08:30 Oh gosh a rude awakening again this Sunday, making sure Lois and I are dressed, (just about) breakfasted, and looking respectable for our weekly zoom call with Sarah, our daughter who lives in Perth, Australia, with Francis and their 7-year-old twins Lily and Jessie.
A shortish zoom call this week - we're hoping to have another call on Tuesday maybe, so we can see the twins opening their Christmas presents: they'll be away camping at Christmas itself, in the Albany area, right at the bottom of Western Australia, on the Southern Ocean - yikes! Nothing between them and Antarctica, but it won't be chilly: Sarah says it was 104F / 40C the other day - my god!!!!
The twins are off school for the next couple of months - the new school year starts in February 2021.
Both Sarah and Francis are taking their citizenship "exams" this coming week and they've both been studying example questions: topics from Australian history and culture, way of life, that kind of thing. Rather them than me!
09:30 The zoom call ends and later Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in her sect's two worship services today, again on zoom. It's going to be raining all day today, so I'm just going to settle down on the sofa and watch the rain through the window: simples!
I turn on the "Now Christmas " channel and watch old videos of Christmas songs, while thumbing through the bumper 2 week Christmas/New Year edition of the Radio Times. What bliss!!!
I must be careful not to drop the Radio Times on my foot - it weighs a ton. It’s even got a spine! Good God!!!
I look at my smartphone and I see that the rainy weather is pretty general today, and even the PGA Masters has had to move indoors, for only the second time in its long history, which is saying something!
AUGUSTA, GA—Severe thunderstorms in the Richmond County
area forced organizers to move the first round of the 2020 PGA Masters indoors
to nearby John M. Tutt Middle School, tournament chairman Billy Payne announced
Thursday.
"As
soon as the heavy rain started falling, I knew we would have to move quickly to
a secure indoor venue," said Payne, addressing reporters from the
principal's office, which also serves as the course's opening tee.
Thus far, participating golfers have said the course is
playing fair, but that they've had difficulty adjusting to the low ceilings and
walls.
Twenty-six-year-old tournament favourite Dustin Johnson
was pleased by the way he was striking the ball, but ran into trouble on the
par-three eighth hole, where he made a triple bogey after his ball ricocheted
off the ceiling into the school's swimming pool. Despite his early struggles,
Johnson salvaged the round with a strong finish on the back nine, sinking a
22-foot putt in the computer lab and executing a difficult chip shot over the
stairs and into a urinal for an eagle on the par-five 17th hole.
"Tutt Middle School poses a unique challenge,"
Johnson said. "You really need to bring your A-game and know how to work
the ball. If you're not hitting it well off the tee, you're in for a tough day.
I saw some guys end up in Mr. Wandel's geography class on the par-five 12th
[hole], and that's basically a two-stroke penalty right there."
"You can spend four shots alone trying to hack it out of
all the desks," Johnson added.
I'm not a golf enthusiast myself, and I question the wisdom of holding such a prestigious contest inside the confines of a middle school. But I suppose that to golfing fanatics a golf tournament just has to go on, come hell or high water!
My god, what a crazy world we live in!
16:00 We settle down on the sofa for a cup of specialty tea. I look at my smartphone and I see an interesting article from the Smithsonian website about "Doggerland" - the land area in the North Sea that once linked the British Isles to continental Europe.
It's long been thought that around 6000 BC a tsunami in the North Sea was the main reason why Doggerland disappeared together with all its inhabitants. But new research suggests that Doggerland may have survived for several centuries after that, as a series of islands.
According to their revised history, the study’s authors estimate that by about 9,000 years ago, rising sea levels linked to climate change had already reduced Doggerland to a collection of islands. Though the later tsunami wreaked havoc on the existing hunter-gatherer and fishing societies that lived along the British coast, pieces of the landmass—including “Dogger Island” and “Dogger Archipelago,” a tract roughly the size of Wales—probably survived the cataclysmic event.
The scientists note that this revised history of Doggerland could shift scholars’ understanding of how humans arrived in Britain. The Dogger archipelagos could have served as a staging ground for the first Neolithic farmers, who moved into Britain and began to build permanent settlements on the island. This transition to farming took place some 6,000 years ago.
By about 7,000 years ago, the study suggests, Doggerland would have been long gone, completely submerged by rising sea levels. According to the new study, ultimately, it was climate change that killed Doggerland,
Fascinating stuff !!!!
20:00 We watch a bit of TV, the latest instalment of Alice Roberts's series on "Britain's Most Historic Towns". Tonight she's showcasing Edinburgh in the Georgian period (18th and early 19th century).
Who knew that in the 18th century Edinburgh was the centre of a vast development of banking services, with the world's first overdraft facilities and the first banknotes featuring portraits (to make forgery more difficult) ? And who knew Edinburgh at this time was the centre for the emergence of the study of anatomy, with medical schools attracting students from all over the world, many of whom subsequently went back and founded medical schools in their own countries? [I expect a lot of people knew both of those things - Ed]
21:00 We continue to watch some TV, a special Christmas Edition of Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse's "Gone Fishing" series.
A pleasant and amusing programme as always, but of course what viewers are waiting for is this year's Gone Fishing 2020 awards ceremony, which comes three-quarters of the way through tonight's programme.
First award is for the "Gone Fishing Employee of the Year 2020". The candidates were Bob Mortimer and his colleague Paul Whitehouse. It turns out that Bob has won the award again for the fourth year running, and although it's true that Bob is also the judge, he insists that he always reflects on the matter fairly, and makes his decision without any trace of bias.
The second award is the Gone Fishing Award for Outstanding Achievement. And it's left to Paul Whitehouse to open the envelope and announce the winner:
The winner turns out to be Ted, Bob's dog. And unfortunately it's hard for Paul Whitehouse to keep all trace of disappointment out of his voice, when he makes the announcement.
So sadly for the fourth year running Paul has failed to win an award - but there's always next year. Cheer up, Paul !!!!
Poor Paul !!!!!
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