Wednesday July 3rd 2024: "Sunak - 'It's not over yet. Goodbye!' "

Friends, do you have children, or grandchildren on a school trip this week? It's a worrying time, isn't it, because so much can go wrong - like this case of a local boy, Kyle, from right here in Worcestershire [Source: Onion News - Kyle's last name withheld for legal reasons] who hasn't been seen now for quite a few years. Oh dear!

Poor Kyle !!!!!  But if something like that can happen in a friendly town like London, think what might happen on a school trip to China, such as our dear 13-year-old grandson Isaac is on. Yikes !!!!! 

our grandson, little Isaac, photographed on Sunday

in the car-park of his school near Liphook, Hampshire

shortly before boarding his plane to Beijing.

Isaac's been very much on the minds of me and my long-suffering wife Lois today. Let's hope he doesn't end up as just one more Terracotta Warrior, as Lois fears. Oh dear !!!! Like these American children from Indiana back in 2014...

It's an awful thought, isn't it.

Yes, today is little Isaac's 3rd full day in China, and there's been no news of him for a full.... yes, a full 8 hours - yikes!!!! Recall that he jetted off from London on Sunday - taking off at 22:40 and taking about 9 hours, arriving in Beijing at 15:30 the next day Chinese time, only to have to take a 2-hour, 85 mile bus journey to Tianjin [Where that? - Ed], and then having only 40 minutes to unpack before it was "lights out". 

little Isaac's 85 mile bus journey from Beijing to Tianjin

[Oh THAT Tianjin - I knew where it was really of course - I was only joking! - Ed]

Lois and I are "brooding" about little Isaac a lot today, partly because it's such miserable weather here this morning in Malvern. We try drying our washing on the patio under our shiny-new motorised patio awning - the real reason we paid for it to be installed. And today is our first chance to use it in some "proper rain", so we take full advantage. 

However we're a bit worried by the 8 mph wind from the south, plus we discover that the rain manages to get through the slight gap between the awning and the back wall of the house, so you can't win can you!

flashback to Saturday evening - Lois and I showcase our shiny-new

"rain awning" for the benefit of our daughter Sarah

and our 10-year-old twin granddaughters Lily and Jessica

Oh well, I'm sure there'll be many more rainy days to come haha !!!!

14:00 My copy of political magazine Private Eye "plops" through our letter-box, reminding me that tomorrow is decision day for the UK.

my copy of Private Eye for 5th to 18th July

"plops" through our letterbox, highlighting Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak's clarion call to the nation -

"It's not over yet! Goodbye!"

Rishi sounds confident, and he's obviously trying his best to be upbeat. But his final word - "Goodbye!" - will that word come back to haunt him when the votes are counted tomorrow night?

I wonder....!!!!!

Watch this space - I'll let you know who wins later this week, and that's a promise!

21:00 Joyfully avoiding the politics - which is what Rishi will joyfully be doing for the next few decades, Lois and I believe, although with a lot more money than we've got (!) -  we mount the couch, and wind down for bed with the first half of the final of PopMaster TV, the pop quiz presented by Scottish DJ Ken Bruce.

As usual Lois and I "crash out" on any questions about pop music from any time after about 1990, but here's news of one group from the 2000's - the so-called "noughties" decade - that we think we'll maybe get into after the programme finishes. Somehow we didn't "clock" this group when they were famous for 5 minutes in 2007, and it totally passed us by, which is a pity, to put it mildly!

Lois asks me to see if I can find the song on YouTube, and we can certainly recommend the video if any of you other old codgers out there are in the right mood for it, that's for sure - it's a real "doozy"!!!

And our question is, "Did those old codgers regret smashing their guitars at the end of that recording, and did they then decide to see if they could get them repaired locally at a reasonable cost"? Maybe that's why four of them are crossing that zebra outside the recording studio, to see if they can find a repair guy maybe, to get a "quote"???

I think we should be told!

A quick look at checkatrade.com supplies what we think could be the answer to where those 4 old codgers may possibly have been heading: and it's only about 3 miles away, on Denmark Street - a "breeze" with a zimmer frame or "walker",  just a 75 minute "stroll", to the aptly-named repair shop, "Stairway to Kevin". 

I wonder.... !!!

Was this the route those 4 old codgers could have been taking

to find a reputable guitar-repair man?

[That's enough whimsy! - Ed]

21:30 Halfway through Popmaster TV Grand Final Lois suggests that we have an early night. I suspect she was a bit turned on by the Zimmers' lead-singer, Alf Carretta - he's a bit of a "hunk" she says, so maybe she needs to "cool off" for a few minutes - well, we'll see!

the Zimmers' lead singer, the charismatic 

Alf Carretta (crazy name, crazy guy!)

What madness !!!!!

Unfortunately our early exit means I can't tell you who won the Popmaster TV grand final, but watch this space: I'll definitely tell you in the next couple of days, and I'll tell you who the new Prime Minister is too, as a bonus! Only if you're good, obviously!

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

We go to bed - zzzzz!!!!!