Danskcolin: Monday July 17th 2023

10:00 Lois and I are out of bed in good time today, and for good reason. We're both quite excited this morning because "Footwoman", a.k.a. Joanne, calling on us to "do our feet". And is there anything that says you're old more clearly than having to have your feet "done" by Age Concern ? Answers on a postcard please!

I have to say, at the same time, that it's quite enjoyable having your feet pampered by Joanne. She's got a wonderful touch. Admit it, you rather fancy it yourself don't you!

And doesn't Lois look so effortlessly charming when she's having her feet done? And we've discovered that "footwomen" can chat nonstop to you as they work, just like barbers and hairdressers do or did, which is nice! They've read all the morning papers, and can discuss any topic you bring up: it's "chat madness" !!!!

Joanne, a.k.a. "Footwoman" arrives to do our feet

Well, this is only our third time with Joanne, and the magic hasn't gone away yet. And like local woman Maureen Peltier from The Rydd, who featured recently on the influential American news website, Onion News, we think we're worth it, even if it's just once in a while. Don't you agree?

THE RYDD —After making it through her 63rd consecutive longest week ever, project manager Maureen Peltier decided on Friday to once again treat herself to the kind of pampering everybody needs to indulge in from time to time. "Why not? I deserve it," Peltier said of the past week's pedicure, trip to the spa, box of Godiva chocolates, and two glasses of chardonnay drunk during a lunch meeting. "There's nothing wrong with spoiling myself now and again."

On the way home from the spa, Peltier who decided that she had earned the right to go off her diet just this once, pulled into a McDonald's, and ordered the usual.

Atta girl, Maureen. You go, girl haha! And see you in McDonald's haha!

16:30 Steve, our American brother-in-law emails us with the latest set of amusing Venn diagrams that he monitors for us on the web.

I have to admit that Lois and I watched a bit of the Wimbledon final yesterday. We happened to switch on during a humongous game that kept going from "deuce" to "advantage Alcaraz" or "advantage Djokovic" and back to "deuce" again.

But their dogged determination to win the game is nothing compared to Lois's when she's on the trail of a flying insect. And I'm lucky to have married such a skilled and determined mosquito-killer, wasp-killer etc as Lois is - it's one of her talents that not many people know about.

She managed to get a couple of bluebottles only last week when we were staying 5 days with our daughter Alison and her family, despite the high 10 ft plus ceilings and vast cavernous rooms and massive window-spaces, which present her with a few challenges, to put it mildly - poor Lois, she's only 5ft 3 !!!!

And bluebottles don't hang about. They can certainly move, as I expect you've noticed. But then so can Lois. She's a great little mover - you should see her in action! Her skill in this field is legendary in our family. And her techniques with a fly-swatter put both Alcaraz and Djokovic to shame, there's no question about that!

What a woman I married!!!!

20:00 We wind down on the couch with the first programme in a new series of Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys. Tonight we see Michael travel from Derby to Leicester.

Yes, Leicester today is one of Britain's most ethnically diverse cities. Since World War II the city has received several waves of immigration - Poles, followed by Caribbean settlers. And then in 1972, Ugandan Asian refugees began arriving over the space of just a few months, from Uganda, after the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin gave them all notice to quit the country within a matter of days, accusing them of "economic subversion", and other fantasies.

Leicester City Council was alarmed at the prospect of the new arrivals and it started an advertising campaign in Uganda to try to dissuade Ugandan Asians from choosing Leicester as their city of destination in the UK.

Some bright spark in the Council offices must have thought this campaign was a brainwave, and would ensure that the refugees from Uganda would put Leicester at the bottom of their list of prospective destinations in the UK, and simply choose to go somewhere else.

Did the guy responsible for the idea get a bonus or a promotion out of it?

I wonder..... !!!

Well, I think perhaps we should be told, because the figures suggest the City Council's campaign was a bit of a failure, to put it mildly. Of the 27,000 Ugandan Asians who eventually sought refuge in the UK, 10,000 chose Leicester as their place of residence.

Tonight Michael meets one of them.