14:00 Not a very satisfactory day so far for me. I'm not happy with the dental work carried out on my teeth on Tuesday - it just doesn't feel comfortable, and I have asked my dentist to give me a call when he's free - nothing heard as yet!
Also it takes me an hour to pay our council tax bill for 2022-2023 online, and to find out how to pay our 2023-2024 bill in 12 monthly instalments by direct debit from our bank account. A couple of routine tasks like these just shouldn't take that sort of time to accomplish in the computer age should it. My goodness!
a typical resident trying to figure out how to pay a
council tax bill online - it's sheer madness !!!!
Three nice things happen today to compensate, however - firstly Lois and I have a little walk mid-morning, despite the rather grim weather outlook, to see how the builders are getting on with constructing the mini-park and playground area in the middle of this new-build housing estate.
Plan of the estate with the planned mini-park marked with a circle
we arrive at the area where the mini-park is going to be
admit it, it doesn't look too marvellous now, does it - be honest!
three benches, still wrapped up, await all the future parents
who are going to be bringing their kiddies to the playground
here you should be able to make out the slide and a few bits of play equipment
but it all looks a bit grim at the moment, let's be honest....
...and not much better from this angle, is it haha!
The third and nicest thing today is a little clip that our daughter Sarah has put on social media. Sarah and her family - husband Francis and their 9-year-old twins Lily and Jessica - are on their way back to England after 7 years down under. They're spending a few days in Dubai, and it looks like today they did some sort of boat trip in the harbour, and saw a fabulous sound and lights display of some kind.
On the video clip soundtrack, Lois and I can hear the occasional "wow!" from the twins, which is nice! What experiences they've had in their young lives, haven't they. When I was 9, we were living in one of London's north-west suburbs, Kingsbury, and I hadn't been anywhere further away than Broadstairs, the seaside resort in Kent where Charles Dickens used to live.
17:00 My dentist finally rings back, and it seems it's "all part of the plan" for my teeth to feel uncomfortable at the moment. He explains the reasons and asks me to try and tolerate it for a few days over the weekend, and to call him on Tuesday if I need him to make an adjustment.
This second half of the documentary, in which Lois fell asleep, deals with Joanna's post-AbFab phase, and includes the radio series "Conversations from a Long Marriage", which Lois and I love.
flashback to 1955: me aged 9 with my little sister Kathy (7)
in the back garden of our house in Kingsbury, London - happy days!!!!
Oh dear!
20:00 We relax on the couch with a couple of left-over, half-watched programmes, that Lois fell asleep during. It's just been that sort of day - left over, half-done things haha! Do you get days like that haha?!
The first is the second half of the one about actress Joana Lumley. This is a real "doozie" because so entertaining. They let Joanna herself tell the story of her life - so much better than some of the "cheapo" Channel 5 documentaries where they get a rag-tag bunch of showbiz "talking heads" to pontificate, interspersed with unsatisfying sound-byte clips from the archives. This is how you should do it, as Joanna demonstrates.
It's about a couple, Joanna and Roger (played by Roger Allam) who've been married for ever. Tonight Roger describes the series like this:
There are some great pieces of throw-away dialogue.
Joanna - "I don't always feel you're interested. We need to read each other's signals."
Roger - "That's easy. If you turn your back and punch the pillow, I assume you're unavailable."
Joanna - "You make me sound like an ex-directory number."
Or take this scene, in their hotel room: [Knock on the door]
Joanna: Oh, that'll be room service.
Roger: What?!
Joanna: I ordered more champagne.
Roger: You ordered room service and then ran a bath????
Joanna: Of course! They usually take ages, but they seem to be quite quick here.
Roger: But we're in the bath! I'll shout out, tell them to go away.
Joanna: Don't! They'll leave it on the table, they're very discreet.
Roger: But the bathroom door's wide open!
Joanna: OK, but we're covered in bubbles, so they're not going to see anything. This is ridiculous - don't get up!
Roger: I'm going to shut the door, or....
Joanna: Or what?
Roger: Or it'll be all over the servants' quarters!
Joanna: This isn't Downton Abbey! They've seen it all before. Sit down!
Roger: No! I'm getting out! Don't try and stop me! God, they need handles on this....
Joanna: Put one leg over first!
Roger: Aaaaarrrrggghhhh, cramp!!!!
[The door swings open. The waiter comes in.]
Joanna: Ah, good evening, could you put it down right over there please? Thank you soooo much!
Tremendous fun !!!!!
Footnote from the Guardian letters page -
21:00 We go to bed on the second half of the documentary about Little Richard, during which Lois fell asleep the first time it was on.
Some further interesting themes tonight. Lois and I didn't know that by the early 60's Little Richard had been more or less forgotten in the US, no longer promoted by his record company, Specialty Records, after the singer had started raising the roof over the company's long history of cheating him and other black singers of much of their royalties. What madness! He eventually became disillusioned and became a student at a religious college.
His career in the US, according to the programme, was revived after the celebration of his song-writing and performing genius by some of British bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, who were on the cusp of becoming famous in the UK. The Beatles and the Stones were his supporting acts during tours of the UK, which is a surprise to Lois and me to learn about.
Also surprising to us is the fact that he came to the UK determined to sing only gospel music, but changed his mind before his first appearance here, and decided to go back to his rock'n'roll, rhythm'n'blues roots, whatever you like to call it.
Little Richard at the Gaumont, Worcester:
cheapest seats only 6 shillings and sixpence - wow !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!!
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