I scan the local news for Cheltenham - Lois and I moved away from the town 3 months ago after 50 years to settle in Malvern, which is 25 miles to the north-west. And one of the big changes this means for us is that we won't have to avoid Cheltenham Racecourse during Gold Cup week in March.
That feels really weird - you can't imagine! We used to live only a mile away from the racecourse, and so on days when there were race meetings, we had to plan our journeys and journey times really carefully - whether just commuting to work or travel for shopping or for pure unadulterated pleasure (our favourite reason) - so as not to get snarled up in traffic jams.
Now none of that really matters any more, which is liberating. Also we won't need to worry about what to wear if we want to "blend in" with all the visiting trendy people, which is nice! But on the other hand, finally it's too late for me to swagger round in my Peaky Blinders overcoat and cap - so some regrets there too haha!
flashback to March 2022: me in my "Peaky Blinders" jacket and cap
"Colin Tried Hard, but no cigar!" - Rachel Thompson of Humes Outfitters
10:30 It's damp and drizzly so Lois and I go for a walk on the common and we finish up - surprise, surprise - at Poolbrook Kitchen and Coffee Shop.
I disgrace myself again by ordering a huge slice of coffee and walnut cake. The worst thing is that I think I bequeathed my fascination for cake to our grandson Isaac. He's 12 now, but when he was an under 5 he used to shout "Cake!", Father Jack-style, whenever he was being wheeled around a supermarket in a shopping trolley, which was embarrassing to all the people who ever pushed him up and down the cake aisle.
It's cake madness, I tell you!
13:00 Amazon delivers a package containing 32 sympathy cards. It's my fault - 'twas I who ordered them. We realised we were out of them, and in order to get free shipping from Amazon by spending more than £20, I bumped up the quantity to 32 cards.
I know that Lois and I are sadly at the age when we tend to have to send messages of consolation to our bereaved friends and relatives quite regularly. However, to appear to expect 32 such occasions in the foreseeable future seems overly pessimistic, on reflection. I gues it's just another example of stockpiling, like we did with so many things 2 years ago, at the start of the pandemic and lockdowns etc.
This is real madness all right!
14:00 Before afternoon nap time, Lois hangs some pictures in our bedroom to take advantage of the recently painted picture rail. What a difference! The room looks so much more human now, we think!
These are all pictures that mean something to one or other of us, or to both of us after our 3-year courtship and 50-year marriage.
Leftmost is my Great Aunt Maggie's 100-year-old painting of Ogmore Castle and Stepping Stones, Glamorgan, the area where my mother was brought up. Then there's a winter scene painted by Lois's Uncle Horace, the Cotswold painter. Then there's a picture of St Ives, Cornwall, our favourite seaside resort. I forget what the fourth picture is - it might be France somewhere. The fifth is a picture of a tobacco barn, a souvenir of our 3 years in the US 1982-85.
20:00 Lois disappears into the kitchen to take part in her church's weekly Bible Class on zoom. We now keep our speakers downstairs, and just bring the laptop itself down when it needs to be used with the speakers - less faffing around carrying trailing wires etc. Which is nice!
21:15 When Lois emerges we try out an ex-Dave-Channel-but-new-to-BBC sitcom, "Sliced", about a couple of pizza-delivery-guys.
It's actually quite funny, and it's also good for mine and Lois's language skills, because all the characters speak in "urban", which we need to develop a better mastery of, to put it mildly!
In this episode a pretty girl called Naomi arrives to try and get a job with sleazy Pizza Parlour boss Mario. And when Mario sees Naomi, he instantly turns on the charm.
Mario invites Naomi to relax and take a seat, but she quickly notices that Mario is on the only chair.
I don't think Lois and I will be watching this series long-term, however, mainly because of over-use of the F-word. Yes, too much "effing and blinding". We don't mind the occasional bit of "effing" but when it's in almost every sentence it gets a bit tiresome, to put it mildly. But we'll see!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!
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