08:00 Lois and I linger in bed reading our phones. Lois has had an email from her cousin Stephen in Adelaide, saying that members of his family, and also a number of fellow church-members, have recently contracted COVID, something which surprised me. Adelaide until now has been relatively COVID-free.
I suppose it must be the wretched, eminently catchable Omicron variant that's causing the problem, but I'm not sure.
flashback to April 2016: Lois and I visit Stephen and his wife Diane
in Adelaide - (left to right) Lois, me, Diane, and Stephen.
Behind, in the far distance, is the Southern Ocean
Stephen is unfortunate enough to have suffered from Parkinsons Disease for a couple of years now, and he says that, as part of his ongoing treatment, he has to have an annual test for dementia, which he's glad to say he's "failed" again, that's to say, he is officially "certified" as not having got dementia. And he has a piece of paper to say this, which he can now show to anyone who questions his compos-mentis, which must be nice!
I wonder if Lois and I could get one of these from our GP in the UK? We remember that on the Big Bang Theory sitcom, people were often calling Sheldon crazy, to which he would reply that he definitely wasn't crazy - his mother had had him tested.
However I don't recall anybody asking Sheldon for documentation about his test, so I guess people just trusted his word, which was nice!
But tremendous fun haha !!!!!
Lois says, however, that it's the Djokovic story that's still dominating the headlines in Australia. And it's also the big story in Serbia, where there's little talk of anything else, apparently. Lois says.
Lois says that the Serbs are particularly anxious about this issue. They feel they've been a pariah nation in Europe for so many years, and that Djokovic has at least succeeded in making Serbia into a more "respectable" country in the eyes of the rest of the world. Now, however, all that work is in jeopardy, they think.
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!!
I have to say that Lois and I are hoping that Djokovic gets kicked out of the country. He shouldn't be given special treatment over and above what ordinary Aussies have to face - that's our view, call us crazy if you want haha!
09:00 We dive into the bathroom for our twice-weekly shower, and then go out for a walk on the local football field - another Monday routine.
It's freezing cold and drizzling when we start off, but we're in luck: the drizzle gradually eases off.
It's really muddy underfoot by three of the four available benches, though, so for the first time we try out the shiny new so-called "Councillor Payne" bench, donated by County Councillor John Payne and his wife. The bench is inscribed with one of Cllr Payne's catchphrases, "We do not remember days, we remember moments", which is rather sweet.
I reserve a place on the shiny new so-called "Cllr Payne" bench,
while Lois gets 2 orange-flavoured hot chocolates
and a lemon tart from the Whiskers Coffee Stand
we get ready to share a lemon tart
11:45 As we leave the park we see the Old Codgers turning up for their soccer practice in the netball court, which is nice to see. They're determined not to give up, we notice, despite their advanced age.
as we exit the park, we see the Old Codgers doing their
weekly Monday soccer practice in the netball court, which is uplifting.
Go Old Codgers haha !!!!!
15:00 After lunch and a nap we settle down on the couch for a cup of Extra-strong Earl Grey and a fruit scone each.
I look at my smartphone, and I'm pleased to see that popular pundit Thomas Wier, speaking from Tbilisi, has been putting his two penn'orth in on the quora forum website, regarding the current hot topic of "When and where did [our linguistic ancestors] the Proto-Indo-Europeans [first] come into contact with [speakers of] the Semitic languages [of the Middle East] ???"
Wier, with his trademark directness, wades straight in with a bold statement that the Proto-Indo-Europeans and the Proto-Semites had probably been in contact with each other since long before their languages or any other languages were written down, as you might expect - people on the steppes and in the Balkans have always been incorrigibly friendly, just as they are today, inviting each other round for primitive drinks and nibbles, so that's what you'd expect, isn't it!
However, the first identifiable contact would have been when the Hittites happened to meet the Akkadians one day in what is now modern-day Turkey. And the result of the meeting was that the Hittite language, and, later, all the European languages incorporate a smattering of Akkadian words that the Hittites liked the look of, and decided to borrow: no fee was payable for word-borrowing in those far-off days, which was a blessed relief, especially for the harder-up tribes.
Some of these words, borrowed into Proto-Indo-European languages from Proto-Semitic, are still around in English today, what's more.
Fascinating stuff! [If you say so! - Ed]
17:00 Lois tells me that an enormous 33 foot (10m) fossilized ichthyosaur has been found in Rutland Water reservoir this year. It's one of the largest fossilized creatures ever found in the British Isles.
This extraordinary find, Lois says, is due to be featured tomorrow night in the next programme in Alice Roberts's series "Digging for Britain", a series which gives a review, region by region, of the principal archaeological discoveries that have been made in the last 12 months: tomorrow's episode covers finds from the Midlands.
Lois and I visited Rutland Water in 2016, as part of the celebrations for my 70th birthday. What I want to know is, how could we possibly have missed this enormous fossil?
flashback to 2016: Lois and I visit Rutland Water reservoir,
as part of the celebrations for my 70th birthday,
but unaccountably we somehow "miss" this enormous fossil - oh dear!
I've looked at these archive pictures of ours from 2016 with a magnifying glass, and, do you know, I still can't see any signs of that 33 foot fossil.
What madness !!!!! Unfortunately it means I don't think either of us can really be cut out to be an archaeologist, that's for sure!!!!
Mine and Lois's eyes will be glued to the TV tomorrow night, though, that's for sure !!!!!
20:00 We watch TV, an interesting documentary about male ballet dancers at the Royal Ballet - do they still suffer prejudice from society at large?
Do they still suffer prejudice, especially as young boys taking ballet up? Well, yes, it seems, they do, but it's not as bad as it once was.
The programme starts, however, with a long sequence about what male ballet dancers wear at the crotch, which I personally could have done without.
There's a bit too much information here, but I'm going to let that one slide, because I suppose it's all part of life's rich pageant. Oh dear!
Lois and I didn't know that a couple of years ago maybe, American TV presenter Lara Spencer had to make this on-air apology:
"I screwed up. I did. The comment I made about dance was insensitive. It was stupid. And I am deeply sorry. I've spoken with several members of the dance community over the past few days. I have listened. I have learned about the bravery it takes for a young boy to pursue a career in dance."
What was all the fuss about? Well, Lara had allegedly "ridiculed" Prince George for taking ballet lessons.
There must have been a big reaction to her comments in certain quarters, because later a whole bunch of dancers demonstrated their displeasure at Lara by giving a performance in Times Square.
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!!
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