Sunday May 3rd 2026 "Those Swedes again, 'boxing clever', while thinking outside the box!!!"

Yes, Friends, did you read about what those forward-thinking Swedes are doing now, with their 'sustainability' mania?  It was all over page 94 of the Onion News this morning - here's a quick digest!!!!

Kudos, those Swedes! It's a win-win situation, isn't it, because although in theory, it's not good for Finland, they could do the same with Russia, which, surprisingly perhaps, is right on the Finns' own doorstep, if you consult any reputable atlas!

And my wife Lois and I are wondering if we can do the same as the Swedes, sourcing our own electricity from our neighbours' unguarded wall socket, you know, the one in old Olly's carport, cutting our electricity bills, and, at the same time, doing our bit for the 'ecology' that people seem so concerned about these days!!!!

I wonder.....!!!!!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

And the idea brings many a smile to our faces this morning, when I drive Lois to her church's Sunday Morning Meeting at a village hall outside nearby Petersfield. And after the meeting we get the chance to discuss the story with fellow-church-member Grahame, who's just back from one of his 'jaunts' to Finland, to see his friend there, which is nice!

my wife Lois and me at her church's Sunday Morning Meeting today

It's nice today, after the meeting, to discuss Finland and its language with archaeologist friend Grahame, bringing into the frame the iconic Finnish epic poem the Kalevala, which we know something about. And I think it cheers Grahame up a bit to talk to us, because he's had a lot of car trouble in the last week, bursting two tyres at once, all because of a pothole on one of the disgustingly poorly-maintained country roads that you encounter in these parts, when all Grahame was trying to do was to get to a local poetry evening dedicated to Victorian poet, Rudyard Kipling, no less, if you please!!!!

flashback to last summer, when Grahame (in the blue shirt) took a group of 

church-members, including us, on a tour of the nearby ruined Roman town of Silchester

Grahame's in his seventies, but all his life he's remained unmarried, perhaps wedded too much to his twin loves of poetry and archaeology (?) - Lois and I aren't sure! If Grahame regrets his bachelor existence at all, however, he'll have got some comfort from that long Finnish poem the Kalevala, as it's all about other men who have trouble finding a woman, and having trouble "in spades", to put it mildly!

Poor Ilmarinen!!! 

Ending up with an all-metallic replacement-wife, for his pains!!! And poor what's-his-name, the other one, too!!! Although he doesn't sound like much of a 'catch' for any woman, to be fair!!!

typical Finnish women, getting themselves ready in the sauna, 

preparing to celebrate Kalevala Day (February 28th)

Grahame's chief love is archaeology, however, which is probably the best comfort available, even if you have got a metallic wife! And this week, Grahame will be on his travels again, going up to Carlisle, near the Scottish border, to advise on the excavations currently going on there, digging up the Roman Emperor Severus's winter palace just outside the city.

A noted writer on things archaeological, Grahame is a friend of TV's Raksha Dave, and also TV's Alice Roberts. He's told us that the BBC, however, refused to pay for his teeth to be fixed, although they made an exception for Alice, which was probably a bit galling for him. I know that Lois and me would be well and truly 'galled' if faced with that kind of situation, that's for sure!

(left)  Grahame: the BBC refused to pay for Grahame's dental treatment 

although they paid for rival archaeologist Prof Alice Roberts' dental work - 

see her lovely smile-to-camera, as she digs up a Roman villa at Kettering (right)

13:30 In short, today is turning into yet another busy-busy-busy day for Lois and me, even though we've now been retired for 20 years, would you believe! How did we ever find the time to go to work, back in the day!!!!

After getting home from the meeting, and after barely managing to squeeze in a hurried lunch (!), we find ourselves at last able enjoy a lovely zoom catch-up call with our daughter Sarah, who lives 9000 miles away, in Perth, Australia, with husband Francis and their 12-year-old twins Lily and Jessica, which is nice!

flashback to 2024: we treat Sarah and family to a farewell lunch in Alcester UK,

before they fly off from Heathrow Airport to start a new life in Perth, Australia

We're not sure where young Lily gets her athletic prowess from - not from Lois and me, that's for sure!!! A first-year student at their local grammar school, Lily excelled herself again this past week during the school's cross-country run, beaten to the finishing line only by a bunch of girls from the older years - what madness!!!!

(above) our weekly catch-up zoom call today with our daughter Sarah and

family, and (below) the cross-country race at the twins' new grammar school

For Lois and me it brings back memories of Lily's epic run back in 2023 or thereabouts, when halfway through the race, she remembered she'd left hat back at the starting line, and so she went back to fetch it. Fighting her way back through the 'pack', she still managed to finish a creditable third.

Kudos, Lily!

And strange to think that our two 'Aussie' granddaughters, now on the brink of being teenagers, will probably in a few years' time each be dating and eventually marrying some Aussie guy or other, and let's hope it's easier for them than for those Finnish women in the Kalevala, fingers crossed!!!

20:00 Dating and mating - it doesn't always run smoothly, however, even in the animal world, as we find out tonight on the last programme in 99-year-old naturalist David Attenborough's latest series, "Secret Garden" on BBC1, all about the fascinating wildlife on our own doorsteps, almost literally!

Nesting in this Scottish garden is a female barn owl whose mate "disappeared" a year or two ago, probably telling her he was "just off to see a man about a dog" or some such nonsense (!), and the poor female has been having to do without him for a while.

In tonight's programme, that errant male barn owl "comes sauntering back", expecting to be able to just pick up where he left off with his clearly disgruntled female, but she gives him the finger (not literally!), which she was certainly entitled to do!

The male persists, however, because technically it's still the breeding season - he's obviously checked his Barn Owl Calendar before making his approach!!!

To "smooth things over with her", however, the male barn owl brings his ex-mate a series of rodents - voles and mice etc, you know the kind of thing!

However, it's not until the pile of mangled rodents in the nest reaches about 20, or double figures anyway (!), does she finally let him mount her, although the soundtrack of muffled squawks suggests she's enjoying it anyway. Let's hope so!!!!

Bingo !!!!

Lois and I, however, can't help feeling a bit sorry for the pile of dead rodents, who sacrificed their lives for the owl couple's few seconds of muffled screeching.

Poor rodents !!!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

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

Saturday May 2nd 2026 "Ever received a good-luck card? It's the ultimate 'clincher' if you want to just 'cinch it', isn't it haha!"

Yes, Friends, have you ever received a good luck card? It can make all the difference, when faced with some challenging project or other, can't it, as I expect you'll recall !!! 

It certainly gave Boston student Dan Klein the firm belief that he was "on the road to success", as you'll have seen from this morning's Onion News, to put it mildly!!!

Poor Dan !!!!!

But at least he's still got that 'Good Luck' card. maybe signed by all his Beacon Press co-workers and managers, and probably still sitting there on his mantelpiece, to inspire him in his future endeavours, which is nice!!!

And Dan's story puts a bit of a sparkle to the smiles of me and my wife Lois here in semi-pastoral Liphook, Hampshire, no mistake about that!!!!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

And we're laughing, because the story reminds us to buy a couple of 'Good Luck!' cards for two of our grandchildren, Isaac (15) who's on the brink of taking his GCSE exams, and Rosalind (17), just about to start her A-Levels, and hoping to start a degree course in the autumn at UCL, London, in the autumn.

flashback to last month: (left to right) our grandson Isaac (15), 

his sister Rosalind (17), and their big sister Josie (19)

who's already a first-year maths student at Durham

And it's a good opportunity today for Lois and me to pick up those two 'Good Luck For Your Exams!' cards at a card shop, because we're spending the morning in nearby Haslemere, just over the county line in Surrey.

It's 11 am, and we've just picked up young Isaac and taken him to the first rehearsal of the local Music and Dramatic Arts production of "Nine to Five - the Musical", at Haslemere Hall. And Lois and I now have two and a half hours to kill while Isaac is in there singing his heart out - awwwww!!!! Isaac is becoming quite the 'veteran' of musicals these days, already having starred in local productions of 'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Legally Blonde'. 

(above) Isaac as the Tin Man, in his school's production of "The Wizard of Oz",

and below, Lois and me in the audience at Haslemere Hall, for Isaac's 

performance as "The UPS Guy" in "Legally Blonde - the Musical"

And, while Isaac's singing and speaking his lines in Haslemere Hall, you should see Lois's eyes light up at the prospect of browsing local shopping mecca Haslemere's 'myriad stores', something she doesn't get the chance to do when we're at home in Liphook, which doesn't have much, other than a Sainsbury's supermarket and a couple of convenience stores. 

Poor Lois !!!!

And on our 'shopping spree' today, we buy, like, a billion things - more probably - just in the bookshop and the hardware store! And we even try out the beds in the posh Collingwood Batchelor furniture store! The manager tells us we don't even have to take our shoes off, and there's nobody much about, upstairs on their 'bed floor', so a great chance to relax and 'unwind' mid-shopping spree, that's for sure!!!!

Well, you're only old once, aren't you haha!!!!

And, as we don't have to pick Isaac up till 1pm, there's even time to take in a quick lunch at Darnley's, and 'watch the world and his wife go by', up and down Haslemere's bustling High Street, which is nice!

we don't have to pick Isaac up till 1pm, so we've got the chance for a lunch

at Darnley's on the High Street and 'watch the world and his wife go by', which is nice!

The size of our meals is absolutely ridiculous - Lois has a bacon and avocado so-called 'sandwich' which is, like, a billion inches thick - who could get that in their mouths (!), although Lois is quite good at things like that, and is "up for the challenge", as always!!!! 

Yours Truly, however, has to surrender and to 'deconstruct' his so-called 'bacon and brie bap' and eat it with his fingers. We take half of our two meals home, so that's dinner tonight 'sorted', which is a comfort!

Sitting at the table next to us at Darnley's is a party of four, three 'Orientals' and one English guy, and we try to decide whether it's three Chinese or three Japanese, which is quite difficult, as they're talking English of course, for the benefit of the English guy. 

However, the service is quite slow this morning, and when the English guy nips across the street to pick up something from a nearby shop, Lois and I listen hard to try and work out which language the three 'orientalists' are  speaking - difficult because of the traffic and street noise, but in the end we decide they're Japanese, which is nice.  

I myself spent a study year in Japan when I was a student, and Lois came out to stay with me for three weeks - it was the year before we got married.

flashback to April 1971: Lois's visit during my study year in Japan

Happy days!!!!

20:00 And tonight we relive some of those Japanese memories watching the last programme in ex-Cabinet Minister Michael Portillo's latest 'celebrity travelogue' series, in which he's riding Japan's high-speed train, the 'Shinkansen' or 'bullet train'. Michael has now reached Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.

Lois and I never got as far as Hokkaido during her stay with me, back in April 1971 - well, I was just a poor Tokyo student in those far-off days (!). A pity, however, because Hokkaido looks like a great place, with lovely lakes and mountains, and thinly populated apart from a handful of large towns. 

Don't go in winter, however. The island gets an average snowfall of sixteen feet, which is mad!!!!

It was once the exclusive domain of the non-Japanese Ainu people, who are thought to have migrated there from the Asian mainland 10,000 years ago, although remnants of their culture survive in places. See the photo above, where Michael meets some Ainu women, seen here in traditional Ainu costume on a local beach. 

However, the island was 'colonised' and subjugated by the Japanese in the 19th century, so it's now heavily 'Japanised', to put it mildly!

And great dance, the Ainu crane dance - a new hobby for Lois and me perhaps?

[Not at your age, Colin, surely!!! We don't want you two 'noggins' ending up in hospital again! - Ed]

Hokkaido is also associated strongly with alcohol, which is nice - mainly the beer brewed in Sapporo, but also the whisky distilled in Yochi by the firm started by Masataka Taketsuru, after a trip to Scotland in the early years of the 20th century. 

Before starting his firm, Taketsuru had recently returned from a trip to Scotland, coming home with (1) the basics of whisky distilling, which was to earn him a fortune, and (2) a lovely Scottish wife, Rita. 

So, set up for life, then, Taketsuru, you crafty devil! Which was nice! No need for a good luck card for him - he was doing just fine as it was haha!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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