Wednesday February 12th 2026 "What's more annoying than your boss trying desperately to 'psyche you up' !!!"

Yes, Friends, is there any single workplace 'nightmare' than when your boss is trying to "psyche you up" for some footling catalogue project or something similar!

And don't think it only happens in big multinational corporations in London! It happened round this "neck of the woods", at a small local firm just this week, and the story is making all the headlines in this morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire, a front-page "splash" which makes pretty grim reading -  you have been warned!!!!

Poor Austen !!!!! It's certainly not pleasant being "psyched up" by your boss, especially on a Monday, when you're only just "winding down" from your weekend, to put it mildly!!!!

However, reading the story this morning, here in semi-precious Liphook, Hampshire, this morning does bring a feeling of a kind of "amusement-fuelled anxiety" to the faces of me and my wife Lois, that's for sure!!!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

We've got a big event coming up later today, and we're trying to "psyche ourselves up" for it, as I type these words!

To try to calm our nerves, we go for a walk this morning on the grass around Liphook's iconic Millennium Centre, but have to abandon the walk after 15 minutes (again!) due to driving rain (again) (!), which sends us scurrying back to our car - what madness !!!!

And then, to keep our minds occupied, we pop into Liphook's flagship supermarket, the "Big" Sainsbury's, to get Lois some special bread for Sunday, would you believe! 

(above) Liphook's iconic "Millennium Centre, where Lois and I try to walk around this morning,

only to be sent scurrying back to our car due to the driving rain (again!!!), and

(below) the town's flagship supermarket, the Big Sainsbury's, to get Lois some special bread

Going to the Big Sainsbury's "to get Lois some special bread for Sunday" sounds weird, I know, but Lois has just joined her church's rota for providing the communion bread and wine for the Sunday Morning Meeting, and she's down to do it this coming Sunday. That will mean we'll have to get up super-early, because she'll have to be at the village hall, where the meetings are held, by 10:30am, so she can get everything ready before the meeting starts at 11am. 

Busy, busy, busy!!!

the village hall, where Lois's church holds its Sunday meetings

Only the "sisters" can apply for this job, as far as I know, but if you apply, it's a "shoo-in", and you don't have to run in the church's annual elections if you want to be accepted. By contrast a lot of the "brethren's rotas" - like the preaching rota or the presiding rota, or "doorkeeper", are subject to an annual vote - it's very democratic, so you might get voted off a rota if nobody likes your door-keeping, for example. Something like that, anyway! 

13:00 We're still psyching ourselves up for "tonight's event" over lunch, and it even creates a bit of tension in bed this afternoon during "statutory nap-time".

Tonight is going to be a fun event, however, that's for sure, but Lois and I are a bit nervous, because we don't usually go out after dark, sorry to confess!!! Luckily, our daughter Alison, who lives 10 miles away in Churt, over the county line in Surrey, is going to be taking us in her car, so I'm sure our nerves will settle down as soon as she rings our doorbell and settles us two "old codgers" down in two of her comfy car's comfy car-seats, at the unearthly hour of 5pm, would you believe! 

Yikes - we're becoming real "late birds" in our old age, that's for sure !!!!

a patently nervous Lois and me, being picked up this evening - 5 pm !!!! -

in pouring rain for a rid to our grandson Isaac's school to hear one of

his "performing arts" monologues - yikes !!!!!

The occasion tonight is going to be a fun thing, happily, because our grandson Isaac (15), together with a bunch of his fellow-students are performing monologues and dialogues in his school's theatre etc under the auspices of the London Academy for Musical and Dramatic Arts, or LAMDA, as it's known. 

We find we're not allowed to take photographs during the performance, which is a pity, but here's a shot of Lois waiting anxiously for the performance to begin, outside the entrance to the school's iconic "Hatfield Theatre", while our daughter Ali scans the pictures of the school's previous productions, like "Wizard" (The Wizard of Oz), in which Isaac played the Tin Man.

(left) Lois waiting anxiously outside the Hatfield Theatre at our 15-year-old grandson Isaac's

school, and (right) our daughter Alison scanning the pictures outside the theatre entrance,

including one of the school's production of "The Wizard of Oz", in which Isaac played the Tin Man

17:45 The performance begins, and our anxieties are quelled when Isaac, despite a cold, is in full voice,  putting in a stunning performance of a monologue from playwright Dennis Kelly's "DNA", which Lois and I have never heard of, but then we are fully-paid-up "old codgers", so fair enough!

Kudos, Isaac !!!!

And exactly what "DNA" (!) is young Isaac drawing on, to get his thespian skills? 

Not mine, that's for sure! I have never acted 1956, when as a 10-year-old I caused a kerfuffle at my school's Christmas Play, hanging up my Christmas stocking but then getting into my stage bed at the wrong end. And when my stage "mummy" (10-year-old Jill G.) came to tuck me in with a goodnight kiss, she was confronted with my feet, which at least got me a laugh, although ending my thespian ambitions at a stroke, and for all time, which was a pity!

flashback to my 1956-57 class photo, Mr Spicer's class, with me (ringed, centre of next-to-back row) 

before my "growth spurt" (!), and (back row extreme right) Jill, who played my "mummy"

 in the school play which ended my dreams of becoming a world-famous actor, tragically enough!!!!

Almost certainly Isaac gets his thespian talents from his dad, Edward, a debonair hotshot London lawyer, who nevertheless finds time to infuse both his addresses to court, and his work presentations, with an incredible dramatic flair and humour. 

When Edward started going out with our daughter Alison, back in the 1990's, he was often compared to film-star Hugh Grant, with his easy, relaxed, debonair manner and floppy dark hair.

(left) flashback to 1996: our daughter Alison, with Edward, a fellow Cardiff University student,

just after they had become an "item", and (right) the two of them last year, now married 

for 26 years, enjoying the last night of their Mauritius holiday at their beach hotel

Back in the 1990's, at the time that Lois and I first got to know our future son-in-law Edward, many comparisons were being drawn, in our circle, between Edward and the then up-and-coming film-star Hugh Grant.

And by coincidence tonight, Lois and I find ourselves watching an amusing retrospective on Hugh Grant's career, on the free-to-view Sky Arts Channel, which is nice!

It's very relaxing tonight for Lois and me, after a potentially stressful day which turned our so "dramatically" right in the end (no pun intended !!!!!), to look-back at Grant's career in romcoms and other productions. 

In the programme's opening sequence we see him here taking a stroll with fellow thespian, actress Liz Hurley, later Grant's wife.

One of the things Lois and I like most about Hugh Grant is his unfailing politeness. How many film-stars do YOU know would thank a reporter just for asking a question about his latest film - in this case Grant's big hit, "About a Boy" (2002) ?

Another thing we like about Grant is that he's also always very honest and open about his emotions, as seen here in this joint-interview with actress Liz Hurley, his then current "squeeze" and, later, his wife.

What a guy!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Tuesday February 10th 2026 "Friends, are YOU cursed by having inconsiderate neighbours?"

Yes, Friends, are YOU cursed by having inconsiderate neighbours, constantly taking advantage of your generosity? It's often said that we choose our life-partners, our kids' names, our jobs etc, but we can't always choose our neighbours - ever thought of that?!!!! 

Check out this morning's local Onion News, if you want chapter and verse!!!

Poor Simmonses !!!! Or should I say "Poor Millers!!!" - it comes to the same thing in the end, doesn't it! And have you ever noticed that "neighbouring" is a totally reciprocal thing. We're all neighbours to our neighbours, which is kind of weird!!!!

And reading the Onion Story this morning in semi-idyllic Liphook, Hampshire, brings a wry smile to the lips of me and my wife Lois, to put it mildly!!!!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

Mine and Lois's problem, neighbour-wise, is a bit different from those of the Millers and the Simmonses, to be clear! 

Our headache is that so many of our neighbours are celebrities, as we should have expected, living as we do in what's been dubbed "the showbiz capital of East Hampshire", so it's very much a case of "our bad", to put it mildly!!!!

Even members of our own family are celebs - just last Sunday we watched our grandson Isaac played the dual roles of "Harvard Law Student" and "new hunky UPS guy" in the Surrey Theatre Academy's production of "Legally Blonde the Musical" in Haslemere Hall.

flashback to last Sunday: Lois and me in the audience (right) watching 

our grandson Isaac (left) as a Harvard law student, singing his song in

the Surrey Theatre Academy's performance of Legally Blonde the Musical

And just a few days ago, on one of mine and Lois's daily walks, who should we bump into but a near-neighbour of ours who is playing the key role of the back-end of a cow in the Mad Company's production of iconic pantomime "Jack and the Beanstalk", which will be playing at Liphook's Millennium Centre the weekend after next. 

the bawdy scene in the Jack and the Beanstalk panto, where the pantomime cow is

getting some attention from a local farmer or vet possibly. We're assured that no 

panto cow-halves (front or back!) were injured in the staging of the scene (!) 

- but what madness !!!!

Our neighbour pressed us to buy tickets for the show, and added, somewhat threateningly I thought (!), that she'd be watching out for us in the audience. I suppose her back-end-of-a-cow-costume has some sort of peep-hole or other observation device - but that's modern technology for you, isn't it!!!!

poster for the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk, that one of our 

near-neighbours is playing the back-end of a cow in

I tell you, we're bumping into stars all the time round here!!!!

However, as relative newcomers to Liphook, we obviously don't want any trouble with our new neighbours, so this morning we check out the box-office at the Millennium Centre, although in the end, we decide not to buy tickets. 

Lois and I have a severe case of "showbiz overload" at the moment! You see, although there's a special "old codgers matinee session" of "Jack and the Beanstalk" on the Sunday afternoon, we decide, as we're attending a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta in Godalming on the Saturday, that if went to a panto as well, the following day, it would just make us over-excited and liable to be throwing tantrums at bedtime - always a worry at our age, going through the so-called "silly seventy-nines", as we are, always a difficult year haha!!!! 

Busy busy busy!!!!!

And we're actually here at the Millennium Centre this morning for a quite different reason. As members of the Liphook U3A's "Intermediate Local History for Old Codgers" group, we're here to attend the group's monthly meeting, at which local archaeologist Peter is giving a talk on "What did the Romans ever do for East Hampshire?", which is a nice thing to be doing on a somewhat drizzly Liphook morning, to put it mildly!

(left) Lois and I come early to make sure we get good seats at Liphook's Millennium Centre,

where (right) "late-arrival" old codgers are still filing in, as bearded archaeologist Peter stands

impatiently at the lectern with his slides, waiting to start his talk - poor Peter!!!!!

After the talk Lois and I snatch a quick 2,500-step walk round the Millennium Centre area itself, checking out the housing estate's iconic Canadian street-names, all in honour of the brave young Canadians who came to help "the old country" in two world wars, and who were all stationed just outside Liphook.

in semi-drizzle Lois and I take a 2.500-step walk around the Millennium Centre area,

known as Little Canada, because of its Canadian-associated street names

This association with world wars, and memories of the Canadian forces stationed here, is in stark contrast to the Liphook area in the Roman era, however, as our lecturer Peter explains. 

Two thousand years ago, he tells us, Liphook was a very peaceful place, with the local Ancient Britons just trading and making a comfortable living for themselves. 

And when the Romans invaded Britain in 43 AD, landing at Richborough, Kent, and Chichester, Hampshire, the invaders were pretty much welcomed in by the local tribes, the Regnenses and the Cantiaci, enthusiastic that this "reverse Brexit" would mean lots more trading opportunities with the Continent.

The downside to this "peaceful invasion", however, means that today's archaeologists don't have much in the way of big military installations, fortresses or camps, to excavate and "get their teeth into". The Romans in our area didn't bother to build any of those, because, essentially, "the natives were friendly", which is nice, in a way! 

Contrast with that the situation in the west and north of Britain, where the natives gave the Romans a pretty hard time, to put it mildly, necessitating the building of walls and elaborate fortresses etc ever half mile or so in some places - what madness !!!!

"Hadrian's Wall" and one of the many forts along its route, 

built in the north of England to keep out the Picts and Scots etc

Here in the peaceful south-east, however, the Romans did build a sort of post-office near Liphook, to handle mail, a so-called "posting station", dubbed a "mansio" in those crazy, far-off times - and presumably there was lot of mail going back and forth to places like Rome and the like, and other places on the continent. 

The building's remains have been discovered near the present-day villages of Iping and Milland, a few miles south of Liphook, on the route of the old Roman road between Chichester and Silchester.

our map of the area with (ringed) (a) Liphook, and (b) the "Roman Station" 

at Iping, a few miles south, which served as a post office 2000 years ago

(left) the "Roman Station" or "mansio" as it looks today near the village of Iping, nexto

to the old Roman road between Chichester and Silchester, and (right) as

the building might have looked 2000 years ago, back in Roman times

There was even first-class mail and second-class mail in those far-off days apparently, which is mad! The first-class went by horseman, and the second class by some awful horse-and-cart "combo" (!).

What madness !!!!

So to sum up, on the whole, this area was pretty peaceful and prosperous in Roman times, with the Ancient Britons quietly just getting on with their lives, and doing a lot of lucrative trade over a very long period. And as our lecturer Peter reminds us today, the Romans were here in Britain for 400 years or so, or like the interval between Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and Elizabeth II (1952-2022), which is mad!

There was one exception to the 400 years of peace around here in Roman times, and that was a big battle, the Battle of Woolmer, fought near the present-day village of Blackmoor, just a few miles west of Liphook, back in 276 AD. The Roman Emperor of the time, Constantius Chlorus sent an army to Britain to crush a revolt by a Romano-Briton leader, Allectus who had seized power and taken over the country, in effect trying to achieve what was possibly the first ever attempt at a "Brexit" (!).

(left) Romano-British rebel Allectus, and (centre, right) two sides of one of his coins

Could Allectus be described as a prototype Nigel Farage model NF.001 ?

I wonder.....!

our map of this area, with (ringed) Liphook on the right, and, on the left, the site of

the Battle of Woolmer in 276 AD, near the present-day village of Blackmoor

And near the battle site, in 1873, an enormous hoard of Roman coins was discovered, thought to be the money that the rebel leader, Allectus, had collected to pay his men and mercenaries etc after the battle. 

So Allectus's rebel army never got paid for their  part in the battle, although, on the plus side, the Emperor's forces didn't find the money either, so it lay in the ground for almost two millennia, before being chanced upon by Victorian archaeologists in 1873. And if you're lucky you may even be able to pick up a coin or two from the hoard at your local historic coin market  - who knows!

What a crazy world we live in !!!!!

But fascinating stuff !!!! 

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Monday February 9th 2026 "Have YOU bought YOUR Spring 2026 designer 'clobber' yet? Frankie say, 'Relax, don't do it' haha!!!!

Yes, Friends, have YOU got your "Spring 2026" designer wardrobe "clobber"? Well, there's good news from Paris today - you may not need to bother, which is a relief!!!

Onion News has more....

Kudos, those designers!

And reading the Onion story this morning, here in semi-idyllic Liphook, Hampshire brings a look of weirdly grim determination to the faces of me and my wife Lois, to put it mildly!

me and my wife Lois - a recent picture

And in deference to Paris, for our first truly "springtime walk" of the new season, which will be over Old Man Lowsley's Farm, Lois and I have elected to wear the same clothes we wore this time last year (and the year before that, if we're honest!!!). [What about 2023 etc etc ? - Ed]

Notwithstanding all that (!), there's an unmistakeable "spring in our step" today - no pun intended!!! - because for one morning, at least, it's not raining here in Liphook, and signs of spring are everywhere, with the birds (and even some local residents, no names no packdrill!) practising their mating calls, and a mild touch of colour returning both to cheeks and to woodlands and garden, would you believe!!!

[Beautifully written paragraph, Colin, if you don't mind my saying so! - Ed]

[Thanks! - Colin]

We even see some daffodils cautiously popping into flower, and catkin-type things looking more colourful, into the bargain, not just on the farm but even with crocuses and snowdrops etc appearing in our own dear back garden, would you believe!

[Good summary, Colin! - Ed] 

[Thanks! - Colin]

(above) daffodils and catkins on Old Man Lowsley's Farm and (below)

a shrub in our garden we don't know the name of, plus some crocuses, which is nice!

"But surely, Colin, it must be more than a few scraggy flowers that's putting such a spring in yours and Lois's step today?", I hear you cry!

And you're right to make that point, too, because Lois and I get some really good news today - and remember, you saw it here first!!!!

Yes, we're going to be a mummy and daddy again (!!!!), which is a surprise, given that we're both "knocking on 80" and, later this year, we'll be celebrating our new "Premium Old Codger" status, with various automatic  privileges on super-low admission prices to museums and Saga "Old Codger" Tours and Cruises etc etc haha!!!!

a typical pair of "old codgers", delighted by news of some 

new, very favourable, discounts

It's quite a surprise too, because, after Lois gave birth to our second daughter Sarah in 1977, we thought that we'd better quit, while we were ahead!!!

flashback to 1977: us, with daughters Alison (2) and new-born Sarah:

- happy days!!!!

And now, here we are in 2026, nearly 50 years later, seeing if we can find our old guides to parenting etc, and our "Dr Spock" paperbacks etc etc! It's crazy!!!

one of the ancient parenting guides we brought our two daughters 

up on, way back in the 1970's, would you believe !!!!

As it happens, we can't find our old books on parenting, but no matter - we probably won't need them for the 2 weeks in June that we'll be "parenting" our 15-year-old grandson Isaac, so fingers crossed !!!!! 

Isaac is more likely to be "parenting" us, rather than the other way about - luckily he's more than capable of that job, impossible though it may seem to outsiders !!!!!

flashback to last month: (left to right) our son-in-law Edward, Isaac (15), Josie (19)

Rosalind (17) and our daughter Alison, on a skiing trip to northern Sweden

Yes, you've guessed it! We've been asked to be "mummy and daddy" to Isaac for strictly temporary, practical reasons. Isaac's parents - our daughter Alison and husband Edward - have been told that they must leave their temporary rental home at the end of May, when their lease is up and their landlords have decided to put the house on the market.

This is happening at a super-inconvenient time for the family - our granddaughter Rosalind (17) will be taking her A-Levels, and Isaac (15) will be taking his GCSEs, which is super-annoying. And the family won't be able to move back into their own proper home until a month or two later, because it's still being extensively refurbished. How annoying for them is that?!

And it kind of makes sense for Isaac to be staying here with Lois and me for those 2 weeks, because his school is just around the corner from us here in Liphook, so Bob's your uncle on that one.

flashback to October: our grandson Isaac (15), just finished school

for the day, with his mum, our daughter Alison, who's come to pick him up

See? Job done!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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