Danskcolin: Monday July 11th 2022

07:30 Lois and I are planning to sell this house and buy a slightly smaller one in Malvern, which will mean a bit of downsizing on our part. Last week our buildings surveyor took a look at the house we want to buy, and he emails us to say he'll be emailing the full report to us later today, which will be nice.

A lot of the day we spend looking through drawers and cupboards, deciding what things we can throw out, but it isn't easy. I've got all the "old clothes" - jeans and sweaters - that I tell people that I wear "when I'm doing DIY or painting", except that I don't do any DIY or painting. So that's an easy call haha !!!!

I start to pile up some old jeans and sweaters, the ones I officially

keep "for my painting work and DIY work", you know,

all the jobs I don't actually do haha!!!

But should I hang on to these old relics, "just in case"?

I think I should be told!

But ah the memories! As I hunt for more and more pairs of "DIY jeans", I come across one of my 3 stashes of toilet rolls. Do you remember those crazy days, when the initial shortage of toilet rolls seemed to ease a bit, and you found out that you could actually bulk-buy them online on Amazon.

Oh joy!!!!

one of my 3 pandemic-period stashes of emergency toilet rolls -

ah the memories !!!!!

09:30 It's going to be really "hot" today, in UK terms. with a high of 84F / 29C.

Phew - what a scorcher! So Lois and I decide to take our usual walk round the football field, but leave here early to avoid the higher temperatures. It'll mean that we won't see the Old Codgers geriatric soccer team doing their practice in the netball court, because that doesn't start till 12 noon. On the plus side, however, we won't have to risk witnessing any medical emergencies. No doubt the County Air Ambulance will be on red alert during the session, as always.

the County Air Ambulance

the air ambulance app in operation - such a relief!!!

And it's nice this morning to see that the local football field is back to its normal quiet self, after all the excitement of Saturday, when it played host to the Parish Festival.

It's nice this morning to see the local football field back to its

normal quiet and deserted self, after all the excitement of Saturday's "Parish Festival".

Today only the 16 dark green "portaloos" remain to evoke memories of the fun of the day before yesterday - sob, sob!!!!

flashback to Saturday: the local football field in happier times,

during the Parish Festival

And today there's just a chalk circle in the middle of the field, where, on Saturday the belly-dancers were giving their all before an excited crowd:

today there's just a bare chalk circle in the grass....

...the circle where, on Saturday, the local belly-dancers were doing their show

We stop at the Pavilion by the Parish Council offices, and we get a "frappucino" cold coffee drink and a fruit drink from Eva, the Polish girl who serves there. It's too hot this morning to sit and drink on the open-air benches, so we seek respite from the sun in the cool of the shelter that the young people of the parish use in the evenings to smoke or snog in.

we buy a fruit drink and a "frappucino"

from Eva, the Polish girl who serves at the Whiskers Coffee Stand

12:00 We have lunch on the patio, which is pleasant in the shade, but slightly ruined by the noise of Nikki next door's patio being broken up to make way for the new extension she's having built at the back of the house. Oh dear! After a few minutes the noise stops, however. I guess the guys want their lunch too - they're only human haha!

we have lunch in the shade on the patio behind the house

meanwhile the builders next door at Nikki's are busy

breaking up her patio and putting the rubble in her front garden

- what madness !!!!!

12:30 Steve, our American brother-in-law, sends us another amusing Venn diagram from the series he monitors each week on the web.

Yes, we've all moved on from Tony Blair - that's for sure. Certainly the Queen has - remember that awkward moment, at the dawn of the new millennium, when, in a total breach of protocol, Tony seized her hand?

Poor Liz !!!!!!

And when Tony went (finally), he left in his own car, so there was no risk of his "Uber" getting cancelled, which was probably for the best, in hindsight!

Poor Tony haha !!!!!!

flashback to May 2007: Tony Blair leaves No. 10 after 10 years

Poor Tony haha !!!!!! [You've done that one once already! - Ed]

16:00 Tea and Victoria Sponge cake on the patio, and a phone call with Alison, our elder daughter, who lives in Headley, Hampshire with Ed and their 3 children Josie (15), Rosalind (14) and Isaac (11).

Isaac's busy with the final rehearsal for his school's summer musical, "Shrek", for which the performances start tomorrow and go on for the following 3 days.

flashback to February: Isaac, with sister Josie and mother Alison

Isaac's got a singing role too - he plays "Baby Bear", but he is also taking subsidiary parts as "Knight #3" and "Guard #7", or something like that. This is a lucky break for Isaac, because it means he only has to wear partial "bear make-up", i.e. big eyebrows and just little bits of brown on this face. His stage "parents" - Mummy and Daddy Bear, have to wear full "brownface", which is a bit annoying for them, I would imagine putting it on beforehand and taking it off afterwards, for each of the five performances.

typical "Baby Bear" costumes for Shrek the Musical

But what a crazy world we live in !!!!!!

20:00 By coincidence, when Lois and I sit down to watch TV, there's a story about another young boy - younger than Isaac, who wants to be in a school musical: this time it's "Cats". What are the chances of that happening, eh?

The series is called "Avoidance", all about a useless single dad, Jonathan, who has no backbone, and avoids all difficult or awkward conversations, decisions and conflicts.

At last! Somebody I can identify with haha!!!!

It's episode 3, and unfortunately we missed the first two episodes, so we have to look back online to get the storyline.

Yes, and in tonight's episode, Jonathan becomes worried when he finds out that his son Spencer wants to appear in the school musical performance of "Cats". Jonathan's worried about this simply because he himself appeared in a school musical in his childhood, and he got mercilessly bullied by his schoolmates as a result.

Jonathan first hears about young Spencer's theatrical ambitions from Claire, his sarcastic ex.

Later Jonathan gets the chance to question little Spencer about his feelings about the audition. Spencer says that yes, he's worried but it's something he really wants to do.

And his dad tells him, "Do you know what? You're right, mate. You are absolutely right. You should never let your friends press you into being something other than what you are. So I want you to go into that audition, I want to ignore anyone who doubts you, and I want you to be the best ruddy cat that anyone's ever seen!".

Lois and I get a definite feeling of warmth and excitement at this point - little Spencer's going to be just fantastic in Cats, isn't he!

Well no. It turns out that he fails the audition, and when, later, he does an impromptu performance at home for his dad, his aunt and his aunt's wife, they have to face facts.

At this point, little Spencer and Courtney go off to "de-cat", and Jonathan and his sister Danielle get the chance to critique Spencer's performance after he's out of earshot.