08:00 As Lois and I lie in bed, I look at my smartphone. I see that the "shullet", a cross between a "shag" and a "mullet", is going to be the must-have hair-do this summer, according to The Guardian, and I tell Lois I think it would suit her.
The Guardian claims that a major inspiration for the "shullet" was provided by the popstar Joan Jett.
Lois just recently had her hair cut by James, her stylist, but I suggest to her that she could ask James for a "shullet" next time she sees him. You can see from this recent semi-profile shot of her from Sunday that it would suit her to a T.
Lois: a recent picture
I myself have never sported a "shag", but I did wear a mullet for a 1980's-themed fancy-dress party once, at Lois's work, and the result was not a happy one: oh dear!
flashback to 2005: me in a "mullet" for a 1980's-themed party
at Lois's work - and note the rolled-up jacket sleeves: cool !!!! [Not!! - Ed]
Lois in her "ra-ra" dress
10:30 Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in the interviewing (via zoom) of a prospective new member of her sect, a young woman in her 30's or thereabouts. The main interviewer will be Mike, the so-called "vermin-hunter", known informally in the sect as "The Ratbuster" - he is "pest technician" for a pest control business in the area. Lois will be assisting Mike, and providing reassurance to the candidate as a fellow woman.
Mike, aka "The Ratbuster"
Mike and Lois are seeking to establish that the candidate knows and understands the beliefs she will be signing up to, if she gets baptised into the sect. Anyway, I'm sure that Mike isn't as hard on baptismal candidates as he (reputedly) is on rats (haha), and the candidate seems to pass today's hour-long test.
The interview takes place on zoom, but of course you can't be baptised via zoom! The sect believes only in baptism of adults by full immersion, and these days the ceremony, at least in this part of the country, is usually performed in a hot tub in somebody's garden. This is where government lockdown restrictions come into focus - Lois thinks there's an upper limit of 6 on these kinds of ceremonies.
a typical baptism by hot tub
Lois will now wait to hear about what the next stage will be. Lois has never been involved in anything like this before, so she says it's been an interesting experience - I can imagine.
11:30 Lois comes off her zoom, and I make us each a coffee. Suddenly it starts raining and blowing a gale outside, so things don't look good for our scheduled walk. Miraculously, however, it seems to clear, so we just have a quick one. We take a couple of selfies but my phone decides, off its own bat, to "blur" the background, so I have to waste time on our return on working out how to "de-blur" them. What madness!!!
The worst thing about computers and phones is when they decide to be "helpful" and change something, some parameter, without telling you. Another pain is the numerous so-called "short cuts" whereby if you happen to press the wrong key on the keyboard it thinks you doing a short-hand for some mysterious format change which you don't want, and which you don't know how to reverse.
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
today's selfies: there isn't a soul about today, and the tennis courts
and basketball court lie unloved and unused
in the background of this second picture
19:30 Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in her sect's Tuesday Bible Reading Group meeting on google meet. I settle down on the couch and watch a bit of TV, the second episode of a new sitcom series starring, and co-written by, kiwi stand-up comic, Rose Matafeo.
I'm puzzled by this series, to put it mildly - oh dear! Don't you have to have a minimum number of funny lines to be called a "sitcom"? And what's with the 20-minute format? Couldn't they have come up with another 10 minutes-worth to round off the half-hour?
What madness !!!
In last week's programme, Jessie had a one-night-stand with Tom, after picking him up in a nightclub after a drunken New Year's Eve party, and going back to his flat. But quite an odd one-night-stand: Jessie asks him if he wants to have sex, but it turns out they'd already started by then.
Jessie asks Tom if he wants sex, but only after they've already started - what madness!
Later Jessie finds out that Tom is a film-star, and the couple go their separate ways. What does that mean?
In tonight's episode it's 3 months later, and Jessie and Tom bump into each other by accident somewhere. Tom goes back with her to her front door and asks if he can come in and use the bathroom. Jessie's flatmate, Kate, is in, and she recognises Tom immediately.
While Tom is upstairs in the bathroom, flatmate Kate quickly discovers that they are out of tea-bags, so she asks Jessie what she thinks Tom would like. She asks Jessie what the "vibe" is with Tom's visit, and Jessie tells Kate she doesn't know, and I must say I don't either!
Luckily it turns out that Kate seems to know what the "vibe" is, and she tells Jessie.
Oh good, so that's cleared that one up then!
21:00 Lois emerges from her google meet session and we watch a bit more TV, the latest programme by Michael Portillo, Margaret Thatcher's ex-cabinet minister, all about another of his train-journeys in the UK.
In this programme Michael is travelling through the county of Essex in the general direction of the London area.
Lois and I didn't know that British radio broadcasting started from a little village called Writtle, just outside Chelmsford, in about 1919. The reason for that was that Marconi, the radio pioneer, happened to settle in this little village after he arrived as an immigrant from Italy.
The station's name was 2MT and from 1922 it broadcast for one half-hour every Tuesday night. I suppose they didn't want to strain themselves too much - but perhaps not many people had radios then: I suppose that's logical. Why would you buy a radio, if there weren't any radio stations? Makes sense to me haha!
It started broadcasting from an old hut by the village duck pond. It had no sanitation, but luckily the engineers could use facilities at the nearby Cock and Bull pub - my god!!!
the old hut where British radio started (now demolished)
the hut had no proper sanitation, but engineers were
able to use facilities at the nearby Cock and Bell pub - my god!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
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