Tuesday February 3rd 2026 "It's a big day today, but only if you're a woman haha!"

"Women's groups" - don't you love 'em! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em, some men say! 

But today, women's groups are celebrating all over the world, because N.O.W. (the National Organisation for Women), often called the "mother of all women's groups", (and also "father of all women's groups" as we must add in these enlightened, "woke to woke-ish" times (!)) is passing a significant milestone.

It's in all today's papers, but Onion News has the best picture, so I've "gisted" their version here for you - so read on, but do let me know if I've left anything important out - postcards only, of course !!!!

And reading the story this morning in our print edition of the paper brings a tear to the eyes of me and my wife Lois, here in semi-pasteurised Liphook, Hampshire, to put it mildly!

my wife Lois and me - some recent pictures

Not only is Lois's very own "women's group" - her church's "sisters' group" - holding their monthly online  meeting this morning, which is appropriate, but also we're both wondering how long before the N.O.W., now 39, will be celebrating the birth of its first grandchildren: well, at 39, it could just happen!!!!

[No it couldn't! - Ed]

For Lois and me, now at the grand old age of 79, would you believe, "that ship sailed" a long time ago (!). The very day we both retired, back in March 2006, we got a call from our elder daughter Alison, to say that she was pregnant with her first child, Josie, born in August that year.

flashback to March 2006: my 60th birthday, and the day we both retired -

I take the opportunity to "dandle" Lois on my knee, little knowing that 

we were soon to become grandparents, would you believe!!!

And just a few months ago, that very first grandchild of ours, Josie, now 19, started her 3 year maths degree course at Durham University.

flashback to October 2025: our daughter Alison and husband Ed

settle Josie (19) into her room at Durham University

And this morning, we get news from our second ever grandchild - Rosalind (17) has been offered a place at Durham too, subject to her getting good A-Level results in the summer, of course. If she accepts she'll be doing a degree in International Relations and Spanish, which sounds pretty "meaty" (!), or should I say pretty "carnoso" !!!!  [Please don't ! - Ed].

flashback to April 2025: Alison's little family, including Rosalind (leftmost) 

joins Lois and me for an old-fashioned Sunday roast lunch, which is nice!

Rosalind has already got an offer from Bath to do something similar there, so it'll be interesting to see whether she chooses Bath - easier to get to from here, just "zipping" along the M4 - or whether she opts to go with Durham, like her "big sis". Or would the two girls just "cramp each other's style"? Some pros and cons there, aren't there - and again, your postcard suggestions welcome haha!

Meanwhile, this is a big week also for our other daughter Sarah, and her 12-year-old twin granddaughters Lily and Jessica, "down under", in Perth, Western Australia. The reason? Well, it's because yesterday was the twins' first day at "Big School" - a private Anglican grammar school near their home in Perth's northern suburbs.

our younger daughter, Sarah (48), and our twin granddaughters

Jessica (left) and Lily, "chilling" (literally!) by a big electric fan 

at their home in a northern suburb of Perth, Australia, last weekend, on the eve

of their first day at "big school", a local private Anglican establishment

This morning, Sarah texts Lois and me, to say that the girls were pretty nervous about their first day at "big school" yesterday but seem more relaxed today, although obviously tired. Lois and I are waiting expectantly for the first pictures of the girls in their shiny-new orange-and-blue uniforms, so watch this space!

a typical "sandwich course" (!) at the twins' new school in Perth, Australia

14:30 Today is also a bit of a big day for Yours Truly, I might add, because at exactly 2:30pm I leap out of our bed (!) to take delivery of my shiny new Habitat thermos flask from Argos.

"What's so special about that, Colin?", I hear you cry! Well, it's a really big deal for me, because I always take a flask of hot green tea up to bed with me at night, not to cuddle or to keep me warm (!), but simply with the plan of pouring myself a healthy green tea in the morning, to start my day off with a "bang". But it's a quiet bang, might I add. I don't want to wake the neighbours haha! 

(left) I showcase my shiny new thermos flask from Argos, and (right)

my first cup of green tea made in the new flask - yum yum!

As you can see from the above picture, I've won the "Best Grandad Ever" award again this year, which, I must say, came as a complete surprise again. I didn't even know I'd been nominated, can you believe!!!!

And, needless to say, I'm always careful to "wet" the tea-bags at exactly when the pre-boiled water has cooled down to the right temperature - between about 160 and 170F (70-80C) so that the leaves don't scorch and turn bitter. You know it makes sense!!!!

[Is that all you two 'noggins' have done today, Colin - interrupted 'statutory nap-time' to take delivery of a thermos flask from Argos? - Ed]

Well, in my defence, it has been raining pretty much all day, but on the sofa this evening, we catch the first programme in Alice Roberts' new TV series about the legend of the Holy Grail and its mythicala connection with England, which is fascinating.

The rich Jewish businessman, Joseph of Arimathea, a secret Christian, who is said to have collected Christ's blood in a goblet (the holy grail) at the cross, later brought the grail to the Isle of Wight of all places, at least according to local legend.

Well, surprise surprise!

The idea behind the myth is that Joseph was mixed up in the tin trade, and that this was the origin of his wealth. Tin was a rare commodity, useful to the Romans because it was used in the manufacture of bronze, and one of the few places known for its tin in the ancient world was the English county of Cornwall. 

The theory is that the tin was mined in Cornwall, and then brought to the Isle of Wight for transport to the Continent, because the width of the stormy old English Channel was narrower there, making the sea journey to the Continent shorter, and therefore less hazardous.

It was all hokum, needless to say, designed to increase "pilgrim footfall" at local abbeys and shrines across the south of England. Nevertheless it's a reminder of what a big part that Cornish tin played in British history. It was basically only to get the tin that the Romans thought it was worth coming here and including us in their empire.

I don't think the Romans would ever have come to Britain for the weather, do you haha!!!!

Here's what it's been doing today, raining with a high of only 41F (5C) keeping Lois and me inside the house again, and in each other's pockets, "for our sins" (!!!!). Yet despite what was almost the wettest January since records began, there's still a local hosepipe ban!

What a crazy country we live in !!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Monday February 2nd 2026 "Exciting news from America - everything's about to get bigger, although not necessarily better !!!"

Yes, friends, exciting news from America - everything's getting bigger, and about time too! And it's all thanks to one man - step forward, US president Donald J Trump!

Onion News has more..... 

The article doesn't say it, but I'm guessing that this means, also, that Donald Trump's self-assessed (without evidence!) IQ must now be in the region of one million, which makes him not just smart, but very very very very very smart, almost super-smart - what a guy!!!!

And reading the Onion story this morning here in semi-fecund Liphook, Hampshire, brings a bit of an exaggerated, "over-egged" smile to the lips of me and my wife Lois, to put it mildly! 

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

You may not have heard - I think the news is being held under wraps for security reason, but Donald is due to be making his first visit to Liphook's prestigious Millennium Centre this afternoon, and Lois and I have £3 tickets to hear him, a special £1 "old codger" reduction for U3A members, which is handy. And we're ready, willing and able to forgo our usual afternoon in bed for the occasion. Bring it on, we say !!!

with an estimated 200 other "old codgers", Lois and I wait in breathless 

anticipation for Donald Trump's entrance, with extra chairs having to

be set out by local U3A officials on the stage to accommodate the extra numbers

(left) the moment Donald comes into the auditorium, punching a triumphant fist 

into the air, to wild applause from the local "old codgers" present, and (right) at the podium

And after his presentation, many local old "crinklies" (mainly the women!) mob poor Donald at the volunteer-manned (or should I say "womanned"!) [No! - Ed] U3A tea-and-cake stand in the back right-hand corner of the stage, but I have to confess that Lois and I are "buzzing" too much, and we just want to get home as fast as possible to discuss some of Donald's more ground-breaking ideas in private!

We can remember a few of his suggestions - his promise to "make Liphook great again", and to build a wall on the county line to keep out what he calls "those nasty Haslemere [Surrey] people". He says, also, that if we fulfil our late Queen's private offer to him, and take him on as Prime Minister, or as King, even, that he will work to keep away the illegal immigrant "boat people", by stationing teams of doctor's receptionists at 10 yard intervals along the English Channel coast, "from Southampton to Dover".

Donald's plan to keep out the "boat people" - by stationing

thousands of doctor's receptionists along the coast at 10 yard 

intervals "from Southampton to Dover"

Sound too good to be true? Well you know the old rule - "if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!". 

Because the Donald we're listening to today is only "Donald in quote marks", a.k.a local comedian and impersonator Tony Harris, when he's at home - which isn't often,  as he's in such constant demand at local pubs and clubs and from railway platform "flash mobs", to put it mildly! And just today, for one day only, Tony is being "Donald Trump, greatest president ever and humble recipient of the FIFA Peace Prize", as the adverts for today's talk say!

(left) the "keynote slide" for "Donald Trump"'s first ever speech in Liphook, Hampshire today,

and (right) one of local man Tony Harris's earlier "incarnations" as one of the UK's most

famous "tyrants", Henry VIII, pictured here with two of his VIII wives (!!!!!). 

Loving the beard, Tony haha! [Only VI  wives, Colin, shurely! - Ed]

the Facebook write-up today on the Grayshott Community board 

- see Lois and me (ringed) on the right near the gangway, towards the top

All in all, today, Monday, has been another incredibly busy day for Lois and me. 

Somehow - don't ask me how! - somehow we managed to squeeze in a morning walk over the mud-affected "hallowed turf" of local soccer heroes Liphook United, as well as finding time to book our Valentine's Day lunch for 12 noon on the big day, at the nearby Deer's Hut pub, as recommended by Steve, our American brother-in-law, which proves that the joint's nearly worldwide reputation has certainly travelled well beyond Liphook UK !

(top, centre) Lois and I somehow squeeze in a morning walk over the 

"hallowed turf" of local soccer heroes Liphook United, into our busy

schedule, before booking our Valentine's Day lunch at the Deer's Hut

Busy busy busy!

20:00 And this evening, Lois and I, having spent the afternoon with a pillar of the Western World (a slightly creaky one in Tony Harris's re-imaginings (!)), find ourselves watching a pillar of the Eastern World. He may be a pillar, but he's a dangerous pillar, that's for sure!

Yes, step forward Vladimir Putin, supreme leader of the former Soviet Union, distinguished (?) member of Trump's "Peace Board", and one of the board's two indicted war criminals.

Lois and I didn't realise that most western news agencies have pulled almost all of their staff out of Russia now, because they find it almost impossible to do their job as journalists, seeking out news, asking questions, interviewing both politicians and ordinary Russians etc etc. 

And we feel incredibly sad for the BBC's harassed Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg, a genuine Russophile, who first moved to the Soviet Union in the 1980's to study the language, and returned later to teach English and become a journalist. 

And in the 1990's, when everybody in the West thought that Russia was at last turning into a "normal" country, Steve was even, as a fluent Russian speaker, invited to take part in a comedy show, "The White Parrot Club", on Russian state television. 

Rosenberg playing "Daisy Daisy" on the piano in a scene 

from the Russian TV comedy show The White Parrot Club

Not any more! Rosenberg, we're also surprised to hear, is very much a public figure in Russia, recognised by ordinary Russians wherever he goes, who constantly ask if they can take "selfies" with him. And all this attention is simply because he's been pilloried so much by the government news media, who appear to be singling him out for their vituperation, demonising him and calling him an enemy of the country etc etc. 

On this political show on state media, the host asks why the BBC, and Steve "Rottenberg" [sic], haven't yet been kicked out of the country.

Surprisingly, Rosenberg remains optimistic however, and he's absolutely determined not to leave Russia unless forced to do so. He says that there have been many swings and roundabouts in the recent history of modern Russia, and who's to say there won't be a change for the better, just around the corner. And his daily interactions with ordinary Russians are overwhelmingly positive, he says, something which gives him hope.

21:00 Before Lois and I go to bed, however, we want to forget about all those crazy foreign countries (!), and concentrate on that old ruined farmhouse in the lovely northern English county of Yorkshire, the farmhouse which Amanda, Clive and their 9 kids are currently "doing up".

Amanda has been looking into the history of previous owners of their farm, in particular Anthony Clarkson, who was living there in the early 1800's. Today, she and some of the kids are looking at the records of farmer Anthony's marriage to his former maid, Mary Alderson, back in 1818. Anthony was literate and signed his name on the register, but Mary couldn't write and so simply signed it with a cross.

In his diary entry for his wedding day, back in 1818, Anthony wrote that, after the ceremony at the chapel, he and Mary "went off home, called at Mary Knowles, got some drink, and spent the remainder of the day with some dances. Got tea, and drank and danced till bedtime. Molly and I went to bed. The day was wet in the morning, but better afterwards".

Later, Amanda reflects on the lucky find of Anthony's old diary and on the insights it's given her into his world, and insights into Anthony and Mary's very beginning of their married life together, full of hopes and plans, and aspirations.

Fascinating stuff, isn't it !!!

[That's enough TV ! - Ed]

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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