Just how hot is the weekend's forecast mini-heatwave going to be in Cheltenham?
Well, anxious to find out, I look on the Met Office forecast this morning and it gives a high of 96F (35.5C) on Tuesday, although that's 4 degrees down on the forecast of 100F (38C) that the BBC is giving out to my smartphone as Lois and I lie discussing the odds in bed this morning.
You do the maths! [I think you already have! - Ed]
Later in the morning, however, Steve, our American brother-in-law sends us a further shock headline from the Guardian - England's first ever "red alert", but with Steve's reassuringly sceptical commentary.
a typical building surveyor at work
Who knew that "pass ag" is slang for "passive aggressive", as I find out later when I google it ?
Steve highlights some key phrases from the report, but includes his own "spin" on the wording:
Phew, maybe not such a scorcher after all, then!
11:00 We're going through a really dry spell at the moment, anyway, that's for sure. And this isn't very good for Lois's fruit and veg, not to mention her flowers, so we spend the morning setting up the garden hose and filling our 3 water butts with water.
It's summer madness, I tell you!
13:00 Lois and I are hoping to move house in the next couple of months, to Malvern, which is 25 miles away. Unfortunately this week, Jonathan, the building surveyor whom we engaged to check over the house we've got our eye on, sent us a report which seems to highlight a large number of defects. Damn!
We've been trying to speak to Jonathan over the phone, and yesterday he told us he would be able to ring us "around midday". To me "around midday" means "approximately 12:00 noon", but I guess you could say it's a little ambiguous.
I wait on the sofa for his call, with a copy of Jonathan's report on my lap, but by 12:55 pm he still hasn't rung, and by this time I need the loo, but I reckon I'll only be gone for 2 minutes [Too much information, Colin! - Ed]. Of course Jonathan chooses precisely those 2 minutes in which to call, but a few minutes later I ring him back and we have a useful chat.
However, Lois and I are still not sure whether having to tolerate the repair work that he calls "urgent" is going to make our lives a misery after we move in. Or will they just be fairly quick things, that we'll hardly notice?
I wish we could be told haha!!! Anyway Lois and I have the weekend now to discuss it between each other and also with our daughters Alison and Sarah, who may have their own views. So we'll see.
13:30 We drive over to Malvern to see "our house" again, but also to take photos of a house that our daughter Sarah is interested in. For about 6 years she's been living in Perth, Australia, with Francis and their 8-year-old twins Lily and Jessica, but the family is now interested in moving back to the UK, and Malvern is the area they would like to settle in. Sarah has been promised her old job back at the Evesham accountancy firm where she was working till 2015.
This is the little street, across the road behind Lois, where the house stands that Sarah and Francis are interested in:
the little cul-de-sac behind Lois is the one with the house that Sarah
and Francis are interested in (its the second on the left)
and just as you come back to the main road,
you get a lovely view of part of the Malvern Hills - at the north end,
which is nice
16:00 We settle down on the couch with a cup of tea and a Magnum ice cream, plus the puzzle pages from next week's Radio Times.
We pretty much strike out again on Popmaster: only 3 out of 10:
But we do better generally on Eggheads: 7 out of 10, although I kick myself for getting the length of the Hebrew alphabet wrong. The shame!!!
20:00 We wind down with a bit of "telly", the fourth episode of "Avoidance", a new series all about a useless single dad, Jonathan, who has no backbone, and avoids all difficult or awkward conversations, decisions and conflicts.
At last! A personality I can identify with haha!!!!
Yes, Jonathan, the useless single dad, is again very much "on the outside looking in" in this particular episode. He's split up with his ex, Claire, but the two share their parental duties; some nights little Spencer is staying with his dad, and some nights he's staying with his mum.
However Claire is maybe starting to think about getting "back out there" on the dating scene - and Jonathan is worried that sooner or later he's going to be supplanted and upstaged by little Spencer's possible "new dad", whoever that turns out to be.
And tonight we see an amusing dream sequence where Jonathan imagines Claire's new man Steve as a handsome, athletic and sporty type who's completely won over little Spencer's affection.
Poor Jonathan !!!!!!!
After splitting up with Claire, Jonathan has gone to live with his sister Danielle ("Dan") and her lesbian partner Courtney. So again Jonathan is the outsider, particularly tonight when the two women have arranged to have a "date night" at their flat - Jonathan is supposed to be keeping out of the way.
In the end Jonathan manages to ruin both Claire's evening with new man Steve, and Danielle and Courtney's "date night" by repeatedly calling in on both couples on feeble pretexts, killing any chance of a romantic "mood" developing at either flat.
Embarrassing !!!!!!
And by the way, is it true that, with same-sex couples, there's always a "husband" and a "wife"?
I notice that on Danielle and Courtney's "date night" at their flat, Danielle has agreed to prepare the main course, a delicious curry. And Courtney has agreed to do the dessert.
Judging by that exchange I'm assuming that Danielle (left) is the "wife", and Courtney (right) is the "husband". I don't know for sure whether that's true, however. Perhaps, maybe, we should be told? [Find out for yourself, you lazy bugger! - Ed]
At the end of the day, I'm pleased that I've watched this episode because I learn a new bit of urban slang. There's a scene where Jonathan is asking Courtney's opinion about something, but she doesn't want to know.
Courtney: How much do you think I want to talk about this, out of ten?
Jonathan: I don't know.
Courtney: You're allowed fractions.
Jonathan: Why are you being like this?
[I think just about everybody knew that except you! Why don't you just go to bed - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!!
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