05:30 I get up early and take yesterday's post out of "quarantine", so I can read next week's Radio Times, just in case anything good is coming on TV next week - that's the kind of wild and crazy guy I am haha!
I see a letter from a viewer printed on the "Letters Page", which is the right place for it, I believe. Somebody has picked up on the fact that a writer for the series "Peaky Blinders", which Lois and I don't watch, has made the mistake of assuming that because Italy was on the Germans' side in World War II, they must have been on the Germans' side in World War I.
I think we should be told about that too haha !!!!
08:00 I take a cup of tea up to Lois, who's still in bed. We have to be up early again today because Stephen, our friendly local handyman is coming again this morning to work on various projects to "smarten up" our house, and make it look "cared for", in case we decide to sell it this year, in order to downsize and to live nearer at least one of our daughters.
As it happens, Stephen doesn't arrive till after 10 am, but at least we've got ourselves going and been able to do a few household chores, which is nice.
11:00 Lois and I leave Stephen alone in the house while we go for our walk on the local football field. We trust him completely - we've known him and his parents since 1972, so there's no problem there.
Later today it's the big event in this week's racing at Cheltenham Racecourse - the Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase, so as we do our walk we see helicopter after helicopter flying over towards the racecourse.
The only problem is that they don't really show up all that well in photographs, but I do my best honestly!
as we do our walk, we see helicopter after helicopter pass between us
and Cleeve Hill, bringing spectators to the racecourse
We get 2 hot chocolates from the Polish girl at the Whiskers Coffee Stand, and we finish off the third of 3 milk chocolae cookies we bought from her a few days ago. We're eking them out because they're an absolute mass of calories - 500 calories each biscuit: my god - what madness !!!!!
we get a seat on the so-called "Buddy Bench" - the Polish
girl is the blonde girl standing behind us talking to a friend
we drink a hot chocolate and have half a Milk Chocolate Cookie each
- these cookies are 500 calories: what madness !!!!
12:00 We come home in time to see handyman Stephen go off - he'll be back again on Monday. He's made further progress with the new wood casing for our hot water tank, but he was held up by having to move a power socket that was in the way. There are always problems with these things, aren't there!!!
I inspect handyman Stephen's work after he leaves -
more progress, that's for sure, and he'll be back on Monday, which is nice
Pete was one of my 30 or so cousins, who live not only all over the UK, but also in Ireland, Australia and the US. And it's strange to see some of these far-away cousins in the little zoom sub-screens.
the above names are just part of my crazy family - including all the younger cousins
and also our "new" cousin, David, that we only found out about last
year after a DNA test: what a crazy crew we are !!!!
How weird, but once again zoom gives us the opportunity to see a lot of people we would otherwise never get to see, and to attend events we otherwise would never have been able to attend, so it's a very positive thing, the way I look at it.
We settle down to watch my cousin Pete's funeral on zoom.
At the same time, in front of us, out of the window, we can see the Gold Cup
race crowds making their way home, laughing and joking
- how surreal !!!!
Participants today include my cousin Susan (1948) in Colorado USA, and my cousin Hilary (1952) in Sydney, Australia.
some of today's many zoom participants, including Susan
in Colorado USA, and Hilary in Sydney, Australia
a preacher gives the eulogy...
...followed by my cousin Philip, who gives us some personal reminiscences:
Philip and Peter were born about 2 or 3 days apart and were
brought up only a few miles from each other
It's so odd that Lois and I are watching all this on our laptop while in front of us, out of the window, we can see the Gold Cup race crowds streaming home in the bright sunshine, laughing and joking, which seems a bit surreal for some reason.
One of the best bits of the service is when they show some great pictures of Pete, who was always the joker, in happier times, like these:
Pete, the cheeky little lad...
...Pete, the student, and ...
...Pete the family man, seen here with his wife Lynn and their daughters
Ruth and Ailsa, who were such friends with our own daughters
Alison and Sarah - they were pretty much the same age
flashback to August 2006: (left to right) Pete, my late mother,
and us, newly retired and on the verge of becoming grandparents:
in this photo, I'm seen clutching my mother's Polaroid camera, which is nice;
a genuine piece of 2006 nostalgia there!
tonight's Hellofresh meal-kit: Naked Cheeseburger with Caramelised Onion,
Sweet Potato Wedges and Salad - yum yum!
20:00 We settle down on the couch and watch a bit of TV, this week's programme in the reality TV series "Meet the Richardsons", starring married stand-up comics Jon Richardson and his wife Lucy Beaumont, and airing on the little-watched "Dave" TV channel.
In this series a reality TV camera-crew follow the couple around, filming their interactions with local people and neighbours, and most fascinating of all, their interactions with other celebrities. It's a real eye-opener, no doubt about that, and it's made us realize that the celebrity life isn't as glamorous and carefree as you might imagine - my god!!!
A running theme in the current season of programmes has been the search to identify another show-biz couple who are rumoured to be planning a copycat reality-TV show, but on a higher profile channel like ITV.
Prime suspects for this copycat couple at the moment are ITV "Masked Singer" presenter Joel Dommett and his wife Hannah.
In "The Masked Singer", a show that Lois and I don't watch, celebrities appear in disguised form to sing songs - we think it's something like that anyway, we're not 100% sure: oh dear, we're really falling behind in our grip on popular culture, no doubt about that!
It's easy to see why Joel and Hannah are prime suspects for the copycat couple. The evidence is pretty damning. They've already done one-off segments where a camera-crew have filmed them hanging out and engaging in marital banter on their sofa, just like we see Jon and Lucy do in "Meet the Richardsons":
Lois and I still suspect Joel, that's for sure. He's a much higher-profile star than Jon Richardson - he even does TV adverts for the Mini-Cooper, a range of small cars with a "funky" cachet, adverts in which he and Hannah showcase their unconventional "off-road" marriage and their whacky "off-road" lifestyle, something which Jon and Lucy are still a little bit jealous about, we sense.
an excerpt from one of Joel and Hannah's iconic
TV commercials for the Mini Cooper
So despite Joel's angry denials, the jury's still out on this one, as far as Lois and I are concerned. Perhaps more information will come out on next week's show - we hope so anyway. Our eyes will definitely be glued to the screen when the next episode airs, no doubt about that!
Fascinating stuff !!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!!
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