps, we're just in a sour mood, unusually for us, probably because of the continuing hot weather, which is annoying, to put it mildly - no pun intended!!!!!

Yours Truly today, trying to keep cool with my shiny-new 'mini-fan'

which I'm using a bit like my electric shaver. What madness!!!

If only we were in Denmark, is what Lois and I are saying today, where our daughter Alison and family - husband Edward and their 3 teenage kids - jetted off to from London's Heathrow airport on a nostalgic mini-break to the Copenhagen, the city where the family spent 7 years from 2012 to 2019. It's all right for some!!!!

Today, our dear granddaughter Rosalind will be celebrating her 18th birthday, which seems incredible, but not when we remember she was also born this day in 2008. You do the maths haha!

Copenhagen is loads cooler than Liphook - just look at "the numbers" !!!!

(left) temperatures yesterday and today in Liphook, and (right) in Copenhagen

And this morning, Alison sends us these delightful pictures from the family's hotel window in Copenhagen, plus, later, a photo of our granddaughter Rosalind celebrating her 18th birthday at (we believe) the Sticks'n'Sushi in suburban Lyngby, which is nice!

pictures sent us today by our daughter Alison, with (bottom right)

our deaf granddaughter Rosalind, celebrating her 18th birthday

Awwww!!!!!

No such luck with the weather for Lois and me, here in Liphook, Hampshire, but we're doing our best, and Lois was up unusually early this morning, before 7:30am, determined to plant out her runner beans, who've been practically screaming to be taken out of the house and put into something wet, the little 'rascals' !!!!!

Awww!!!!

The thing about heatwaves seems to me to be that, basically, is that people talk about them, but nobody does anything about them, which is mad! So I guess we're just stuck with them (?). Lois and I only feel good if we've got a fan blowing in our faces, but there's no "silver bullet", is there, other than, in the morning, looking forward to getting back into bed in the afternoon, then, in the evening, looking forward to get back into bed again when it's bed-time. 

What madness !!!!!

And the bad news is that there's still a couple of days to go before the temperatures are forecast to be coming down a bit, which is annoying!

What a crazy world we live in !!!!

20:00 Excitement mounts this evening, however, with some key developments in Schitt's Creek, the Canadian drama that Lois and I are currently 'bingeing' on, just until the World Cup finishes !!!!

The billionaire Rose family - parents Johnny and Moira and their kids David and Alexis - recently down on their luck, after most of their fortune disappears, are on the brink of selling their last town - the run-down Schitt's Creek - and escaping back to the good life, in bustling New York. 

Now read on haha!!!!

In tonight's episode, with the family on the brink of selling their last town - Schitt's Creek - the family's pampered son David decides to 'jump the gun', borrowing the Mayor's truck and heading off for the good life, in New York, without even waiting for the deal to be signed. 

On his way north, however, David runs out of petrol, but is lucky enough to fall in with a 17th-century Amish family, who take him in. And, as soon as his parents find out about his whereabouts, the family set off in their car to travel over there to pick him up.

In this scene, after the arrival of his parents and his sister Alexis at the remote 17th century Pennsylvanian Amish homestead, David waxes lyrical to them about Amish maiden Miriam's home-made butter:

Poor David!!!! He loves Miriam's butter, which he says is as good as the butter he tasted at the Ritz in Paris. But he does love his 'lie-ins' in the morning, that's for sure!!!!

And David's parents are lavish in their praise of the simple Amish couple who have cherished their son so carefully over the 3-day period. The kindly old Amish couple, however, won't accept a word of thanks about it, which is heart-warming!

Awwww -that's so sweet !!!!

Fabulous stuff isn't it !!!!!

[If you say so, Colin! - Ed]

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Wednesday June 24th 2026 "Are YOU having plenty of veg with YOUR 'tea' tonight? Just checking!!!!!"

Yes, Friends, are YOU having sufficient of the 'green stuff' with YOUR tea tonight. This lady, whose picture is plastered all over the TV news tonight, shows you how it's done what done! 

And suddenly vegetables are 'flavour of the month' quite literally, and the papers are full of them - check out today's Onion News, and give it a good shake, if you need convincing!

Weird, isn't it! And reading these headlines brings a teary grin to the faces of me and my wife Lois in leaf-affected Liphook, Hampshire, this morning, no doubt about that!!!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

And, perhaps more conscious than most Brits about the nutritional l value of vegetables you'd have found us out in our tiny back garden today at the unearthly hour of 8 am, erecting our bean poles for another season, now that Lois's little bean-plants, currently languishing in our kitchen, are just bursting to be 'planted out' - no question about that!

Here are the telling pictures, with Lois doing all the work, and me 'poncing about', pushing the odd pole into place, and generally trying to look busy, as per usual !!!!

Eight o'clock this morning, and Lois and I already out in our tiny back garden,

pushing a bunch of bean-poles into the dry soil, before it gets too hot out there!

And by around 8:30am, we're pretty much done for the day, which is nice!

[Is that all you two 'noggins' have done today, Colin? - Ed]

Well, pretty much, yes! But we've got the excuse of the weather, of course! And here are the "numbers", to prove it!

(left) UK's hottest June day on record in nearby Charlwood, Surrey - 35.7C (96.3F),

according to the BBC, and (right) the temperatures in Liphook, Hampshire today

Even at 6 o'clock tonight in our living-room, the temperature is still 86.5F (30C), and the forecast for the weather here in Liphook tomorrow looks dire! 

What madness!!!!

(left) with a look of horror on my face, I showcase the temperature

in our living room at 6 o' clock tonight, and (right) the forecast for tomorrow - yikes!!!!!

Well, it's true that Lois and I haven't done much today, other than 'poncing about' in light clothing, but at least we've been able to give some comfort to my sister Gill in Ipswich, during one of our periodic whatsapp audio-calls with her this afternoon - or at least I hope we did!

Poor Gill has just returned from a mini-break in Lille, in north-east France with Lucy, one of Gill's 3 grown-up daughters! Lille was not as hot as most of France, Gill reports, being almost in Belgium - phew, narrow escape there! Only joking, if you're one of my Belgian readers!!!

Lille,  in north-east France, often described

as "almost in Belgium" (!)

Lille is a lovely town, Gill says, and it was cooler there than it's been in Paris, she adds, but the downside is that the residents of Lille don't get a lot of tourists, and don't all speak English, so poor Gill had to resurrect her memories of O-Level French from the 1970's, and on more than one occasion, would you believe, which was a pity!

Phew, wotta scorcha! And my sister Gill took these pictures of her daughter 

Lucy in Lille this week, during their short mini-break in the town

Gill also tells us about her upcoming trip to Norwich, where her most recent literary output is going to be thoroughly "workshopped". 

Ouch, sounds painful!!!!

Gill's recent new monologue, "A Nice Cup of Tea" is going to be analysed by a group of enthusiasts at a literary gathering in the city, and Gill hopes to be able to pick up on their ideas and suggestions, and then maybe take a second look at the script for herself. The monologue was performed last November at London's Glitch Theatre, by the feminist Yellow Coat Theatre Company.

(above left) Gill showcasing the performance of her latest monologue

at London's Glitch Theatre, and (above right) Gill with Lucy's fiancee Rosanna,

and (below, right) Gill with members of the all-female Yellow Coat Theatre Company,

who staged the monologue in the theatre back in November 2025

Kudos, Gill! 

Exciting times, eh, to put it mildly! So watch this space!

20:00 But phew! Wotta scorcha it's been! And no relief for poor Lois and me tonight, to find the TV listings dominated by the World Cup again! Will this nightmare never end!!!!!

What madness!!!

Luckily Lois and I can take refuge by doing some more binge-watching of the recent Canadian sitcom series "Schitt's Creek", which we didn't see at the time because it was apparently on something called Netflix, which we're too "tight" to subscribe to - well, you have to draw the line somewhere, don't you haha!!!

[Again? For heaven's sake, Colin! - Ed]

In the series, a wealthy family - a couple Johnny and Moira with two grown-up children David and Alexis - are forced to leave their billionaire mansion, after being cheated of all their money by some crooked business associate or other. 

Luckily the father, Johnny, had bought a small rural town some years ago, 'as a joke' present for his son, David, so the family, now down on their luck, can at least seek low-cost refuge in the town that they own anyway (!), and they manage to book two poky rooms on a long-term rental, at the local sleazy, run-down motel, in run-down, backwoods town, Schitt's Creek.

the former billionaire family, the Roses, now down on their luck,

and forced to live in 2 cramped rooms at a motel in the backwoods

There's a key scene in the unfolding drama tonight, after pampered son David (played by Dan Levy) spends the night with his new "squeeze",  the free-wheeling motel receptionist Stevie, played by Emily Hampshire. 

After spending their first night together, the couple are seen out shopping for wine, in the town's seedy off-licence. When David appears to show interest in a white wine, new "squeeze" Stevie, looks alarmed, and the following exchange takes place.

David, to his credit, immediately sees where Stevie is going with this, and he takes the time to give her a run-down of his preferences, and his recent back-story with the drink.

Stevie, though obviously shocked at David's story, appears to be a little alarmed by the implications for her future relationship with him.

Oh dear, where is all going, I ask myself! 

Luckily Lois is sitting here next to me on the sofa, watching all this with me, and she explains to me that this is actually a conversation, not about wines, but about so-called "sexual preferences".

Of course, I can see that that's obvious now, but why didn't I see that for myself!!!

And seemingly, David and Stevie's relationship seems to be still on track, which is heart-warming!

Awwwww!!!!

But what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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