11:20 Today is going to be a good day, Lois and I can feel it in our creaking 77-year-old bones, because "that woman" and her amusing Venn diagrams, the ones that Steve, our American brother-in-law monitors for us on the web, are suddenly back with us after their extended "Christmas break", which is nice!
woman drawing a typical Venn diagram
And this morning's diagrams come at an opportune moment, because I expect that, like Lois and me, you've been disturbed by all these recent radio sound-bites of robots talking to MPs, and you too, I suspect, have been asking yourselves
"Which one is the robot here?". Go on, admit it!
recent scenes at the European Parliament in Strasbourg
Lois and I are sure that the woman we call "The Venn-maker" will have a "take" on all this, and today at last we're able to see this completely "doozy" of a diagram, which fortifies us.
That just about "says it all" about this week's news, no doubt about that - so forget all those editorials you were preparing to wade through haha!
12:00 And we need Venn-woman's insights to fortify us this morning, because Lois has a hearing test at the local Specsavers. A few years ago this chain of opticians expanded into hearing loss, as you know, and we're hoping that they'll eventually expand into other typically "geriatric" woes, like "dodgy" hips - a "one-stop shop" for old codgers. Wouldn't that be nice!
flashback to February 5th: Lois (ringed) pops into Boots to get me
a Valentine's Day present, and then makes for our local branch of Specsavers,
shown here "wedged in" between Mountain Warehouse and Costa Coffee
And golly, our local Specsavers branch is certainly "rammed" with old codgers today, to put it mildly. When Lois goes up the long stairs to the patient waiting-area (not the same as the "patient waiting" area, in case you're wondering!), I'm consigned to the waiting area for the "plus-one" old codgers (ie spouses, partners, assorted hangers-on etc).
And I find I can't even squeeze into this area either, so I have to sit in the "overflow" plus-one old codger area. The bonus is that I can get a seat at the very bottom of the stairs, so I can see Lois waiting at the patient-waiting area, and I can wave to her occasionally, which is a nice surprise!
Lois (ringed) waits upstairs in the patient waiting-area of Specsavers
while I sit downstairs in the "overflow old codgers" waiting-area,
and luckily we can even wave to each other, which is a nice surprise!
After that "seating debacle", anyway, it's good news all the way.
I watch as Lois, after only 5 minutes, is escorted away by staff to take her hearing test, so they're keeping right to time with their appointments. And when Lois comes down the stairs after her test, she can't disguise her pleasure and tells me, and all the other overflow "plus-ones" all the details, which is nice.
She says her hearing loss has turned out to be overall only "mild" - it's the left ear that's the greater problem, as she suspected, and the left ear's patchy performance on the test sometimes pushed her into the "moderate hearing loss" category. Nevertheless she only needs a pretty standard hearing-aid, and guess-what: the NHS has only very recently begun outsourcing its standard hearing-aid fitting service, so that respected chains like Specsavers can do these straightforward jobs for people on their premises. And Lois is able to make an appointment to come back here in a couple of week's time and have the job done.
a typical "standard" hearing-aid, being fitted
by Specsavers staff
And best of all, it's all completely free, on the NHS. Is that good news, or is that good news?!!!!
And so in a couple of week's time, Lois's hearing loss issues will hopefully be solved.
One of the biggest downsides to her hearing loss is that, at the moment, when church-members are standing up and giving prayers at her church's Sunday Morning meetings at the Village Hall, she sometimes feels reluctant to say a hearty "Amen!" at the end, because she sometimes hasn't picked up a word of what's being prayed for.
a typical chorus of 'Amens' erupts after
a church-member gives an impromptu prayer
It's like giving God a blank cheque, she says, which, as she stresses, wouldn't be a worry when it comes to God, but nevertheless still seems a bit insincere on her own part, to put it mildly!
And another piece of good news for me in advance of our next visit to one of Lois's Sunday Morning Meetings - I've downloaded this incredible app for my phone which tells me the temperature of the room I'm sitting in, as well as the temperature outside.
As you know, it's always freezing cold in the Village Hall where Lois's church holds its Sunday Morning Meetings, far colder than it is outside, but now I can monitor the temperature, and alert Chief Elder Andy if I think that half the congregation are about to die of hypothermia, which could be useful, to put it mildly!
flashback to February 4th: Lois and me in coats and scarves
etc, at one of Lois's church's Sunday Morning Meetings,
with cups of hot coffee to try and stave off the worst of the cold
- brrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!!!
Later I try out the app - and it's a real "doozy" and no mistake!
later, at around 10 o'clock, as Lois and I climb into bed,
I try out the app, and guess what, it's a real "doozy" !!!!
Good times a-coming, no doubt about that!
13:00 There's even good news on the NATO front today - news which in the longer term, and on a more strategic front may be even bigger news than our Specsavers news. And this is today's good news on that front:
one of this morning's headlines from the New York Times
I always take a special interest in news from Hungary - I started studying the language on a complete whim in about 1991 or so, not exactly for a bet, but as a kind of a mental challenge more than anything else. But I took an instant liking to Hungary and the Hungarians, and Lois and I visited the country several times in the late 1990's and early 2000's.
flashback to 2002: Lois with Tünde, my Hungarian
penfriend, in Tünde's flat in Budapest
2002: me (centre) with Tünde and her son Gábor
the cake that Tünde made, in honour of our visit
Unfortunately Hungary has had, for many years, a crazy prime minister, Viktor Orbán of the Fidesz political party.
Orbán has unaccountably become Putin's "stooge" in the EU, despite Hungary's long years of suffering under Russian influence in the post-war years, culminating in Russia's bloody 1956 suppression of the country's attempted revolution.
flashback to 2022: Hungarian president Viktor Orbán
visits Russian president Vladimir Putin to request
an increase in Russian gas imports to Hungary
So why has Orbán decided to okay Sweden's entry into NATO? Surely Putin won't be pleased with him for doing that? I personally don't understand what Orbán's "game" is at the moment, and I don't think I'm the only one.
Does he perhaps feel weakened nationally by the recent resignation of the country's woman president, Katalin Novák? She had been revealed to have pardoned a Fidesz party associate, a guy who had covered up a paedophilia scandal at a Hungarian children's home, a story that Tünde alerted me to in the Guardian a couple of weeks ago.
What's going on? I think I should be told, don't you? And everybody else too, to be fair!
[You're all heart, Colin! - Ed]
21:30 We settle down on the couch to watch this week's edition of Mastermind, one of our favourite TV quizzes.
I'm especially interested in seeing this week's show, because another of my weird interests is Old Norse sagas - the text of the 13th century "Snorri's Edda" is right up my street! As you know, Snorri's Edda provides a detailed compendium of Norse mythology and "skaldic" poetry, ie poetry about heroes and all their deeds, written to be read aloud by your friendly local "skald".
[Have they diagnosed what's wrong with you yet, Colin? - Ed]
And I'm delighted to discover that George Twigg, whose specialist questions revolve around the Edda, knows all the specialist Viking concepts like "kennings", and all that sort of malarkey.
Here's George mounting the famous black chair for the first time tonight.
And, in my blog for today, I can now exclusively reveal that the Edda guy wins tonight's contest and goes through to the next round, which is nice. And in the close-of-show winner's interview there's a fascinating insight into George's personal life and his relationship with his current "squeeze".
You wanna bet, fella ?
I foresee a forthcoming Onion News story about the couple, with the killer ending "At press time, George's squeeze had dumped him for an expert in the field of not being weird".
Yikes - sudden thought - will Lois one day do that to me? Yikes (again) !!!!
But we'll see!
[I'm not holding my breath! - Ed]
Watch this space!
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed. It's currently 74.2 degrees Fahrenheit (23.4 C) in our bedroom, and 42.8 (6 C) outside in the street - brrrr!!! Would you like me to update you on that every time Lois and I get into bed?
[No please don't! - Ed]
Okay, I will - and that's a promise!
[I quit !!! - Ed]
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