It's a slower tempo today for Lois and me, after all the hurry and scurry of Christmas, bringing us a welcome chance to catch up on local news, now that we're back home in Malvern.
And despite our county's reputation as a slow news area, a couple of stories have been setting the airwaves alight like nobody's business, that's for sure!
The first bombshell local news item on Onion News is an exciting new subscription box now being delivered to local homes in the Malvern area, open to anybody who's elected to pay the reasonable £49 monthly fee.
And this new initiative is all due to the entrepreneurial vision of local CEO Brad "Brad" Burrows, founder of Harris Brushes, headquartered at the quiet little village of Bell End, Worcestershire, "the lightweight local company that delivers the big punch" - it has a Royal Warrant to supply brushes both to the royal Sandringham Estate and to Windsor Castle, no less!
Now, wait for it! This second local story is a real heart-warmer, which is especially nice at this time of year, isn't it!
Awwww !!!! Isn't that nice!!!!
And imagine! All this is going on just in a quiet little county like Worcestershire! And yet it doesn't seem so long ago that people in pubs were complaining that nothing ever happens here. How distant a memory that seems now, doesn't it - you have to admit!
flashback to last month: some typical conversations overheard
in pubs all over the length and breadth of Worcestershire
And don't think that Lois and I are just reading the local stories - oh no! Over Christmas we didn't see any news at all - it was all so hectic over there in Hampshire enjoying the festive holiday with our two daughters and their families.
So Lois and I didn't realise till today, that things are really happening in Blackburn, Lancashire at the moment - the BBC says that all hell is breaking loose up there, as a new study reports - or should I say "reporrrrrrts" !!
And this is the BBC talking here, not some junior ace cub reporter for Onion News, so you'd better pay attention now!
This story surprises Lois and me a little bit, because recently it has seemed like every other celebrity or announcer on TV has been using this strong 'r' - all those Lancastrian game-show hosts for starters, as well as the BBC's ubiquitous continuity announcer, Kate Walsh.
cat-lover Kate Walsh, from Burnley, Lancashire, one of the BBC's
ubiquitous continuity "announcerrrrrrrrrs"
What a crazy world we live in!!!!
10:00 Apart from catching up with the world news, Lois and I spend most of the day today either in bed or watching TV.
We're both pretty tired, and needing to recharge our batteries, having driven 120 miles on Monday to Headley, Hampshire to celebrate Christmas with our 2 daughters and their families, then 120 miles back home to Malvern on Wednesday, during Storm Gerrit. And driving that kind of distance - a total of 240 miles over just 3 days, really isn't my cup of tea any more - I am 77 you know!
[You don't say! - Ed]
Recently I've had two reminders of my study year in Japan 1970-71, which is an incredible 50 years ago now - it seems like yesterday.
Today I get a late Christmas card from my Japanese artist friend Yuko, enclosing some of her latest artwork. This one's my favourite of her recent selection, a sketch of a Japanese mountain.
Flashback alert!
flashback to 1971: me and Yuko taking a boat
ride on Towada Lake, Towada-Hachimantai National Park
right up at the northern end of the main Japanese island of Honshu
And just a week or two ago, I got a Christmas card from my American friend Kathy, whom I also got to know during my student year in Japan. Kathy now lives in Oregon, but she's hoping to visit the UK next year with her sister Amy.
flashback to 1971 - me and my American friend Kathy in Japan
Kathy and me (far left), me bending down for some reason,
waiting for a bus outside Kamakura Train Station,
with some of our Japanese friends
me and Kathy on Mitsutoge Mountain
with our Japanese friend Tetsu
Why do I never hear anything from any of the male friends I knew when I was in Japan? Those lazy bastards!!!! Have they been so busy that they couldn't pick up a phone or drop me a postcard or a Christmas card at some point over the last 50 years! What madness !!!!
Only kidding, guys! But I do think that women are much better at keeping up friendships, don't you, particularly if it's at a great distance.
21:00 Lois and I wind down on the couch, preparing to go back to bed, by watching the last of the current series of festive Christmas special editions of one of our favourite TV quizzes, Only Connect, which tests lateral thinking.
Don't despair, because the questions on these festive specials are a bit less taxing than the regular shows, so go on, have a go!
Can YOU see the link between these 4 things, in the Picture Round this evening?
Yes, I think you've got this one haven't you! Yes, they're all things that can be preceded by the word "pork" - obvious when you know, isn't it!
The first element "Pork barrel" refers to a political sleazy tactic of paying out sums of Government money in a particular part of your constituency to get people there to vote for you. The second element, "pork belly" is just a belly of pork meat obviously, and the 4th element shows a cat scratching itself to suggest the phrase "pork scratchings", a popular snack made from pig skin, sold in pubs.
But what about the third element, which features two photos of "markets"?
Yes, "pork markets" - this is from a 2014 speech by Liz Truss, later to become a short-lived UK Prime Minister.
Whether you agree with her politics or not, I think that you'll admit that Liz is now far too often the answer to a lot of jokey quiz questions these days.
Poor Liz !!!!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!!
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