Lois and I are not expecting to put up any house-guests for the next 2 weeks or so, so this morning we try and make our two guest bedrooms look a bit better than a hell-hole in a war-zone. My goodness, yes!
We've only got a small house here on this new-build estate in Malvern, but our daughter Sarah and family, newly returned from 7 years in Australia, have recently been spending every weekend plus bank holidays with us, while they've been waiting to take possession of their rental home in Alcester - which they've now done.
This is what our so-called "double" guest bedroom was looking like a couple of days ago, after Sarah's family had just "checked out" to move into their own place, i.e. the "BEFORE" picture: followed by the AFTER picture - how it looks today after our clean-up.
See the difference haha?
flashback: BEFORE - our double bedroom, as it looked a couple of day ago
the AFTER picture: how the "double" looks today after our tidy-up,
with all the bedwear collected and removed for washing
Similarly with the so-called "twin bedroom" - "twin" in more senses than one: first the BEFORE picture and then the two AFTER pictures, with the inflatable bed deflated and stuffed, with some difficulty, into its snug little bag:
BEFORE: the twins' bedroom as it was looking a couple of days ago
AFTER: the twins' bedroom as it looks now,
with the inflatable bed deflated and packed away in its snug little black bag
[Can I just say, I think you're making far too big a deal about your so-called "tidy-up"! - Ed]
What an achievement, eh? And, to think, we're both 77 now !!!!
[Just watch it today, all right? - Ed]
What crazy times we lived in, back in 2021 !!!! Things are much better now, aren't they - my goodness!!!!
16:00 Also today I ring up our doctor's surgery. Because I take statins for cholesterol, I was asked to take one of my periodic blood tests yesterday, with Nurse Lisa, who stuck a band-aid over the wound in the crook of my arm, but with no cotton wool under the band-aid, which is what I've always been given in the past.
And I also enjoy today, as usual, the insightful and touching comments about Pat's departure, to be seen from the pen of some of our favourite "average person-in-the-street" pundits on the influential American news-site Onion News, under their column "American Voices".
15:00 Also today I manage to book our Honda Jazz car in for its annual service and MOT test next month, at the Honda dealer in Worcester. I tried to book it in yesterday on their website, and they were supposed to ring me within 24 hours to confirm, but I haven't hear anything back from them.
Well, they never called me, so now I have to book the service and MOT over the phone today anyway. Damn! What's the good of having a website with a "book your service online" link to click on, it you don't take any notice of it - it's total madness!!!!
Me being me, I will do almost anything to avoid making phone calls, but it doesn't always work, does it, which is a pity. Damn (again) !!!!
The great thing from the phone-call, however, is that I've discovered that they collect the car and deliver it back afterwards at no extra charge!
Before we moved to Malvern at the end of October, I used to take our car to Blade Honda at Gloucester, because they always used to charge for collection and delivery, so this is a nice surprise, to put it mildly! What nice people they must be in Worcester !!!!!
Startins, the Honda dealership in Worcester
A couple of years ago, however, we had to actually take the car into Blade Honda at Gloucester in person, because I'd forgotten to book a collection with enough notice for them. Do you remember how nerve-wracking that was for us, because it was July 2021 and one of our very first occasions to really "come out of hiding" after lockdown? (See fear no. 4 in my catalogue below, taken from my blog of the day).
Flashback to July 2021: us at the Honda Blade dealership in Gloucester:
flashback to July 2021: one of our early occasions of
"coming out of hiding" after lockdown
Shortly afterwards, as Lois and I were walking out into the car-park, Lois noticed that my forearm, and a small area of my shirt were bloodstained. Steve, my American brother-in-law has suggested I call the surgery today to give feedback about the leak. The receptionist says she will pass the information on to Lisa, and ask for her comments. So we'll see!
16:30 I see some great pictures posted on Facebook by our other daughter Alison's husband, Ed. The pictures feature our grandson Isaac, whose "JK" soccer team won a national under-13 championship at the weekend at Elland Road, home of the until-the-end-of-the-season-prestigious Championship League members Leeds United (about to be relegated: poor Leeds!!!!!), who are also the favourite team of our other son-in-law, Francis - Sarah's husband.
Isaac is front row, second from left
on the team bus - Isaac sitting next to the blonde team captain
halfway down the bus on the right of the gangway
at the coffee shop, Isaac on the extreme right of the picture
Our son-in-law Ed, foremost dad on the left-hand side of the long table,
seen relaxing here in the bar, with some of the other dads
Our grandson Isaac's triumph in Leeds was very good news for Lois and me. I think we'd both been feeling a bit down today, because of the shock news about 76-year-old Pat Sajak retiring next year from hosting the unmissable game show Wheel of Fortune on American TV.
Incredibly he'd been doing the job for over 40 years, and Lois and I have fond memories of Pat and his glamorous hostess Vanna White, from the many happy hours we spent watching the show during our residence in Columbia, Maryland, from 1982 to 1985. I always imagined that both Pat and Vanna would have retired decades ago, but no - just imagine, they've been doing the show all along, and ever since we left the US in 1985: it's crazy, but also very touching for us to hear about today.
Pat Sajak (now 76) and Vanna White (now 66) hosting
the American TV version of the game show "Wheel of Fortune"
How Lois and I, back in the early 1980's, loved to sit at home and compete against the contestants to guess the mystery words or phrases before they did. And how we loved the studio audience's excited cries of "Big bucks!!" as the big wheel turned!
Tremendous fun!!!!
And do you remember the TV set that Lois and I had in America, the one we used to watch "Wheel of Fortune" on? I'm sure you do!
flashback to the early 1982: our daughters Alison (7) and Sarah (5)
watching the TV in our family room of our house in Columbia, Maryland
Happy days!
And when I google the show on Wikipedia today, I discover to my astonishment that Pat's assistant, the glamorous Vanna White, is also still on the show, aged 66, and that she has this week "broken her silence" about Pat's coming departure - "breaking silence" is just histrionic media-speak for "saying", these days, though, isn't it!
But what a woman!!!!
At least Pat and Vanna never became "disgraced stars" as the result of sex scandals, like one of the hosts on the UK version of the show: John Leslie, who was accused of various sexual offences and of having filmed his girlfriend, nurse Abi Titmuss, having sex with another woman. Ironically, John was replaced on the daytime show "This Morning" by another presenter later disgraced over a sex scandal, and quite recently too: Philip Schofield, who famously had an affair with a young junior production worker on the same show.
The two actors Michael and David, and their London agent, Simon, are all three pretty-much touchy, self-regarding egomaniacs, aren't they, and their zoom sessions are, as a result, extremely tetchy and quarrelsome, and manipulative, to put it mildly, aren't they. My goodness, yes!
What a crazy country we live in !!!!!
flashback to 1998: UK Wheel of Fortune presenter John Leslie
with his glamorous hostess Jenny Powell
20:00 We unwind on the sofa with the first two episodes of the new season of "Staged", which I still think of as a "lockdown sitcom".
It first emerged in the days of lockdown, and showed Welsh actor Michael Sheen interacting uncomfortably with his fellow Scottish actor-friend David "Doctor Who" Tennant, and with the two men's London agent Simon, all conversations between the 3 men being done via zoom sessions: those were the days when nobody ever met anybody in person - remember?
The basic plot theme for this sitcom is that, for Simon, the agent, these two actors are the only worthwhile actors on his client-list. As a result he is always trying to get them to commit to TV and radio series, preferably series in which he, Simon, is doing the writing. But Michael and David are always creating difficulties and falling out with each other, for petty reasons, so nothing much of Simon's programme ideas ever seems to get off the ground. Oh dear!
Tonight, in Episode 1, in an attempt to make the three men's discussions less "weaponised", Simon decides to start using the phrase "Is there a version of this, in which...?", an idea suggested to Simon by his actress sister Lucy, currently filming in the Caribbean. Apparently if you use that phrase, Lucy says, people are much more likely to go along with any idea that you're suggesting; it's disarming, Lucy says, and it seems to diffuse any incipient air of hostility. Who knew!
So if, for example, Lucy's director wants them to shoot a scene in one shot, he says, "Is there a version of this, where we cover it in one shot?"
Simon's actress sister, Lucy, suggests to Simon use of the "is there a version"
phrase to diffuse the bad atmosphere of theatrical agent Simon's discussions with
his only major clients, Michael Sheen and David Tennant
And when the inevitable infighting and back-stabbing starts, Simon calms things down with this new phrase that he's learnt:
Lois and I also enjoy the second episode of this new season of "Staged", where, due to a series of misunderstandings between the 3 men and their wives/partners, a "wake" apparently left to be organised by Michael following the death of a popular local Cardiff vicar - you know, the wake for that 57-year-old woman vicar who had been supposedly savaged by a reindeer - is eventually set up to include some inappropriate events, such as a big cake, a bouncy-castle, pizza bites and an appearance by popular local magician "Chuckles". Have I got that right? [Don't ask me, I didn't watch it! - Ed]
What madness!!! But at the same time, tremendous fun!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzz!!!!
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