Saturday August 18th 2024 "Fancy a spleen sandwich tonight?" "Another night perhaps!"

An unusual day for me, because I get about 5 hours alone in the house, which feels weird. My medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I normally "live in each other's pockets" 24/7, night and day [That's what 24/7 means, Colin! - Ed]. 

us, pictured the other day outside our "local", the Three Horseshoes:

however, we decide not to go in, when we realise that it's

"karaoke night" (see blackboard outside pub door for full details)

Don't get me wrong - I'm more than happy with that "one-on-one" situation, but, as a pair of dyed-in-the-wool introverts, although me being several degrees "dyed-er" than Lois - is that a word? [No! - Ed], we both of us get renewed energy - or is it called "renewable energy" nowadays? [No! - Ed] from the occasional bit of "me-time" or a bit of "her time", respectively. Is that so strange?

Should I get a friend? Or should I go the other way, and become a hermit? The jury's still out on that one, but getting a friend is fairly straightforward I've learned - there was this story this morning on the local Onion News West Worcestershire Desk website - did you "catch" it?

For Lois and me to become two hermits is more problematic, however. The logistics are fairly straightforward - we have 2 bathrooms so no problem there. But the finance side is more fraught with difficulties, especially at the moment with the latest trends in the housing market - as you know, hermits are currently having a lot of problems just now trying to sell their houses, which is worrying.

What a crazy world we live in, when you can't sell your house just because it's cursed, or eternally bedamned even, which I understand is the "worst case scenario". Although mansions "bedamned for limited periods only" are still selling, I believe. But it's something to bear in mind for Lois and me, that's for sure, particularly as we'll be trying to sell our own house at some point in the next few weeks or months.

Yikes !!!!!!

For today, however, I can play at being a "Saturday morning hermit" which is nice. Our daughter Sarah, who's staying with us at the moment with her 11-year-old twins Lily and Jessica, are going to be taking Lois with them to the "Maize Maze" just outside Worcester, where the twins are keen to try the Winnie-the-Pooh-themed "Puzzle Maze", so I'll have the house to myself for a few hours. 

Lois with our daughter Sarah and our 11-year-old

twin granddaughters Lily (leftmost) and Jessica,

pictured at the Maize Maze today near Worcester

I can't go with them today because I need to do some "laptop work" for the two - yes, TWO - local U3A groups that I now find myself leading - the "History of English" group and the "Intermediate Danish" group, for my sins (!). 

And no, the Danish interest isn't "weird", in case that's what you're thinking (!). Lois and I first got involved with the Danish language a few years ago, when our other daughter Alison, with husband Ed and their 3 children, were living in Copenhagen from 2012 to 2018.

flashback to 2015: Lois with our daughter Alison

shopping for half-price tee-shirts in Charlottenlund, Copenhagen

Lois and me outside "Mormors Café"  [English: Granny's Café] 

- what could be more appropriate haha!

16:00 Lois, Sarah and the girls arrive back from the Worcester Maize Maze, having completely all the puzzles from the Puzzle Maze, which is nice.

the Worcester Maise Maze owners: Rob, Clare and family

I think that if I had one criticism to put forward to the puzzle compiler, Clare, the wife of maze owner Rob, it would be, "Do you have to make the puzzles that difficult? They're only kids, the customers. If you're setting an anagram puzzle, why not choose a phrase that doesn't contain a malapropism. It's madness verging on sadism, I tell you!!!!"

Be fair !!!!

this year's anagram puzzle at the Worcester Maise Maze:

"Expotition [sic] to the North Pole", based on a 

'misspeak' of Winnie the Pooh's (1926),

(the English corrected here by our granddaughter Jessie

What madness !!!!

flashback to 1926: Winnie the Pooh's "misspeak"

about "Expotition [sic] to the North Pole

21:00 We wind down for bed on the sofa with what we call "a glass of Portillo". We'll be back to one-on-one tonight, as Sarah and the twins have gone home to nearby Alcester.

Now here's a question-and-a-half for you, dear Reader. Are you watching Maggie Thatcher's ex-cabinet minister Michael Portillo's new Channel 5 travelogue series tonight? And have you noticed that he mysteriously doesn't seem to be "on the train" to anywhere. Something wrong shurely [sic] ??? (!).

[Isn't that two questions, not 1.5 of them? Just saying (!) - Ed]

Tonight we see Michael sampling the famous Ballaro market in Sicily's capital city, Palermo, accompanied by his charming Italian interpreter.

Yes, the origin? Michael's interpreter explains that it dates back to Palermo's "Jewish period". Sicily once had a Jewish population thought to have numbered more than 30,000. The local Jews had to pay a lot of money in order to have their meat satisfactorily butchered to their requirements, and so they wanted to get full value by using every part of the animal.

Later, however, when Sicily fell under the rule of Catholic Spain, the local Jews were all expelled - this was at the end of the 15th century.

So spleen sandwich turns out to be nicer than expected, you might think.

Later, however, we see Michael exploring the upscale Palermo suburb and coastal resort of Baghera, also known as "the city of villas". In the 19th century Baghera was the playground of Italian aristocrats, who built summer houses here to escape the heat of the city (Baghera is also featured in The Godfather Part III).

the upscale seaside resort of Baghera,

just outside Palermo, Sicily

Here, Michael gets an invite to sample a Michelin-star restaurant, Pupi, and we see him here talking with the sommelier, Andrea.

And this is the moment where Michael makes his big gaffe, which Lois and I aren't slow to pick up on, to put it mildly!

So! Now it's all coming out! Michael must have just pretended to like his spleen sandwich in the Ballaro market (!)

Well, we both had a jolly good laugh about that, and I expect you did too just now, when you read about it (!). But there's a serious point here too, isn't there - and it's all about honesty, surely something especially important in documentaries. Has Michael's credibility been damaged irrecoverably by this little "snafu"?

I want to speak to you a little about that now in greater detail, and let you know my particular "take" on this issue.

[Don't bother! - Ed]

You see....

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz!!!!!!