08:00 We wake up to light snow. But today runs away with us - we take too long in the shower and doing the cleaning up afterwards. Then I try to reschedule my NHS physiotherapy appointment with Connor, originally set for Wednesday week (17th) - his secretary tells me she'll get back to me on that, but she doesn't - what's gone wrong?
Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, scheduled for us to talk to a letting agent this morning on zoom, but, as we agreed, Sarah has emailed her contact in the lettings firm to postpone this till next Monday. No reply to this request has been received, however - instead we get a message from somebody else in the same lettings firm, which is confusing.
Now, however, I think it's all arranged for next Monday (15th), but we will be using whatsapp on the phone instead of zoom: this will be handier if we're going to "walk" the Lettings rep round the house and show her its so-called "advantages" haha !!! Sarah wants to know how much rent she could get for letting our house if we sell it to her: in order to get the rep's opinion we need to show the rep round "remotely" next Monday, which will be safer virus-wise than a personal visit, that's for sure.
the local office of the lettings agent
What madness! So not a lot achieved today, to cut a long story short. And we'll have our work cut out over the next 6 days, clearing away the piles of clutter that have accumulated in virtually every room in the house, since we stopped getting visitors with the early 2020 lockdowns - damn!!!! We don't want the rep to realise that we live like pigs, Lois and I !!!!
But the prospects look good. Sarah thinks this lettings rep could be "another Susan Horne" - Horne hit the world's headlines recently with her knack of marketing the "unmarketable".
Expending an inordinate proportion
of her resources to detail the bustling shops, quaint cafes, and highly rated
schools located merely a mile or two away, realtor Susan Horne reportedly spent
most of her showing with local couple Tim and Holly Penn Wednesday emphasizing
how close their prospective new town house was to a much nicer neighbourhood.
“There’s a stretch with some really
amazing restaurants and wine bars just a few blocks away—maybe a 30-minute walk
and you’re right there,” said Horne before launching into a glowing description
of a public park located just a short bus ride away.
“It’s surprisingly convenient.
You’re basically just on the outskirts of the area where that neighbourhood is
expanding anyway, so in a decade or so, you’ll be even closer. It’s a really
great area, lots of shops, lots of stuff happening, but still quiet and
laid-back, and you’re just a 10-minute drive from a wonderful community. You’re
going to love going there when you live here.”
Horne also noted that the Penns’ potential
home was actually within a five-mile radius of several far, far nicer neighbourhoods.
Hail to thee, Susan Horne - you kept us out of war! And we like your style, that's for sure!
15:00 I chat briefly with Sarah on whatsapp - she says that our 7-year-old twin grandchildren, Lily and Jessie, started back at their school, the private Catholic school Immaculate Heart College this morning. It's the first day of the new school year, delayed by one week by the 5-day lockdown declared in the state at the beginning of the month.
Immaculate Heart College, Lower Chittering WA
The state only had one case of coronavirus last week, but Western Australia has a tough policy when it comes to stamping on any outbreaks of the virus - no doubt about that! And it's paid off, to put it mildly.
19:30 Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in her sect's weekly Bible Seminar on zoom. I settle down on the couch and watch a bit of TV, the latest episode of "The Great", based loosely on the life of Catherine the Great, the wife of Emperor Peter VIII.
An enjoyable episode. Emperor Peter, having survived the attempt on his life, is becoming more open to his wife Catherine's progressive ideas, and her ambition to turn Russia into a "modern European nation". For the moment she has given up all thoughts of staging a violent coup against him, opting instead for "a coup of ideas".
And the next time she and Peter have a bath, she starts to brainwash him a little into becoming a more democratic ruler.
I can sort of follow all this, but I start to get confused when Peter's thoughts turn to getting himself an heir. I think, but am not sure, that Catherine wants to avoid conceiving Peter's child - and her maidservant Marial advises her to use a fresh lemon as a contraceptive, although I'm not quite certain how that works.
I think probably Catherine doesn't see Peter as going to last that long on the throne - there has already been one assassination attempt. And my guess is that she wants to succeed him herself when he dies. If they have a son, I think the son takes precedence and the son might find himself under the influence of the country's aristocracy and priesthood, which wouldn't be good! Oh dear!
Peter is deadly serious, however, about wanting to get an heir, and he gets the latest "scientific" advice on the best methods. He's helped here by his aunt Elizabeth - she advises Peter to count his "thrusts" - there should be exactly 100 of these, and after that Catherine should take a rest. Aunt Elizabeth helps out by sitting with the couple and counting the "thrusts", and getting a servant to keep a tally - what madness! But then nothing is ever very private in the imperial court, that's for sure!
What a crazy world they lived in in those times in Imperial Russia!!! And luckily I think Catherine didn't forget the fresh lemon before they started, so all Peter's efforts will probably be in vain.
Poor Peter !!!!!!
21:00 Lois emerges from her zoom seminar and we watch our two favourite TV quizzes, Only Connect, which tests lateral thinking, and University Challenge, the student quiz.
On University Challenge, it's getting hard for us to compete with the students, because only the best teams are left in the competition now. However we get 6 answers right that the students fail to get, so not too bad a result for us.
1. Complete these French verbs with one 5-letter French infinitive
Students: venir
Colin and Lois: tenir
2. Complete these French verbs with one 4-letter French infinitive:
Students: vire
Colin and Lois: dire
3. Beginning with the name of a US President, which village was the home of the poet Rupert Brooke? It's his setting for the poem that starts "Just now the lilac is in bloom".
Students: Grant
Colin and Lois: Grantchester
4. What Greek letter is given by the last letters of the first word and the first letters of the second word, the two words being defined as follows: (1) an 1882 Savoy Opera, subtitled "The Peer and the Peri", and (2) a pungent sauce named after a Mexican state.
Students: The Pirates of Penzance and tabasco
Colin and Lois: Iolanthe and tabasco (gives Greek letter theta)
5. Filmed in drama documentary style by Ken Loach, which 1966 television play concerns the disintegration of a working-class family through unemployment and homelessness?
Students: [pass]
Colin and Lois: Cathy Come Home
6. Which AONB (area of natural beauty) is named after the river valley that forms much of the boundary between Devon and Cornwall?
Students: Teign Valley
Colin and Lois: Tamar Valley
Good enough result for this time of night.
22:00 We go smugly to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
[I wouldn't feel too smug if I were you - you were a bit lucky tonight, especially with no. 3, which the students obviously got wrong through a misunderstanding. Just watch it, that's all !!! - Ed]
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