10:40 Mark the Gardener comes. I know nothing about gardening so it's Lois who chats with him and gives him her instructions. Later I see them from the window in our grown-up daughter Sarah's room - she's now in Australia with Francis and their 8-year-old twins: sob sob!
Lois takes Mark on a tour of the back garden, pointing out
things that could do with attention. Poor Mark !!!!
On the window-sill our daughter Sarah's old collection of shells
from a long-ago week in Sanibel Island, Florida during our residence in the USA 1982-1985:
we've looked after those shells conscientiously for 40 years, dusting them annually, which is nice!
flashback to
November 1984: our daughter Sarah (7) collects shells
on the beach at Sanibel Is., Florida
(left to right) me, Sarah and Lois
Sarah with her older sister Alison (9)
I recall an article I read a couple of years ago when a local
married couple, Dale and Paula Watson, hit the headlines by bringing home a
large collection of sea shells home after a vacation near the famous Myrtle
Beach.
I recall an article I read a couple of years ago when a local
married couple, Dale and Paula Watson, hit the headlines by bringing home a
large collection of sea shells home after a vacation near the famous Myrtle
Beach.
It's a bit hard
to believe, but a simple wicker container filled with shells and and put on a
toilet tank transformed the couple's suburban bathroom into a peaceful tropical
oasis (source: Onion News).
"I cannot
believe the difference adding those seashells made," Paula Watson told
journalists. And she admitted that earlier that day she had been transported
from her beige, bland bathroom to an unforgettable island paradise thousands of
miles from the area where she lived. "Now, every time I walk in, I think
'Wow, where am I?' Cancún? ''
Grandmother
Ilene Watson said that she could spend the rest of her life in the Watsons'
carefree bathroom environment without complaining for one second. "It's so
exotic," said the hypnotised 77-year-old Ilene. "Just like when
Harold and I used to go travelling after the war."
Lois and I think that Sarah's old shells from Sanibel Island, sitting there on the window-sill have "done a Watson" with Sarah's old bedroom. We often sleep there in the summer as a change from our regular bedroom, and it's just like being in the tropics (apart from the cold temperatures and the grey skies haha!!!)
11:00 Lois and I have a coffee on the sofa, while Mark toils outside. I look at my smartphone and the DigitalSpy website: I'm pleased to see that Robert Popper, the creator of the old sitcom "Friday Night Dinner" about a dysfunctional Jewish family and their 2 sons and the sons' girlfriends, has now come up with a new series for Channel Four. This new series is about a chaotic friendship between 2 girls, and is called "I Hate You".
This sitcom is good news for "old crumblies", because the two young girls starring in the series, Becca and Charlie (Melissa Saint and Tanya Reynolds), are both dating men in their 70's. I'm not single, but a lot of men in their 70's may be, and this plotline will be a good morale-booster for them, no doubt about that!
Melissa Saint
Tanya Reynolds
The writer, Robert Popper, says he is looking forward to writing a series not based around a super-intense family, but about super-intense friends. He says he has never had a friend in his life, so he's hoping that writing this series will teach him how to find one.
The great songwriter Paul McCartney once wrote, "All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong?". Perhaps this is the answer for them - to write a sitcom about friends. I don't think anybody's done a sitcom series about "Friends" before, so who knows? I'm not sure it will work every time though. Well. we'll see !!!
comedy-writer Robert Popper who's never had
a friend in his life
Poor Robert !!!!!!
14:30 After lunch we drive over to Fran's "park home" for a cup of tea, a few biscuits and some "old codger/old crow" chit-chat. I'm a bit alarmed because Fran seems to have a cold, but we have no choice but to risk it and wash our hands when we get home - oh dear!
Fran says she's becoming more and more a recluse, but she actually meets far more people than we do - her daughter Rachel lives in Swindon and Fran looks after Rachel's 1-year-old granddaughter Elizabeth one day a week. Lois and I have got used to not having colds, since the lockdowns started, and we'd rather not have one again for a few years, given the choice haha!
flashback to June 2019: we visit Fran (left) and her park home,
several months before the pandemic hits, and she showcases
her "wild" garden for us - nice!
On the way home, Lois tells me she thinks she's getting a cold - oh dear, already????! But it could be the result of the recent burst of cold weather. Time will tell, no doubt about that!!!
18:30 We have dinner, and after that Lois goes to bed - she thinks it's definitely a cold coming on. Poor Lois!!
I stick around the dining-table because I see signs that our neighbour is getting his mini-gym ready, probably for a 7pm session with a customer. So far we've only seen one customer, Mr So-Called "Tall Guy", but for our neighbour's sake I hope he attracts some more customers soon.
I keep my eyes trained on the gym and have my phone ready to take a picture. As always I take my cue from film-star Michael Caine, spiritual leader of Britain's thousands of "nosy neighbours".
Film-star Michael Caine, spiritual leader of
Britain's thousands of "nosy neighbours".
flashback to last month:(left to right) Mr So-Called Tall Guy, and our neighbour
I stick around till 7pm and am just about to give up when my patience is rewarded, with the arrival of a totally new customer for our neighbour, and only his second ever, as far as we know. I'm calling this one "Pleasantly Plump Woman", because I think she could probably lose a few pounds without too much of a shock to the system. Well, we'll see if the mini-gym works its magic!
the arrival of "Pleasantly Plump Woman", our neighbour's
second ever customer, seen here exiting her car
I stick around long enough to see the tell-tale rhythmic movements begin in the mini-gym itself, and then I go into the kitchen to wash up after the meal.
20:00 Lois is obviously not going to get out of bed this evening, so that presents me with a problem - what to watch on TV or listen to on the radio, sticking exclusively to programmes that Lois won't mind not seeing or hearing. Decisions, decisions !!!!!
In the end I decide to listen to the radio, a programme in the series "The Reunion", where presenter Kirsty Wark brings together people involved in one or other project from the past, in this case the comedy show "The Day Today", which parodied the bombastic news programmes of the early 1990's.
It's nice to hear again some of The Day Today's famously spoof headline news items, read by bombastic anchorman, Chris Morris, who would declaim headlines as if he were launching warheads.
NATO Annulled After Delegate Swallows Treaty
Exploding Cardinal Preaches Sermon From Fish-tank
Where Now For Man Raised By Puppets?
Sacked Chimney-sweep Pumps Boss Full Of Mayonnaise
Branson's Clockwork Dog Crosses Atlantic Floor
Bombastic anchor-man Christ Morris: "declaimed headlines
as if he were launching warheads".
Weather man Sylvester Stewart was played by David Schneider: It'll be a misty day tomorrow with a droplet density of about 50,000 per spherical inch. That's roughly as if the mist were hugging the ground like an over-affectionate and rather damp dog.
the programme's weather-man David Schneider
And who can forget the end-of-programme look at the following day's newspaper front pages: A quick look at the front pages of the first editions of tomorrow's newspapers - the Herald-Tribune goes with "Boiled Dog Could Do Maths" Claims Experimenter; the European goes with "Elastic Song Strangles Hucknall", and the Daily Mirror has the first exclusive naming of the first cat to die of Mad Cat Disease. Good night!
Tremendous fun !!!!!!
22:00 I go to bed - zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment