Lois and I stay in bed late - out of sheer indulgence. I get up at 9 am, and Lois gets up at 10 am - what madness!
It's a bit of a wasted morning, because after we've taken the time to do our "Danish" on the sofa, we have to get out of the house smartly for our scheduled walk on the local football field. Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, wants to talk to us later - we think she's got 12:30 pm in mind, but we're not sure.
11:15 We wrap up well, because it's a grey, overcast day, to put it mildly, and Cleeve Hill is totally obscured by mist, although it turns out to be not too cold for the time of year, which is some compensation.
Cleeve Hill, our usual backdrop, is totally obscured by mist
I reserve 2 places on the so-called Pirie bench: in the background
Lois is getting our coffees from the Whisker's Coffee Stand, while a couple of Parish Council
sub-contractors with a van do routine maintenance on the outdoor exercise equipment
I glance down at my fashionably frayed jeans -
I'm hoping these will make me more popular locally
coffee time [Try not to look so smug next time! - Ed]
She and her husband are currently living on the upper floor of the pub, but they're trying to find a house to buy, just in case anything goes wrong with her husband's job and in case they are asked to vacate. That makes sense to me. Always have a Plan B.
15:00 After lunch and a nap in bed we have to get busy again. Lois is still trying to find visiting preachers to preach at her sect's Sunday meetings.
And boy, was Rita unlucky with her men: mostly her husbands and boyfriends were producers or directors all eager to control her and shape her into the star they wanted her to be. Poor Rita.
Strangely, by coincidence, my latest tee-shirt from the British Museum arrived today, with its version of Hokusai's masterpiece. I'm hoping that wearing the shirt around the neighbourhood will make me more popular locally, but we'll have to see. I can't wear it yet, because like all the online goods we buy, it has to stay "in quarantine" for 24 hours on the floor of our entrance hall before I can open it, just to be on the safe side haha!
Episode synopsis: Brittas tells Laura that he is going to sack Colin due to Colin's ineptitude. Colin arrives having been blinded in an accident. His great aunt - who raised him after his parents died - has died, and all of his money has been stolen by a man who has recently fled to Rio de Janeiro. The toilets are leaking gallons of human excrement; after Colin identifies and solves the problem, Brittas decides against firing him. Helen does not want to leave for Brittas' new job in Brussels.
flashback to August: Lois and I inspect the
Royal Oak pub in the village
And I've been a naughty boy, because this morning I didn't finish doing my blog for yesterday, so I try to polish that off. Just for my own personal records and for completeness, I need to put in a bit about what we watched on TV last night - a documentary about Rita Hayworth, so I have to try and remember that programme as best I can and put the main points into yesterday's blog entry.
a "typical man" trying to remember something about the Rita Hayworth programme
Who is the man in the above picture desperately trying to remember something about that Rita Hayworth documentary? Well, you see, it doesn't really matter, because, as Rita herself famously said in "Miss Sadie Thompson" (1953), "You men, you're all alike!"
Rita Hayworth summing up "typical men" - oh dear!
19:00 After dinner Lois and I relax on the sofa and listen to the radio, an interesting 15-minute programme about Hokusai's famous "Great Wave" painting.
The Hokusai pundit on this radio show all seem agreed that although the picture, dating from 1830, seems to be a relic of the old, seemingly unchanging, isolationist Japan, the wave also has a threatening quality that could be said to be reflecting Japan's increasing nervousness about encroachments by the Western powers.
They were right to be apprehensive, because Hokusai's painting was completely just about 20 years before Cdr Perry of the US Navy, in a textbook example of gunboat diplomacy, appeared in Tokyo Bay in 1853, and made his now-famous demands for the country to open up to world trade.
Fascinating stuff !!!!
20:00 Lois disappears into the dining-room to take part in her sect's weekly Bible Class. I settle down on the sofa and watch an old episode of he 1990's sitcom "The Brittas Empire", which revolves around the life of the Whitbury Newtown Sports and Leisure Centre, and its uncharismatic manager, Gordon Brittas.
Another exciting episode, with the Whitbury Sports and Leisure Centre being again paralyzed by renewed mayhem and chaos.
Manager Gordon Brittas is preparing to fire Colin, his inept deputy: he calls him "the dead pigeon in the jet turbines of the centre's management".
However Gordon has to halt his plans when Colin arrives for work having been blinded by an accident: his organic vegetable garden had blown up in Colin's face - it was discovered that it had been "built on 70 feet of toxic waste dating back to the 1950's".
Deputy manager Colin reports for work as usual, despite
having been blinded in a toxic waste accident
The useless but conscientious Colin insists that he is fit enough to carry out his work as he would normally, but manager Gordon and deputy manager (dry) Laura begin to have their doubts later, when Colin enters Brittas's office, having mistaken it for the men's toilets.
later, Colin enters Brittas's office again, apparently
having mistaken it for the men's toilets
Doubts about Colin's fitness for work are only multiplied when it's later discovered that, despite his blindness, he's still trying to do his usual work as stand-in lifeguard at the swimming pool. A child gets into difficulties in the water, but Colin only makes things worse by trying to use his telescopic "reach pole" unskilfully, knocking several swimmers and staff unconscious in the process.
a child gets into difficulties in the water, but stand-in lifeguard Colin, because of
his blindness, uses his reach pole unskilfully knocking many visitors and staff unconscious
The remaining uninjured staff then have to cope as best they can with evacuating the injured. Oh dear!
the injured visitors and staff are eventually taken off to hospital
The Leisure Centre's other major problem tonight is the toilets, which all have to be closed after it's discovered they've been leaking gallons of human excrement.
the Leisure Centre's toilets have to be closed
after leaking gallons of human excrement
In a way this is quite a fortunate occurrence, because Colin is able to show his true worth by correctly diagnosing the fault: he finds out that the toilets' "R17 solids exclusion valve" has been installed back to front.
Deputy Manager Colin explains that he's diagnosed the simple reason why
the toilets have been leaking gallons of human excrement -
the R17 solids exclusion valve has been installed back to front
Colin's diagnosis makes him the hero of the day, and saves him from being fired, which is nice. I'm sure that the show's viewers would be really disappointed if Colin were fired - I sense that he's one of the show's less unpopular characters, which is nice!
Unfortunately, even with Colin's job apparently now safe, There's still a current of anxiety around in the Leisure Centre - will manager Gordon Brittas be tempted to take a job in Brussels in the European Commission, in charge of policy for leisure facilities Europe-wide?
His wife, the emotionally fragile Helen, is alarmed - she doesn't want to move to Brussels, and she reacts initially by turning to her usual palliative - alcohol.
Mamager Gordon's wife Helen (left) seeks solace in the bottle
after Gordon becomes interested in becoming the EU's "Commissioner for Leisure"
Helen has also embarked on a "sex strike" with Gordon, but she doesn't think he's noticed. A sex strike is a risky weapon for a woman, if, like Helen, she's far more highly sexed than her husband, to put it mildly.
She changes her mind about the move to Brussels, however, when she remembers that Brussels is close to Amsterdam, where police have a "more enlightened" attitude to "uppers" and other stimulants. So she calls off her sex strike, when she next visits Gordon in his office.
So now wife Helen is pretty much "on board" with a possible move to Brussels, if Gordon gets the job.
And, as deputy manager Laura tells Helen, the European Commission is all about launching initiatives, making rules, preparing reports, defining theories. The work has nothing to do with real life or real people, both of which are, of course, Gordon's weak points. So at long last, perhaps Gordon could become "a square peg in a square hole". Let's hope so, anyway!
Things are starting to come together it seems, at the end of this rather dark episode, which is nice.
And as the icing on the cake - Colin recovers his sight after hearing that Gordon's been forced to "promote" him to "Manager in charge of Building Fabric", with an immediate 0.25% increase in pay.
Colin recovers his sight after hearing that he's been promoted
All in all this is a really "feel good" ending tonight, no doubt about that!
21:00 Lois emerges from her zoom session and we wind down with an old episode of "After Henry" before turning in early to bed.
21:30 Zzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!
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