Have you ever found yourselves unexpectedly being launched into space, can I ask? A few of us have, haven't we, although not me, nor my long-suffering wife Lois, I hasten to add!
flashback to earlier this year: my wife Lois and me speaking on CNN
Our modern world is so complex, though, isn't it! And it's essential to keep a clear head if you possibly can - that's what Lois and I say anyway - call us crazy if you like haha!
And for nobody does "keeping a clear head" represent as much of a challenge as it does for today's NASA astronauts and other employees, with all the many complex tasks they have to perform to keep the US space programme moving forward.
Think back to March this year. Do you remember reading in Onion News about those two NASA maintenance women who got "caught out" the other day, mixing up two very basic English words, "lunch" and "launch", before finding themselves suddenly in Outer Space?
"If only those two "noggins" had learnt to turn their helmet radios on !!!!", is what Lois and I always say when we recall that amusing story.
Helmets can be a lifeline, can't they, especially for astronauts, but also for sportsmen. And no more so, than in the case of Formula One drivers, to put it mildly!
And Lois and I thought of that today, when we read an email from Tünde, my Hungarian penfriend. It seems that this weekend, according to news website telex.hu, the crack British Formula One driver "Lando" Norris, whom Lois and I only heard of relatively recently, is going to be wearing a particularly attractive and typically Hungarian helmet for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
["Lando" isn't a nickname, it's his real name, Colin! - Ed]
And the website includes this attractive picture of "Lando's" helmet. [I won't tell you again! - Ed]
And maybe the drivers' wives and mistresses could wear them too - it's the new trend in American football, so why not Formula One, there are "WAGS" (wives and girlfriends) galore in both sports after all, aren't there.
And it's a pity because "Lando" has said in a statement that the helmet will help him drive even faster this year. He has a weird kind of a 'special relationship' with the helmet's makers, the Hungary-based Herend Porcelain Manufacturing, because in last year's race, second-place finisher "Lando" slammed his champagne bottle into the podium, only for Dutch winner Max Verstappen's trophy, made by Herend, to topple off the rostrum and break into pieces.
Oops!
flashback to last year's race and "that trophy" !!!!
What a crazy world we live in - but it's quite a heart-warming story when you look at it, and a happy ending, which is nice!
07:30 Well, we're still in bed and now that we're in "sporty mode", it's lucky that the latest edition of Private Eye, bringing me fortnightly my "fix" of politics and sport, "plopped" through our letterbox just yesterday, and I can give Lois the latest tennis updates.
08:00 At least the "Lando" story gives Lois and me something to smile about, when we remember we've got to get up super-early today.
Yes, you've guessed it - it's going to be another busy morning for us. Just look at today's appointments, if you can bear to !!!! All these callers and deliverers!!!! Busy, busy, busy!
Yes, first up, the Honda guys from Worcester are coming to collect our little Honda Jazz and take it away for its annual service and MOT. And then, after that, it's going to be non-stop deliveries till lunchtime. Yikes !!!!
Hot on their heels of the Honda guys, a bunch of Cookshop ready-meals will be coming, because we've got our 2 daughters, Alison (49) and Sarah (47) coming to see us, with at least one of their husbands (they've only got one each, incidentally, in case you're wondering!), plus 4 out of our 5 grandchildren.
Only Alison and Ed's daughter Josie won't be with us - she's currently with a group from her school in Guildford Surrey on a 2-week trip to Tanzania to help a bunch of villagers with some undefined "projects".
Our granddaughter Josie (17, extreme right) with a group of
schoolgirls from Guildford, Surrey, on their 2-week trip to Tanzania
But what a crazy planet we live on !!!!!!
The two of us have had a pretty good day, all in all. Lois, in "wifely" mode, has made a bunch of scones for the weekend.
I glance up at the pictures of 3 of our grandchildren and
I notice that thermometer is showing a whopping
82.6F (28C) !! Phew what a scorcher !!!!!
After lunch, and feeling a bit "hot and bothered" we retire to bed for "naptime", but we know we're playing a dangerous game. Although all the deliveries have come, we could get a call from Honda at any time telling us how the work on our car is going, or there might even be a ring at the door, if the work finishes without any issues and the guy brings the Honda back to us.
Luckily we waste no time and just "get straight into it", and we finish our nap with no interruptions and with just half an hour to spare, so there's time to get dressed and look respectable when the Honda guy eventually arrives with our car at about 3:45 pm, which is nice.
Lois, in "wifely mode" making a bunch of scones for the weekend
And I, meantime, have had a satisfying day going around fixing things, in my new "manly" way haha!
I can't tell you how satisfying it is, now that my shiny new hip (fitted at Redditch Hospital on April 3rd) has fully "bedded in" inside my body, and I've got my balance fully back. At last I can lift and carry heavy objects, and apply pressure to things, without being afraid I'm going to fall over. It's so satisfying that I can go just around now pretty much as I used to do before my hip issues began about 2 years ago.
[I don't remember you being like that in the past, ever, Colin (!) - Ed]
flashback to April: me recuperating in my hospital bed
at Redditch, being visited by our daughter Sarah
and her 10-year-old twins, Jessica [not shown] and Lily
Today, Lois tells me that the garden hose needs fixing, so... I just go out and fix it. Both Lois and our gardener Amanda, have failed to find a solution, and Lois has been going around with a watering-can. This morning, however, I somehow manage to "fiddle with it" in just the right way, at the cost of soaking my jeans and socks during my numerous, early, failed attempts.
Oops!!!!
And, in case you're wondering, after taking off my drenched jeans, although you can't see it, I am wearing something below the waist - my rarely employed shorts, as the reflection in this following photo proves conclusively.
I fix the problems with the garden hose....
...before celebrating with my first iced-coffee of the year,
while, behind me, my drenched jeans and socks dry
in the sunshine, laid out on one of our many "patio-tables"
And, in case you're wondering, after taking off my drenched jeans, although you can't see it, I am wearing something below the waist - my rarely employed shorts, as the reflection in this following photo proves conclusively.
me, relaxing in my rarely-seen shorts
"What a man, what a man, what a mighty good man", as Salt-N-Pepa once sang haha!!!
And in other news......
No comments:
Post a Comment