Wednesday March 17th 2026 "Are YOU "entering a new era" without being 100% sure of what you're getting into exactly?!"

Yes, Friends, are YOU suddenly conscious that you're entering a new era, without being 100% sure what that "new era" is?

If so, well take comfort - there's a lot of it about! Witness this typical report in today's local Onion News for East Hampshire!

And reading that story this morning, here in rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, brings a bit of a "wonky" smile to the faces of me and my wife Lois this morning, to put it mildly!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

You see, Lois is definitely entering a new era. She's very much in tune with the seasons, and she tells me that it'll be officially "springtime" later this week, and also that she's already stealing a "March" on it - no pun intended!!!! - by moving into some of her multiple springtime tasks, planning her gardening work and thinking about plans to process the fruits of her labours, all that kind of stuff!

Contrast Yours Truly, who avoids any "seasonal" duties pretty much, and who is only conscious of the changes of season when either Lois tells me about it, or I read about it in a magazine or on a website, or if I find I need to put one less, or one more, pullover on. I'm still routinely wearing three at the moment, would you believe! 

What madness, isn't it! 

a typical news story for the time of year - what madness!!!!

Tomorrow, Lois will be starting work on our tiny garden, possibly after a visit to Rake Garden Centre - once more, no pun intended!!! - Rake's just the name of the village, which is a bit mad too!

(left) the approximate position of Rake, which has been called 

"a village in the middle of nowhere", and (right) Rake Garden Centre

But today Lois's job is her marmalade-making, one of her interests that has a special appeal for me as I contemplate what to me is very much a "breakfast essential", which is nice! 

And later in the day, I count the number of 1 lb jars which Lois has produced - six, which should keep me going for at least a week haha!

flashback to this morning - Lois uses a traditional recipe to somehow

produce six one-pound jars of marmalade, just like that - what a woman!!!!

Yum yum!!!

And you can tell how successful that hand-written recipe has been over the years by the number of orange-coloured "splatters" that have been "splatted" on it through the decades - see picture above haha!

[Is that all you've done, today, Colin - watched Lois produce another six one-pound jars of marmalade? - Ed]

Well no, actually, seeing as how you're asking. I've got piles of reading to do, because my fortnightly copy of political magazine Private Eye, has "plopped" through our letterbox just this morning, and, as usual, I have to check on the never-ending lunacies of some of our "wonderful" national newspapers, which Private Eye documents so meticulously. Read ye these extracts here - read, and weep.

What a truly crazy world we do live in, no doubt about that.

And I don't think it's ever been "not crazy", to judge by this evening's re-run of a classic programme in  historian Simon Schama's series, "History of Britain", which tonight is covering the period 1087 to 1216, ending with King John being forced by his barons to sign the Magna Carta.

Henry II (1154-1189) will always be remembered as the founder, and first champion, of our English "common law" system, which is ironic, considering that Henry incited the murder of his own Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Henry's been called "the biggest of England's crowned criminals" - so felons in positions of power are nothing new, in other words!

At least, considering all the events of Henry's reign, our common law system is at least something to be thankful for.

Henry lived and reigned for another 20 years after the "murder in the cathedral" that he had incited, but by the time of his death, his legal framework for England had been firmly established.

It was left to the reign of Henry's son John (1199-1216) for legal curbs to be placed even on the king himself. This was when John's exasperated barons forced John to sign the Magna Carta document in 1215, a year before his death.

And it's fascinating tonight to hear presenter Simon Schama's take on the different personalities of the two kings, the charismatic Henry II and his edgy, vindictive son, John.

Sound familiar? The end result of John's "vindictiveness" was a good one, however - the Magna Carta document of 1215.

A generation before, Schama tells us, the barons couldn't have cared less, for example, about men being held in prison without charge, for unstated causes - that was just something that happened to commoners. 

But under John, bad things like being arrested and held without charge had happened to them, the barons, and they hadn't liked it! So suddenly they were all in favour of reform.

And when, in the following year (1216), King John died, fighting some French invaders in Norfolk, the barons rallied to John's 9-year-old son Henry, who had just been crowned Henry III in Gloucester Cathedral.

However, they "rallied" to him with a difference - because there was also now a multi-page 'contract' for the poor little lad to sign!

As Schama says, "the ramshackle conglomerate [of Henry II's dynasty and empire] had fallen apart almost as quickly as it had arisen... but something solid was left, something that's best measured not in masonry or mileage, but in magistrates!".

Fascinating stuff, isn't it!

But what a crazy country they lived in, back in those far-off days!!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Tuesday March 17th 2026 "Do YOU look good in sunglasses? Well, it seems you may be in demand haha!"

Yes, Friends, do YOU look good in sunglasses? Or in uniform, maybe? Most people don't, it turns out, so if you're one of that lucky few, you may find you're very much in demand these days. Prepare to be "head-hunted" haha! 

This morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire has more....

What madness!!!! But spring is here at last, and the Onion story puts a bit of a "spring in our step" - no pun intended!!! - for me and my wife Lois today, as we walk through the labyrinth of the local Haslemere Museum, just over the county line in Surrey, at 2:30pm in the afternoon, would you believe!

We're here for a talk, which as it happens, is all about a time when pilots weren't in short supply, which is nostalgic!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

Yes, Lois and I are usually having a nap in bed at 2:30pm, at our home in nearby leafy, semi-skimmed Liphook, Hampshire, so it's been a bit of an effort to get here today, but, as dyed-in-the-wool history buffs, we're determined, with a bunch of other "old codgers" (!), to hear a talk about the heyday of Britain's intrepid early female flyers - "Ladies Aloft" is the title: and who could resist, especially as we've already paid £3 each for our tickets - what madness, isn't it!

(top left) after a preliminary cup of tea and a biscuit in the Museum's foyer,

we take our seats in the lecture theatre with a bunch of other "old codgers"

to hear a talk on Britain's intrepid early female flyers - "Ladies Aloft"

If there's anything Lois loves, it's tales of women determined to show the men a thing or two, defying prejudice, bursting through glass ceilings etc etc!

And it turns out that within a few years of the world's first ever powered flight, by the Wright Brothers, in 1903 over Kittyhawk, North Carolina, some of Britain's bravest and "spunkiest" ladies were almost queuing up to get in the air, with many of them active in our local area. Especially Hilda Hewlett, Britain's first female "aeronaut" as pilots were called back in the day, the woman who founded the UK's first flying school, at nearby Brooklands Motor Circuit at Weybridge, Surrey. 

How "groovy" ! And Hilda even looks groovy in that famous photo of her taken for her pilot's licence. Yes, okay, she's just wearing a big hat, but so what, she's still a woman and entitled to "look her best", even on her pilot's licence, so fair enough!!!

And these "ladies aloft" also faced their fair share of male prejudice, no doubt about that!

In 1930, at the incredibly young age of 27, and with relatively few flying miles under her belt, flew solo the 11,000 miles from Croydon Airport, Surrey to Darwin, Australia. Forced to land temporarily at Insein, Burma en route, she was criticised for being photographed in her flying shorts, showing her poor little knees to the cameras - what madness, wasn't it!!! 

(left) 27-year-old Amy Johnson's epic 1930 flight from Croydon Airport, Surrey

to Darwin Australia, and (right) pictured en route at Insein, Burma

where she was criticised for wearing shorts and showing her knees - what madness!!!!

And although women weren't allowed to fly combat missions over Europe during World War II, female pilots played a key role in the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary), known as the "Atta-girls" (!), ferrying new planes, or damaged planes, between factories or repair facilities etc, and delivering them to active service squadrons, thus relieving male pilots from doing this essential work. 

Even then these women were criticised for their appearance. "Atta-girl" Maureen Dunlop happened to be "snapped" by a Picture Post photographer just as she was emerging from an aircraft - a totally unposed picture, because she'd been taken unawares, but she was later criticised for allegedly "glamourising" the Atta-girls' role. 

What madness (again) !!!!

What a crazy world we live in !!!!

And for Lois and me this afternoon, here in Haslemere Museum, there are many more surprises in store for us during this lecture we're hearing this afternoon. 

Incredibly, one "Atta-girl", Nancy Miller Stratford, is still alive, at 106 years of age. She's an American, but became an Atta-girl for the Royal Air Force during World War II, after she was barred from flying in the US Air Force, which didn't permit women to perform these kinds of roles.

Nancy apparently attributes her longevity to her love of "chocolate and vodka tonics", so there you have it. You read it here first (unless you're a Guardian reader haha!!!) !!!

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

20:00 But poor women, eh! How they've suffered through the ages, often forgotten by history despite their obvious talents, in favour of their less talented husbands, brothers, fathers etc.

And tonight, on the free-to-view Sky Arts channel, we hear about two women who, in the minds of posterity, are so unknown, that even Lois hasn't heard of them - which is my private definition of "being obscure". 

What a knowledgeable woman I married, when I married Lois !!!!

Susan and Elizabeth Yeats were the sisters of celebrated Irish poet, WB Yeats. They were women who, despite being talented artists in their own right, and despite working for years in London with the famous William Morris of the British Arts and Crafts Movement, have been totally ignored by history in favour of their famous brother William.

The two women were kind of glue that held the large Yeats family together,  bringing in the money in the early years with their painting and artistic print-work, when the family's male members, including their brothers and their father John Yeats, turned out to be so bad at delivering a regular income. And all the while, those Yeats sisters, working so hard to bring in their £500 a year to keep the family afloat, had absolutely zero leisure time, no love-life, nor any chance to marry. 

In a sense the two sisters were also early feminists, but in a quiet, unassuming way, ahead of their time, forming a women's collective in Dublin, teaching and engaging the women in artistic pursuits such as painting and their artistic print work etc. 

Considering all the work the Yeats sisters did to help other women express their talents and develop powers to earn money on their own account, we have to remember that the two women were pursuing these aims while Ireland was still a part of the UK.

It's perhaps ironic, that after Ireland achieved independence from Britain, in 1922, Irish leader Eamon de Valera, worked hard to "put Irishwomen back in the kitchen", where they allegedly "belonged".

So a step forward for Ireland turned out to be a step backward for Irish women, which was unfortunate. 

What a crazy world we live in !!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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