07:00 An early cup of tea in bed for Lois and me, because we've got two inspectors coming this week, and one of them's coming today - the House Inspector, or "Crack Inspector" as Lois calls him, driving up from Bristol and due here at 9 am.
a typical "House Inspector", or "Crack Inspector" as Lois calls him
And it's Mouse Inspector coming for his second visit here on Thursday, and luckily "Our Mouse" is back, Lois reports, which in a funny sort of way is good news - we thought our mouse had gone away, but no, he's been active overnight!
And hopefully the mouse will be attracted by the carefully laid traps. What we don't want is for the mouse to stay away until the Mouse Inspector takes his traps away after the 3 weeks is up. Know what I mean haha!!!
a typical "mouse inspector" from the Borough Council
Pest Control Department
a typical "wise guy" mouse, checking his advent calendar
to find out when the Mouse Inspector will have gone away,
and the house is safe for mice again
09:30 The House Inspector arrives. He's 30 minutes late, due to accident on the M32 - well never mind!
Lois and I are as nervous as hell. Sometimes we lie in bed looking at the cracks in the bedroom walls and ceiling and imagine that we're suddenly going to disappear into a hole in the earth's crust, which perhaps may happen while we're asleep. Yikes !!!!!
a typical scene in our bed at 2:40 a.m.
What madness!!!
one of the cracks that we showcase for
the Crack Inspector
Luckily, after his visit, which includes a visit to our attic and an inspection of the house exterior, Crack Inspector says that our house is structurally sound, and that the cracks are due to normal "settlement", and not something to worry about for now. They're just something we need to monitor in case the cracks get bigger, e.g. start worrying if a crack is big enough to get your finger (or my finger) inside it. If they get that big, then there's a repair procedure that can and should be used. So that's a relief, to put it mildly.
20:00 Lois's sect's Monday zoom Bible Seminar is taking a break till the new year, so we both settle down on the couch and watch an interesting documentary on the life and career of film-star Jean Harlow.
An interesting study of yet another person who didn't really want to become a movie star, but who got spotted by some director or other, from Fox, when she was just keeping company with a girl friend who had arrived for an audtion, and the rest is history.
Harlow was earmarked for sexy roles from the get-go. In her first movie, a Laurel and Hardy short called "Double Whoopee" (1929) her dress gets ripped off by a car-door as she's climbing out of a taxi, aided by Laurel, and she appears not to notice when she walks into the hotel.
Jean Harlow's first screen role, in
a Laurel and Hardy short, "Double Whoopee" (1929)
And later, in "Wife vs. Secretary" (1936) playing opposite Jimmy Stewart, Stewart is said to have kept messing up takes of his long, lingering kiss-in-the-car with Harlow, apparently "accidentally on purpose", so that 12 takes proved necessary. Naughty Jimmy !!!!!
Stewart had to have
a long kiss with Harlow, but he kept messing the scene up -
12 takes proved necessary. Naughty Jimmy !!!!!!
This is a bit of a sad story overall. When Harlow was only 16, she caught scarlet fever at a summer camp, and she suffered from bad health thereafter, for the rest of her llife. She became really poorly during the filming of "Personal Property" (1937) and she died before filming finished, aged only 26.
The studio wanted to reshoot the entire film, but they were dissuaded by a public outcry - Harlow was such a popular star. So they kept her in it, and used body-doubles to play the remaining scenes, obscuring the body-double's face where possible with binoculars, hats, bad lighting or back views, all the tricks of the trade. What madness !!!!
Poor Jean !!!!!!!!
21:00 We watch this week's edition of one of our favourite TV quizzes, "Only Connect", which tests lateral thinking.
Apparently there is quite a fan club at intelligence agency GCHQ dedicated to presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell, and occasionally she appears to give a little nod to them. Or am I mistaken? I think I should be told!
This is from her unusually long-winded introductory spiel at the start of tonight's programme, photographed as the cameras zoom in on her.
Atta girl, Victoria. Just keep 'em coming!
Tremendous fun !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
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