Not much of a day really - in the morning, Lois and I were supposed to go for a walk and also look at the options for our "brand-new house" that we've signed up to buy at Malvern, Worcestershire.
But all these plans fly out of the window when we discover that we're out of cake and potato salad, so we drive along to Applegarths Farm to stock up. Later I showcase our chosen cake - it's chocolate - for the cameras:
We buy a ton of cake and potato salad at Applegarth's Farm.
Later I showcase for the cameras one of the cakes we bought
[How many cameras have you got there? - Ed]
Soon after 8 am this morning - when Lois and I were still in bed - a lorry delivered a bunch of long thick wooden planks. We were a bit concerned that the planks would fall on our car which was parked just a few feet away, and there were a few nervous moments as we watched the mayhem from our bed. However it all ended happily, and later in the day we could see that the builders had started building a little "extra bit" on the end of the car-port to take Ed's ride-on lawn-mower, which seems like a good idea.
We watch from our bed as Alison and Ed's builders deliver a ton
of long thick wooden planks narrowly missing our car,
which was parked just a few feet away - what madness !!!!
there are dozens of choices to make, just about our bedroom
- what madness !!!!!
One choice is broadband speed, something we don't really have much of a clue about. We go for one of the middle options, labelled "Faster" - "faster" sounds good, doesn't it, although it begs the question, "Faster than what?"
I must ask our 9-year-old grandchildren in Australia this question - they've been studying comparatives and superlatives with their teacher Mr Black this week. They'll know the answer haha!
As for the other choices, we're going to wait until we start to get our head around the concept that we're going to be the first people to ever live in this house. Before this the newest house we've ever bought in the past was already 50 years old - my god! After we scribble down a few more notes, just as a token, we go out for the walk we were meant to do this morning.
Yikes !!!!!
our hastily scribbled notes - but I suspect
we'll have to start again from scratch when we next sit down to
make all the choices. My god !!!!!
17:30 The builders have all gone home now, so I go out and check on their work to build Ed a lawn-mower port. They've made good progress today, no doubt about that, using the planks of wood that arrived this morning.
the builders have all gone home now, so I creep out
to showcase for the cameras the progress that they've made today
Little Otto, one of Ali and Ed's cats comes
to join us on the sofa, which is nice
One of the drawbacks to staying at Ali and Ed's house, whether it's pet-sitting or whatever, is that there's no feed of live TV - they seem to watch everything off the internet, which is a pity. It started when they lived in Denmark 2012-2018.
This week Lois and I have taken to sometimes watching videos of old pop music compilations on YouTube, and there's one that's a favourite of ours, "Second most popular song for every month of the 1960's" or some-such nonsense. And so many of these songs one or both of us associate with momentous things that were happening in our lives.
When you think about it, what momentous times the 1960's were for both and us, when you think Lois and I were both just 13 when it started, and getting those "feelings" - you know what I mean: Lois was in Oxford, and I was up in Manchester, and when the decade finished we were both 23 and had just hooked up with each other for the first time.
flashback to 1960 in Sale, south of Manchester: me (left), 13,
my brother Steve (7), and my sisters Kathy (12) and Jill (18 months)
flashback to 1970: there's me, the geeky post-grad student,
and Lois in her mini-skirt, handbag in hand, - in Buxton, Derbyshire
Those years eh, my god!!! All the most meaningful and game-changing times and experiences - my god (again) !!!!!!
Do you remember dear old Val Doonican, singing about "The Special Years" (1965) ? [I don't think anybody remembers that except you, Colin! - Ed]
Val Doonican's "The Special Years" - sheet music
My god! All the memories come flooding back when we see these old pop videos and hear the songs. What a madness it all is !!!!!
21:00 Eventually we calm down with an old episode of the sitcom Miranda from 2010.
Yes, Miranda is feeling a bit depressed, because love-of-her-life restaurant chef Gary has gone off to Hong Kong to manage his friend's restaurant there - that was in the days before the awful Chinese government started its clampdown, of course.
Yes, it's oh so different in Hong Kong now, isn't it. But remember, it's only 40 years since Maggie was there, riding at the front of a double-decker tram with husband Denis.
flashback to 1982: British Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher, with husband Denis,
riding a double-decker tram through the streets of Hong Kong, when it was still civilised!
Happy days !!!!!!
22:00 We give the cats their supper and then we go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
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