Saturday April 11th 2026 "Surely, not another new horse from Calumet!!! Those guys are really fizzing these days!!!"

Yes, Friends, have you seen the latest horse that those clever people from Calumet Farms are debuting this week? It's total madness, isn't it!

Onion News has the details - and what a photo, with it !!!!! 

And at our lovely home in semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, the story has quite a topical significance for my wife Lois and me, and also a weird relevance, a relevance which we discuss today over a hasty lunch of toasted bacon-and-brie sandwiches, or is it a toasty lunch of hasty sandwiches (?). 

Comes to the same thing, doesn't it, in the last analysis, when all is said and done, and eaten!!!!

my wife Lois and me, sharing a hasty lunch of toasted sandwiches,

or a toasted lunch of hasty sandwiches - take your pick haha!!!!

Horses for couples - it sounds like the perfect soundtrack for a novel by the UK's most popular 'bonkbuster' novelist, Jilly Cooper - with all her books' atmosphere of riding crops and sweaty jodhpurs, to put it mildly!

(left) authoress Jilly Cooper with horse, and two young male admirers,

and (right) one of Jilly's most popular 'bonkbuster' novels, "Riders"

You see, here in Liphook, Lois and I, 'for our sins' (!) run the local U3A online "Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" group. Having become veritable experts in Intermediate Danish, due to our long association with Denmark, the country where our daughter Alison and family lived for 7 years, Lois and I have become very much a couple of trailblazers in promoting interest in the Intermediate Danish language, when it comes to East Hampshire, anyway! 

(left) me and Lois conducting another rowdy on-line meeting of our local 

"Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" group, and (centre, right) our first-ever

visit to Denmark, back in 2013, after our daughter Alison and family moved there

To be frank, the study of Intermediate Danish isn't particularly 'mainstream' here in East Hampshire, even with the area's throngs of 'old codgers' - not yet, at least! So, for the moment, Lois and I find ourselves 'ploughing a bit of a lonely furrow' here locally, trying to popularise this all-too-often neglected language, which is a thankless task at times!!! You would not believe!!!!

For many years, our little online group has been reading a long series of Danish whodunnits together, quite happily, a lot of them by popular Danish crime-writer Anna Grue, but recently Lois and I have sensed that our members are getting a bit tired of the constant murders, not to mention all the post-murder 'sleuthing' and other Scandi high-jinks (!). 

(left) me and Lois, and (centre, right) Danish crime novelist Anna Grue, with the murder

mystery that our little Danish group is currently reading - "Judaskysset" (the Judas Kiss)

One of Anna Grue's books has the title "One Murder Too Many" [Danish: Et Mord For Meget]. Is that title sending our little group a message, maybe? Is it a case of "One Murder Story Too Many" ? 

I wonder....!

Danish crime-writer Anna Grue, with her novel

"Et Mord For Meget" (English: "One Murder Too Many" - yikes!)

And one of our predominantly female group-members actually said to me, "Oh not another 'Nordic noir' potboiler, Colin!", as I introduced our latest 'project', adding, "Can't we read something a bit more Jilly Cooper?".

Well, we'll see! But Jilly is so English, isn't she, and searching for a Danish Jilly Cooper seems to be just one more difficult, not to say time-consuming, task for Yours Truly, but I'll try my best, so watch this space!

some typical Jilly Cooper 'bonkbuster' novels - 

too English for the Danes perhaps? I wonder.....!

But your ideas welcome - postcards only!!!!

20:00 Evening falls, and at last Lois and I can relax on the sofa, after another full day, with me working on Intermediate Danish vocab lists for our little online group of 'old codgers', and Lois busy in the garden doing some more 'muck-spreading' (!). She's also somehow found time to make a batch of scones, the first two of which we sample on the sofa together tonight. Yum yum!

our busy day: Lois 'muck-spreading in the garden' and baking a batch of scones

(with copious hand-washing in between (!)), and me working on my Danish vocab lists 

What a crazy life we lead!!!!!

We switch on the telly to see a re-run of a 1975 programme from "The Good Old Days" series, which tried to recreate the atmosphere of an Edwardian evening of old-style music-hall entertainment.

And how nice tonight to see actor John Inman, before he achieved worldwide fame in "Are You Being Served?", the sitcom series in which he played camp department store menswear salesman "Mr Humphries".

Here is early-period John in tonight's show, singing and dancing in tandem with his then showbiz partner Barry Howard, as a pair of "pantomime dames", lamenting the decline of that much-missed traditional form of British entertainment.

Fabulous stuff, isn't it!

[If you say so! - Ed]

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Friday April 10th 2026 "Are YOU and YOUR PARTNER 'expecting'? It's all a bit of a lottery, isn't it!!!"

Yes, Friends, are you and your partner currently "expecting", and hoping for some sort of 'happy event'? 

It's all a bit of a lottery, however, isn't it, although one local couple have got some definite ideas in that department, ideas that they're already 'firming up', according to this morning's Onion News for East Hampshire - check out page 94!

Poor Mr and Mrs Bevers!!! Let's just call it 'a near miss', however, and "Kudos! Better luck next time!", is what my wife Lois and I say as we read the story this morning, here in semi-obsolete Liphook, Hampshire this morning, to put it mildly!!!!

And Lois and I soon find ourselves discussing the Bevers' predicament, with some amusement, on our near-daily walk, which today takes us over nearby Chapel Common, a local beauty spot advertised (without evidence!!!), and in a rather "hoity-toity" way, if you ask us (!), as "a site of special scientific interest", if you please !!!!!

my wife Lois and me this morning, enjoying our near-daily walk, which today takes us

over Chapel Common, advertised without evidence, as "a site of special scientific interest" (!)

Certainly couples, whether it's the Bevers or any other marital or extra-marital 'hook-ups' (!), are getting a lot of extra help from local communities and services these days, that's for sure, which can only be a good thing!

And just this morning, Lois and I were delighted to discover that even the NHS is now offering "couples' COVID jabs" on their online booking site, which is a nice surprise. No more 'having to book separately and hoping that the two 'jabs' will be in the same location at approximately the same time! 

Those particular nail-biting days are all in the past - just "history", at least in Yours Truly and Mrs Yours Truly's so-called 'hospital district of East Hampshire', which is nice!

And you know what they say - 'couples that get their shot together, slot together' (!), as the old adage has it!

Not so great as the NHS online booking site, however, is the organisation's telephone access, with its long waiting times spent during calls, listening to horrible 'muzak'' and being told, by a weird electronic voice, that 'you are now 23rd in the queue' or something similar. What madness isn't it!

That's why Lois and I drop in in person at our local doctor's surgery office this morning - I have to make an appointment for my annual check-up, and, quite honestly, it's easier to just drive over there and book the appointment in person, over the counter with the receptionist, rather than phone up, which is totally mad! 

Satisfaction turns to disquiet, however, when we get home and find that the receptionist has forgotten to put any instructions in the kit for my urine test, which is a pain - but thank heavens for YouTube, where there's sure to be a 'how to' video on the subject, so fingers crossed!!!!!

(left) our doctor's surgery waiting room, where Lois and I sit while the receptionist

'powders her nose' (!), and (right) later, my bewilderment at home, puzzling

over the urine test kit, which doesn't include instructions - what madness!!!

Apart from the excitement of our doctor's waiting room this morning, I'm happy to report a nice, restful day for Lois and me today, with Lois outside in the garden attacking 'the auld enemy' - dandelions on the lawn, and me indoors, preparing vocab lists for the local U3A "Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" course, which we jointly lead, "for our sins" (!).

Lois and me today: (left) Lois fighting 'the auld enemy' - dandelions on the lawn,

and (right) me working on vocab lists for our "Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" group

- what madness !!!!

Lois and I started our joint interest in Intermediate Danish during the 7 years our daughter Alison and her family were living and working in Copenhagen, between 2012 and 2018.

flashback to 2017: Lois and me with our daughter Alison, at 'Hamlet's Castle',

Elsinore, Denmark, during her family's residence in Copenhagen 2012-2018

For the last 7 years or so, however, Alison and family have been back in England, currently living just 10 miles away from us, over the county line in Churt, Surrey. And it's Alison who, in general, takes responsibility for ensuring that her 'old codger' parents don't get into too much trouble as they 'kick over the traces' in their 'second childhood' or is it our third haha (!).

However, Alison is not around this morning. She's spending the day, with 'middle child' Rosalind (17), over in Bath, Somerset, the city which Rosalind has selected as her 'second choice' university location after UCL London, if they gets her expected grades in her A-Levels this summer.

flashback to last month and my 80th birthday Thai meal: (left) me with

our daughter Alison (50) and Alison's daughter Rosalind (17)

Alison and Rosalind have decided to go to Bath by train, which looks complicated, no doubt about that: two different railway companies  and three changes of train, at Woking, Basingstoke and Reading. What madness, isn't it!!!!

(above) our daughter Alison (50) and granddaughter Rosalind (17) and their

complicated journey today to Bath: and (below) Alison today at Bath's iconic Royal Crescent

Bath is a charming old city, with lots of Regency period architecture, and a whole change of pace from Rosalind's first choice university of UCL London, and Lois and I wonder whether young Rosalind will be charmed into making Bath her preferred choice after all. Well, we'll have to see - so watch this space!!!!

21:00 Obviously, as grandparents, not to mention pillars of the local community (!), Lois and I feel it's our duty to keep up with the English of the Gen Z generation, but it can be difficult at times, to put it mildly (!). 

Luckily for Lois and me, however, there's some help tonight with "Gen Z speak", during this week's edition of popular news quiz "Have I Got News For You", which tonight is hosted by celebrity gardener, TV's Monty Don.

Old codgers like Lois and me might refer to the following iconic scene from classic comedy "Carry On Matron" (see below!), as actors Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques going in for "a bit of hanky-panky", but if we did, the chances are that any Gen Z people within earshot wouldn't have a clue as to what we were talking about, programme panellist Paul Merton explains, citing a new survey published this week in the Daily Star.

Apparently, 67% of Gen Z respondents say that they've never heard the phrase 'hanky-panky' before. And the paper goes on to detail the top 10 of all such euphemisms well known to mine and Lois's generation.

Here, as far as Gen Z are concerned, are innuendo numbers 10 up to 2 in the "not understood" Top Ten.

And least understood of all, apparently, is "how's your father", which is mad! Surely, we all say that one, don't we?!!!

Chairman Monty Don is particularly concerned that 71% of Gen Z respondents didn't know the meaning of 'making love'.

What a crazy world we live in !!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Thursday April 9th 2026 "Is YOUR doctor always frank with you, i.e. absolutely no 'sugar-coating' of the sometimes unpalatable?"

Yes, Friends, is YOUR doctor always frank with you, no matter the gravity of the diagnosis? And most important of all, does he never 'sugar-coat' sometimes unpalatable health-facts, and really face up to the sometimes horrible truth?

Local physician Dr Peter Grimes has an impeccable record on this front, according to this morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire! Just turn to page 94, if you want 'chapter and verse' (!).

Poor Grimes!!!! But at the same time, "Kudos!" for facing up to the truth on this issue, which was nice!

And, here in semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, Grimes's heart-warming story brings a bit of a knowing smile to the faces of me and my wife Lois , as we embark on our near-daily walk, which today takes us over nearby Old Man's Lowsley's Farm, where we're also regaled by numerous birdsongs, not to mention the quiet "yeeeeearmm!!!" of a passing TUI Airways flight from London's Gatwick Airport to Montego Bay, Jamaica, filling our thoughts with dreams of faraway tropical beaches, which is exciting! 

And please note mine and Lois's delightfully light-to-lightish attire in our pictures this morning, as we take advantage of the slightly raised temperatures: Lois even dispenses with her coat, while I am wearing my so-called 'summer jacket', with only one pullover underneath instead of the usual three - call us crazy 'madcaps' if you want to !!!!

Doctors and medical services are very much on mine and Lois's minds this morning, as we've just witnessed one of the traditional signs of spring - our annual spring 'Covid jab' invite, which is nice!

(left) our COVID-jab invite, and (right) flashback to April 2023, as Lois and I queue up

behind a bunch of other 'old codgers' to get our own personal springtime 'shot in the arm' (!)

Nevertheless, it's certainly good news that we haven't "dropped off" the NHS lists of older patients, and they're not abandoning us just because I myself have turned 80, and Lois's own 80th birthday is just a couple of months away!

And there's more potential good news reaching us later today, with an email from Tunde, our Hungarian penfriend, reminding us about Hungary's forthcoming General Election this coming Sunday. Liberals are hoping that the country's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his far-right Fidesz party will finally, after 26 years, be unceremoniously "turfed out" at the polls. Hungary is a country Lois and I visited a number of times in the 1990's and 2000's, and it's a country of which we both have fond memories.

flashback to 2002: (left) Lois (56) with Tunde, our Hungarian penfriend, when we visited

her Budapest flat, and (right) the lovely Union Jack cake she baked in our honour

US Vice-President JD Vance flew into Budapest this week to bolster support for the current Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

At one point, while standing at a podium addressing an audience there yesterday, Vance took his phone out of his pocket to ring President Trump in person, so that his Hungarian audience could hear Donald's voice, encouraging them to vote for Orban. Apparently there was an amusing moment when the White House appeared to reject Vance's call, although Donald finally 'picked up', when Vance persisted, so happy ending there! 

(left) US Vice-President JD Vance, at the podium in Budapest, Hungary, attempting 

to call his boss Donald Trump, a call initially rejected by the White House,

and (right) opinion polls still predicting a win for the opposition Tisza Party,

in the Hungarina elections set for Sunday April 12th

Opinion polls are still predicting a victory for the opposition Tisza party, so we'll have to see what happens on Sunday - watch this space! 

Viktor Orban, the current Hungarian Prime Minister, has used his 26 years in office, not just to enrich himself and his family, and all his 'cronies', but also to establish more and more control over the public media there, and to bend electoral rules in favour of his own party.

Hungary's Prime Minister for the last 26 years, Viktor Orban, and his

so-called "modest" family estate, once owned by Europe's royal Hapsburg family

Orban still has a bit of a way to go, however, to catch up with the Chinese in this regard, as Lois and I are reminded tonight, watching the third and final part of TV adventurer Ben Fogel's new series on the country, to put it mildly!!!!

the western sky as seen from our living-room this evening, as Lois and I

settle down on the couch to watch Ben Fogel's final programme about China today

During this final programme in the series Ben visits Hong Kong and talks to a brave local journalist Lam Yin-Pong. Lam reminds  Ben that when the UK handed over the former British colony to Beijing back in 1997, the Chinese agreed to keep the colony's UK-style freedoms - freedom of speech, independent courts, free elections, political comment and satire etc - for the following 50 years, although most of that came to an end within about 5 years or so of the handover.

So much for Beijing's promises!!!!

flashback to July 1997: the UK hands Hong Kong back 

to China after 156 years of colonial rule

But Beijing's real crackdown on Hong Kong began in 2019 after mass demonstrations, when 10,000 protesters were jailed, including many of Lam's colleagues in the newspaper business, accused of distributing "inappropriate" articles. 

And Hong Kong is now just a police state, like the rest of China.

Fascinating stuff, isn't it.

flashback to the 1980's: Hong Kong, seen here in happier times,

when UK Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher toured the then

colony with husband Denis, in a double-decker tram 

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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