Sunday June 29th 2025 "Have you been to Europe but don't remember what you did there? Embarrassing or what haha !!! "

Here's a "stinker of a puzzler" for you, dear Reader! Have YOU ever been on holiday somewhere and then, on your return, found yourself embarrassingly hesitant about recalling what you did on it?

We've all been there, haven't we! But to judge from today's Onion News Local, one East Hampshire woman thinks she's found the answer - take some pictures while you're dong it, and then afterwards put those "pics" on some social media website, to save having to take a heavy photo album when you visit your friends! 

It's not rocket science is it, when you think about it! Be fair !!!

Oh dear - no pics of the Eiffel Tower: bummer!!! But seriously though, isn't Arielle's idea just genius -  taking pictures with YOUR phone or camera next time YOU venture to foreign climes, and then sticking them up on the internet for friends and family to see !!!!

And here in Liphook, Hampshire, not a million miles away from Facebook user Arielle, my medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois and I say "Kudos Mark Zuckerman for giving us a platform like Facebook for potentially "sharing" our experiences with our average of 500 "friends" without having to lift a finger!"

me and my medium-to-hard pressed wife Lois

looking at our treasure trove of Facebook photos - a recent picture

And it adds extra  poignancy to the latest book about "Zucko", that highlights, and celebrates, some of his lesser-known qualities currently being documented for posterity.

Lois and I didn't know that, in addition to his reputation for being a visionary who can think "outside the box", he's altogether much more than that. He's also "unfeeling and shallow", according to a new book being reviewed this week in Lois's copy of "The Week" magazine!

Wow! What a guy, that Zuckerberg ! Is there no end to his "qualities" ?!!!!!

You'll have to forgive my (possibly inappropriate) frivolity at this point, dear Reader! It's a really hot day here in East Hampshire, up to 82F (28C), and weatherpersons say that there's more to come, up to 89F (32C) on Tuesday - yikes!

Not in Australia, however, where it's been chilly and damp, for once, according our daughter Sarah when we make our weekly whatsapp video call to her over there in Perth, Western Australia. What madness, isn't it! And Lois and I are currently looking ahead to July, when Sarah, plus husband Francis and their 11-year-old twins Lily and Jessica will be spending a couple of weeks here with us in the UK. 

mine and Lois's weekly "catch up " video all with our daughter Sarah

and our 11-year-old twin granddaughters Lily and Jessica in Perth, Australia

It's going to be partly a work trip for Sarah, an accountant, who, incredibly, is still managing to hold down two jobs, the new one in Perth while still carrying on her previous job in Evesham UK, working online. However we understand that it also gives her the opportunity to "write off" various expenses - like travel to and from UK - for tax purposes, which, as an accountant, she's uniquely placed to figure out (!).

(left) Sarah (second from right) with colleagues at the firm she works for in Evesham, UK

and (right) Sarah leaving work at the end of another day at her Perth job

Lois and I had assumed Sarah would give up his old job in Evesham once the family had bought their first home in Australia, which they did a couple of months ago, but now it seems not. Because the next thing on the horizon is paying the school fees for the private Church of England high school where the girls will start next February.

What madness!!!! 

Although we sense that Sarah thrives on the "buzz" of doing 2 jobs at once, and it seems to give her extra zest for life, although she does also look sleepy a lot of the time. Well, wouldn't YOU look sleepy, holding down 2 jobs? Lois and I look sleepy and we've been retired for 19 years!!!!

It's weird to think that we'll only have one more of these weekly video whatsapp calls before they'll be here staying with us. In the meantime the girls are looking forward to Australia's national "NAIDOC" week during which their primary school has planned lots of activities with the aim of increasing awareness of indigenous culture, and hopefully, remove any lingering traces of friction or disgruntlement about the past, and celebrate harmony, which can only be good.

Well, when the girls touch down in the UK, on July 12th, Lois and I can ask them about NAIDOC week and how it went, in person, instead of on a little screen, which will be nice, to put it mildly!

10:30 The video call over, I drive Lois over to her church's weekly Sunday Morning Meeting near Petersfield, during which local church member Maurice will be giving the "Sunday [very necessary] words of exhortation". 

Does that name Maurice ring any bells? Well, it should do! Because Maurice is the married man who Lois set me up to go on a blind date with, a couple of months back.

(left) the scene this morning as church members start to take their seats, 

waiting to hear church member Maurice give this week's words of exhortation

and (right) flashback to April, me on my first and only date with Maurice,

at Rake Garden Centre, waiting while Maurice goes off to pay the bill

Let me put my cards on the table at this point! [I wish you wouldn't keep doing that, Colin! - Ed]

I'm personally not "gay", while fully respecting the rights of others to be "gay" if that's what they want (!). The sole reason why Lois set me up on this blind date with Maurice, whom I had never previously met, was just so that Maurice and I could be out at nearby Rake Garden Centre, while Lois and Maurice's wife Betty could have a women-to-woman-only session in Maurice's house with fellow-church member Ruth, who's recently been experiencing some woman-problems". 

It's still, however, a little hurtful that Maurice  has never called me, since our date. Surely he should have been bursting to discuss with me some of the plants we viewed before having our coffee at the Rake (no pun intended!!!!) Garden Centre coffee-shop, would you not think?

The bottom line is that my "Maurice experience" was a strictly un-gay kind of a date, and more of a "plant guy to plant guy" love-in! However, it's nice today to see, some properly gay people in Hungary defying Prime Minister Viktor Orban's, a story to which I've been alerted by a text from Steve, our American brother-in-law. 

He knows that Lois and I have a special interest in Hungary, a country we visited several times in the 1990's and 2000's.

(top left) this week's news from Budapest about LGBTQ "Pride" marchers defying

Prime Minister Orban's ban, and (top right, bottom) flashback to the 1990's -

Lois on one of our trips to Hungary in the days when Orban was "one of the good guys" !!! 

"What will Orban do next?", we wonder, now that his will has been flouted by this 'illegal' LGBTQ parade? 

At least he didn't "send in the troops" which is something. And he'll probably be hoping that the demonstration will win him more votes from any Hungarians fearing that they're about to be swept away by some sort of "gay tide" (!!!).

The psychology of political leaders is very interesting to me at the moment. For the bad ones, their main interest seems to be in amassing a vast personal fortune, for themselves and their families, cronies and hangers-on, at the same time maintaining their popularity by various means, including being tough on foreign countries. 

What about these three characters - Xi Jinping, Putin and Trump, pictured below? None of them are "short of a few bob" either, to put it mildly!!!

We know about Donald Trump, but who knew that Vladimir Putin is worth $200 billion according to "The Week UK", and thought to be the third richest person in the world, after Musk and Bezos. And not to mention, also, China's Xi Jinping, whose family has stakes in companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the New York Times. 

Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, 

"making the world safe for plutocracy"

- no wonder they're laughing !!!!!

Their "tough stances" on the world stage are, at the same time, just a "front", so that they can stay popular with their many xenophobic supporters, continue in office as long as possible and continue to double and re-double the money in their personal bank accounts. It's in their best interests never to look "weak", an always to sabre-rattle, to threaten to go nuclear" and to threaten "Armageddon": but Armageddon is the last thing they actually want, while they've still got a lot of money to spend - it isn't rocket science is it !!!!

And their persecution of minorities, while often popular, is a great pity because, above all, the secret for a happy, peaceful, harmonious society is, "as any fule kno", mutual respect between people with many different traditions and outlooks on life. This is the idea behind Australia's NAIDOC  Week, after all.

 Unfortunately, stirring up public hatred against minorities is another staple of these bad-guy leaders. And it's a pity that this is also something the media like, and intensify for their own interests - respect and harmony doesn't sell papers, more's the pity!

Will this do?

[Make your own mind up, Colin. I cleared my desk half-way through your little 'rant' and I'm my way home! - Ed]

Okay! Bye-eeeeeeeee!!!!!

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

Saturday June 28th 2025 "Does air-travel HAVE to be so luxurious? No, says one local 'guru' !!!!"

Air travel - it's the height of luxury for many, and yet a story in this morning's local Onion News reminds us that it doesn't have to be, which is a refreshing thought!

Poor Jonathan !!!!!

But, on reflection, it's as well to "bolster" your powers of self-denial with a bit of self-mortification, rather than with your airline's free "pillows" - geddit !!! - when you're about to visit the fleshpots of Basingstoke with their manifold temptations, to put it mildly !!!!

Basinngstoke, Hampshire (left) by day, and (right) its vibrant night-time club scene 

Let me put my cards on the table at this point! [I wish you wouldn't keep doing that, Colin! - Ed]

My medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois and I don't bother with that whole "ascetic" thing any more, and "self-denial" is simply "not on our agenda"! 

Particularly today, when the temperature is starting to climb back up into the low 80s F, and we can take our lunch outside into our pleasant but tiny back-garden of our home in Liphook, Hampshire, listening to the vibrant birdsong, to put it mildly!!!!

And I'm sorry to have to report, that shortly after these pictures were taken, some shocking scenes of self-indulgence were witnessed, after Lois and I embarked on a 3-hour orgy of "us time" with a long shower, followed by 3 hours in bed, not emerging till 5pm. 

Well, we deserve it to take it easy sometimes, and particularly this afternoon, after our gruelling morning (!). 

Let me explain [You really don't have to, Colin. Why not leave some of the magic, the mystery haha! - Ed]. 

You see, having taken delivery of a shiny new freezer from Curry's yesterday, we decide today that we simply have to start the daunting task of gradually filling it - and, in particular we need to have a stack of ready-meals available next month, when our dear daughter Sarah and her family flies in from Perth, Australia, to spend a couple of weeks with us, which will be nice. 

So, this morning, we at least make a start on it by popping into the local Co-op to get a few CookShop meals, before taking a gruelling stroll around the "rec" - the local Recreation Ground, watching others "sweating it out" for a change (!), the youngsters on the football field and the "old codgers" in the bowls club.

[Is that really all you two "noggins" have done today, Colin - bought a couple of things, taken a walk round the "rec", had lunch and then gone to bed for 3 hours? - Ed]

Well, we're in training for tonight, if you must know!!!

Yes, it's the long-awaited film of Jane Austen's "Persuasion" that's the true "climax" of mine and Lois's activities today, and it's what we've been building up to, both mentally and physically (!). 

We enjoy the film, although for this modern-day Siddhartha (!), I find some of the obvious and rather heavy-handed "product placement" by Austen a little jarring. Take this scene when Anne Elliott's parents and siblings have been "taking the waters" at Bath, and Anne's father takes to complimenting his daughter Anne on her complexion.

A little too obvious, I feel !!!!

Lois knows the text of this Austen novel backwards, and her verdict is that it's pretty faithful to the original, with the main exception being the final scene where the threads are drawn together too heavy-handedly, she says. And when Anne and her beloved Captain Wentworth finally "hook up", the scene ends with the two indulging in a passionate kiss - not in the book, but Lois says it was put into the film "for the overseas audience", who would otherwise not have realised that, yes, the story indeed has a happy ending.

Oh dear - us British eh - too understated for our own good, seemingly! Nevertheless if it put "bums on seats" around the world, then what's the problem, Lois and I say !!!

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

After the kiss we see Anne and Captain Wentworth on the deck of his warship setting sail from Portsmouth - there's been word that Napoleon Bonaparte has escaped from Elba, and there'll be work for the Navy, helping the Army to put "Old Boney" "back in his box" (!).

Lois says it was normal in those crazy, far-off days for wives to accompany their officer-husbands on missions, and even an ordinary sailor could take his wife or current "squeeze" along, if they didn't mind their humble bunk being a bit on the cramped side (!). 

Captain Wentworth, and bride Anne, sailing off into the sunset

on a Royal Navy mission to put "Old Boney" back in his box !!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed, but first a word from our sponsors: this blog has been brought to you by Gowland's Lotion haha....

 - zzzzzzz!!!!!

Friday June 27th 2025 "Freezers - they're only human, aren't they - or almost haha !!!!"

Freezers - they're just like people in so many ways, aren't they. Their conversation skills are poor admittedly (!), but if you give them something to keep "in good nick" for you, they'll do it, without complaining, just making the occasional sweet little "whirring" or "rattling" sound, simply to show you that they're still "on the case", and "doing your precious little freezing 'jobby' for you", which is heart-warming and reassuring, to put it mildly !!!!

[Good opening para, Colin, if I may say so! - Ed]

a typical modern freezer that you can "put stuff in",

as any typical freezer brochure will explain to you -

it's not as complicated as it sounds, believe me!!!

Take sperm for instance - put it in a box, or a tin perhaps, or a ring-binder, or leave it on a shelf somewhere, and it will quickly "go off" and be useless for procreative purposes. But put it in a big freezer in a sperm bank, and it'll stay fresh, forever if necessary, which is nice!

There's a "feel good" story about a sperm bank and a young couple in this morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire, a story which my medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois and I found particularly heart-warming and "life affirming". 

my medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois and me (a recent picture)

And "thank goodness", we said, " that we live in a rural, semi-leafy part of the county, where small-town sperm banks are still offering their services 'over the counter', and haven't (yet, at least!!!) gone to working "online only", like most of the money banks in our big cities, which is a pity" (!).

Let me put my cards on the table at this point (!). You see, Lois and I have no plans - at present anyway - to have any more kids. 

No! Don't try to dissuade us !!!! At 79, both of us, and with two healthy bouncing daughters of 49 and 48 years (respectively) to dandle on our respective knees and to boast about, we feel it's too late to have that third child we've always wondered about, and we're willing to "call it a day" in the child-rearing stakes - and that's official (!). You read it here first !!!!

me and my medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois (another recent picture)

And there's a what-we-call surprise bonus with our "no more kids plan", which is that from now on we can clear out all the old boxes of sperm, and there'll be more room in our freezer for those always-useful stacks of meat, fish, fruit and veg, ready meals etc etc, especially now we've taken delivery of our shiny-new "medium-to-tall" freezer from the Basingstoke branch of "Curry's", which we did just this morning.

flashback to earlier today: two guys from Curry's in Basingstoke

deliver a shiny new medium-to-tall freezer, which they stash in our garage

It's only a "medium-to-tall" freezer, but that's okay, because we've also got a "small-to-medium" built-in freezer, in our kitchen. I'm a quite-tall-to-tall kind of a guy myself, at 5ft 10-and-a-half (!), and I like my freezers the way I like my women - coming in at about 5 ft 2 or 3 (!). [How many women have you got, Colin?! - Ed]. 

So our shiny-new freezer is what-I-call "Lois-size". And - special attraction - it's "suitable for outbuildings", Curry's say - something which Lois decidedly isn't !!!!

(left) the "spec" for our shiny new freezer from Curry's, and (right)

my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois, 157H 40W 20D and eyes-of-blue,

defiantly and unashamedly "unsuitable for outbuildings"

 

There are more than a few plus points for Lois, however, to be fair, compared to the freezer! She's been my medium-to-long-suffering soulmate for 55 years, and although she's not suitable for outbuildings and she doesn't have a temperature alarm, like all of us she's got her own natural internal thermostat, and she's normally at a fairly comfortable temperature. Plus, she lets me know soon enough, when she wants our electric blanket turned up or down a "notch", and she manages to do that without having to make an annoying "beeping" sound, so that's all good haha !!!!

We've got our dear daughter Sarah (48) flying in from Australia next month for a two-to-three week stay in the UK, with husband Francis and their 11-year-old twins Lily and Jessica, so with our shiny new medium-to-tall freezer, we can stock up with lots of pizzas and CookShop ready-meals-for-six, and that will save us a bit of work, which is nice.

flashback to April 2022 - Sarah, Francis and the twins 

sailing their boat out of Perth, Australia on the Swan River

21:00 We decide to go to bed early tonight on a "taster" for our next Jane Austen "binge" which will be the 1995  film of her novel Persuasion - part of the BBC's  current "Austen-fest" in honour of the 250th anniversary of Jane's birth in Steventon, Hampshire, back in 1775 - well, you do the maths, and do drop me a line if I've got it wrong - postcards only !!!!  

We'll see the film at the weekend, hopefully, but tonight we just want something to whet our appetites, so we look at the shorter, "taster" programme, "Amanda Root and Sophie Thompson Remember... Persuasion", in which the two actresses reminisce about the filming, 30 years ago.

some typical scenes from the BBC's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel "Persuasion",

stuffed with Austen-specialist actors in their trademark Austen-bonnets, boots, etc

Lois and I didn't know, that, when the BBC "Persuasion" film was being shot in Hampshire and Dorset locations, a rival film was being shot of "Pride and Prejudice", and this had led to a desperate shortage

of Austen-style specialist actors and costumes, Austen-style bonnets, boots, riding-crops etc, as actress Sophie Thompson makes clear in this revealing interview:

Oh dear! That must be a problem with, typically, a ton of Austen screen adaptations being made all at the same time, and must be giving production teams a lot of headaches, particularly at the moment, if they're making another stack of series and films for the 250th anniversary, as Lois and I fully expect they are. 

What madness, isn't it, this "Austen-mania" !!! 

In tonight's programme, however, Persuasion actress Sophie Thompson puts a brave face on that desperate "bonnet-and-boot shortage" problem, which is nice. She continues.....

Kudos there, Sophie! If anything's "not up to scratch", you can always call it "organic" and everybody's happy, to put it mildly!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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