Saturday June 8th 2024 "laundrettes - how big is the risk of a male model taking his jeans off?"

Laundry and clothes-washing generally - it's the great ice-breaker, isn't it, and something that never fails to plant a passing thought of maybe starting a conversation with a stranger, be it sitting in a laundrette or in the laundry room of a great apartment block, it's all the same, when it comes down to it. 

Luckily wiser counsels usually prevail, and you decide not to say anything in the end, so no harm done!

And whatever you else you do in a laundrette, don't talk to any young guy who takes his jeans off and puts them in the machine, like Nick Kamen did back in the iconic 1980's TV Levi Jeans advert.

Model Nick Kamen takes his jeans off in a laundrette

and throws them in a machine in the iconic

1980's Levi's Jeans TV advert

Just saying! And in case you're wondering, Lois and I would never dream of suggesting that our daughter Sarah find a laundrette in Alcester to do her family washing in, rather than bringing it all to our house to pass through our washing machine - not only would it needlessly expensive for her, but there's always a risk of her seeing her next-door neighbour taking his jeans off. 

You never stop being a parent, do you, and even now that Sarah is nearly 47, Lois and I, as concerned parents, are still in the business of protecting her from any sights we ourselves wouldn't want to see, so that's fair enough, isn't it!

flashback to yesterday: I nearly get a hernia

lifting the basket of washing that Sarah has brought

here for her weekend stay with the twins

today: Sarah hangs what will prove to be

the first of several "loads" out on our washing line

Lois later checks the line - it seems to be "holding"

so far, and no mysterious cases of "lack of pair bonding"

when it comes to the many socks it's carrying, which is nice!

Aren't washing-lines wonderful? The weather dries clothes for free, doesn't it, and makes them feel and smell fresh at the same time, the kind of freshness you don't get from a machine. And surely it must be upping mine and Lois's "crudentials" [sic] with the environmentalist fanatics at the same time - and if not, why not haha!

11:00  Finally Sarah pulls the twins' attention away from their i-Pads, and we go off to Clive's Fruit Farm near Upton-on-Severn to take part in the pick-your-own-strawberries event which is kicking off today, and we come away with several pounds, I forget how much it all weighed in the end.

we decide to stop there for lunch, while we're at it

Lois spots a plant that she says has "got my name on it,

 or almost", but she decides not to buy, probably for the best.

It looks a bit "stringy", doesn't it!

Sarah and the twins depart for home around 6 pm, and Lois and I settle back on the couch - we always feel a bit "washed out" (no pun intended haha!) after hosting family - it's just our age, they're no trouble at all really, they help out with the chores, and they certainly brighten up our lives, to put it mildly, and we know we're very lucky to have them to host.

21:00 We go to bed on Friday's edition of the comedy news quiz "Have I Got News For You".

Do you ever get confused, especially when there's a General Election on, by all the stats and figures that the politicians try to bewilder us with?

I know Lois and I do, and that's why we're pleased that maths-specialist Carol Vorderman, from TV's Countdown, is one of the panellists tonight, to try and draw some sense out of all the political "claptrap" we've been subjected to, which is something of a relief!

Presenter Alex Horne has a specific question for Carol tonight - "How can [NHS] waiting-lists be coming down when they were higher than they were two years ago?" Quite a conundrum isn't it, and Carol is just the right person to explain it for all of us baffled voters, which is nice.

We certainly need people like Carol at times such as these, don't we. And a quick "fact check" reveals that Rishi Sunak did indeed make these kinds of comments:

That's what they always say about truth, isn't it - that it's stranger than fiction - my goodness!

The BBC, however, is famously neutral when it comes to politics, and the corporation is still staying true to its charter which is nice. And, later in the programme, it's nice to see panellists also giving short shrift not just to Keir Starmer, but also to Nigel Farage, seen here giving a typically tetchy reply to an obviously very amused BBC News presenter: 

As panellist Ian Hislop points out, "It's pure Trump isn't it".

Well, he may be "pure Trump", but he doesn't "do pure Trump" half as well as Trump himself does it, which is a black mark in itself, that's for sure.

Luckily, again, mathematician Carol is on hand to provide the answer to this tricky question. Is six-hundred-thousand the same as zero? And Carol has her answer ready:

Elections are definitely becoming more technical these days aren't they, and I'm so glad that 40 years ago I took the trouble to study for a maths degree at the Open University. Because that's certainly going to help me to make an informed choice when I vote on July 4th, that's for sure!

22:00 Enough said, we go to bed - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!!