Saturday January 29th 2022

07:00 Lois and I wake up (how lucky is that haha!). The weather's being really weird at the moment. Yesterday morning started off a freezing (32F or 0C), and the through Friday the temperature kept climbing all day and into the night, so that when we woke up and I look at my phone, I see it's already up to 50F (10C). 

What madness for the end of January - what a crazy planet we live on !!!!

Still, it'll be nice for the racing fans this afternoon - there's a one-day racing day today at the local racecourse.

flashback to yesterday - whilst on our walk, Lois and I

come across some temporary road-signs that have been put up

to direct the traffic for today's race meeting

08:00 According to the rulebook it's Lois's turn to get out of bed and bring us up 2 cups of tea, but I let that one slide today because of her bad back, which started being a problem yesterday - I'm all heart haha (again) !!!!

09:00 We just about manage to get ready for our 9 am weekly zoom call with Sarah, our daughter who lives in Perth, Australia with Francis and their 8-year-old twins Lily and Jessica.

we start our weekly zoom call with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia

The twins are due to start back at school next week after their 2 month summer break, so Sarah has been busy stocking up with stationery items on the "Back To School" aisle at the Officeworks store, Joondalup, and then queuing for the checkouts behind dozens of other harassed parents. 

What madness !!!!

The Officeworks superstore off Shenton Ave, Joondalup

Officeworks' much-vaunted "price promise" to parents - 

"we'll beat it by 20%",they say !!

We're lucky in the UK in that school stationery is provided free for children in all state schools, but I remember that when Lois and I lived in the US 1982-1985 we had to buy all our two daughters' stationery items in supermarkets, just like Sarah is having to do now.

It's a pity that Sarah has all this extra work just at the moment. She and Francis attended a Burns Night "ceilidh" a few days ago, and "there was dancing", although Sarah tried not to do it too uninhibitedly. Unfortunately, however, it all seems, anyway, to have reignited her intermittent leg and foot problems, at least for the moment.

a typical Burns Night ceilidh in Australia: 120.000 Australians

were born in Scotland, and 2 million claim Scottish ancestry

the Western Australia Police Pipe Band, 

performing at the Highland Games in Scotland

Meanwhile pandemic worries linger on. The state's Prime Minister, Mark McGowan has postponed, until further notice, his plan to open up the state borders, but there is heightened awareness of the risk of infection in the state, even though the numbers of actual infections are really small compared to the rest of the world.

Sarah and Francis occasionally wear masks now, when they go out, but this has only excited the interest of their 8-year-old twins all the more, and Lily asked this week if she and Jessica can "be allowed to wear a mask too". How cute they are !!!!

McGowan's decision to keep the state borders closed has general approval locally, Sarah says, although not in the travel industry. Apparently 80,000 people booked travel to the state when they thought the borders would be opening up next month, that is, people wanting to travel to WA either from other states or from abroad. All those trips have now had to be cancelled. So there are complaints from that sector, and the complainers always shout the loudest, Sarah says. 

Ordinary people, however, are all behind McGowan. Sarah says that he's the only state premier who's spoken up on behalf of the old and the vulnerable, and underlined how important it is to protect them. He sounds like my kind of premier!

State premier Mark McGowan stands firm against the tourist industry's

calls to open up the state borders

Hail to thee, Mark McGowan! You kept us out of war haha!!!!

14:00 This afternoon is scheduled to be our second "afternoon of self-indulgence" of the week, ie the usual pattern of shower followed by a nap in bed, not getting up till 5 pm. We go through with it as scheduled, although it's not quite so enjoyable as usual for Lois, because of her back problems. 

Poor Lois!!!!

20:00 We watch the last programme in this year's series of "Winterwatch", which monitors wildlife in the UK with the help of a team of live presenters and a network of hidden cameras.

What about Storm Malik, then? Well, it has been a bit breezy here in Cheltenham, but nothing to write home about. But that's not the case further north, to put it mildly.

YIKES !!!!!

Well, as you can see from the map, Scotland has got hit pretty badly, and on Winterwatch tonight, it's reported that, during Storm Malik, a sweet little loggerhead turtle got washed ashore on the island of Iona in the west of Scotland, where it was found by Jane, one of the programme's local viewers.

The poor little creature must have been really puzzled to find itself in Scotland, because loggerhead turtles aren't normally found north of the Canaries, and their most familiar habitat is the Caribbean. Yikes !!!!!

Jane, the Winterwatch viewer who found the stranded turtle, then phoned the British Divers Marine Life Rescue Service, and they had the turtle taken to the aquarium on the island of Mull, where it was examined. It was then put on the ferry to Oban and then on to the Sea Life Loch Lomond Aquarium on the mainland.

the further adventures of the 15 inch loggerhead turtle:

Iona to Oban to Loch Lomond - poor loggerhead turtle !!!!

Now scientists are trying to warm the turtle up gently - do it too quickly and it could die of shock. I think it's the same with Lois and me - we need careful handling too when you're trying to warm us up haha!

Awwwww!! How cute is that!!!!!

Stranding of this species do happen up here from time to time off the coast of Scotland. The earliest record of such an event is from 1748 - my god!!! 

presenter Iolo Williams explains the historic significance of the stranding

However, this particular turtle, at 15 inches long (38cm), is the smallest ever found in UK waters. If it survives, the plan is to airlift it down to the Canary Islands, and release it there where it belongs. Awwww!!!!!

When I hear this, I start to worry about whether the removal of the turtle by air to the Canaries will need Boris's signature, and will that in turn lead to further calls for him to resign? I don't know, but perhaps we should be told? Lois says she'd like to be airlifted to the Canaries, and who could blame her haha!!!

It's nice, however, that the series ends on a heart-warming "reptile interest" story. And Lois and I can go to bed feeling at peace with the world, which is nice!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!