Isn't it great - once in a while - not to have to bother with preparing an evening meal, and, instead, just to go out and pick up a takeaway: "once in a while", or "just this once", because "we deserve it"? And it's so great isn't it, the feeling that not needing to worry about whether we've got all the ingredients in the fridge or larder, or bother with warming up the oven and all that malarkey.
And yet.. .and yet... things can go wrong, even with this normally "failsafe" plan for spending the evening. Did you read about that poor local guy Alden Welch the other day, in the local Onion News?
It was a banal story, in some ways, this alleged "bombshell incident", that the local Onion News West Worcestershire Desk chose to "headline" on their front page this morning, wasn't it, on what must obviously have been a bit of a "slow news day" (!). Not that I want to minimise Welch's anguish in any way, the poor guy!
And yet life can be banal, can't it, even in the most agonisingly tear-jerking times.
This was the thought in the heads of my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and me as, by coincidence, we find ourselves sitting down to a Hung's Kitchen takeaway meal this evening, with our daughter Sarah and her 11-year-old twins Lily and Jessica.
And unlike (possibly (!) ) poor Alden Welch (see story above (!) ), in our case all the food we ordered has arrived intact, which is nice!
us enjoying a Hung's Kitchen takeaway meal this evening: (left to right)
our daughter Sarah (47), our twin granddaughters Lily and Jessica,
my wife Lois and me, in our new-build home in Malvern
And although today is possibly the last time that Lois and I will spend a complete day with them here in the UK, we don't spend the day doing anything special, to put it mildly: just the usual bunch of banal things.
Sarah is emotionally and physically "zonked out" with all the pressure of packing the family's stuff into the shipping company's giant containers, more or less disposing of everything else the family own, while, at the same time, spending incredibly busy and stressful days at the office, handing over her duties to a bunch of not-very-competent co-workers. Not to mention what must be going through the twins' young minds, as they contemplate another big journey to a life on the other side of the world.
Oh dear!
Yikes !!!!!
a day of ordinary banal activity, reading, TV, hanging out Sarah's
washing etc, and yet this will probably be the last day
Lois and I can spend time here with our daughter Sarah and
her twins before they move 9000 miles away to Perth, Australia
Inevitably, before they move to Australia, Sarah and Francis are having to get rid of a number of the twins' beloved toys, ornaments, pictures etc, but they have to do all this without the twins being aware of it, which is a bit of a challenge, to put it mildly!
On Monday Sarah and Francis are going to hold a car-boot sale of a lot of stuff in nearby Bidford-on-Avon, but they don't want the twins shedding any tears or throwing any tantrums over beloved items, so Lois and I are going over to the family's rental home in Alcester to keep the twins occupied when their parents are at their car-boot sale.
Smart idea!
a display of goods at a typical car-boot sale
at nearby Bidford-on-Avon
And after the family move to Australia, Lois and I have promised to send the twins regular "reports" with photos, keeping the twins up to date with how the two large toys are getting on.
We've also agreed to take the little rascals on occasional outings in our little car, and take some "action shots" of the pair's "adventures", which will be nice, and give Lois and me a new little family, and at the same time a new "interest" - always useful when you get to 78 haha!
Mine and Lois's new "children": Buckles the Unicorn and
Rover the Pony - awwwwww!!!!!
Awwww!!!! Poor Buckles !!!!!
And poor Rover!!!! Awwww !!!! haha !!!!!!
20:00 Lois and I bid another tearful farewell to Sarah and the twins, and settle down on the couch for what might have been just another evening on our own, although now we've got Buckles and Rover for company, which is nice!
Poor us haha !!!!!
And in case you're wondering, you won't be hearing any heavy breathing coming from our couch this evening, to put it mildly - just the occasional 'inaudible gasp'!
Lois and I, always attuned to the latest trends, won't be doing anything more than utter the occasional "inaudible gasp" tonight, like all the fashionable people are doing at the moment, according to the latest edition of Lois's copy of "The Week" magazine, which gives a digest of the latest news and trends from the past week.
20:30 We wind down for bed with the latest programme in ex-Cabinet Minister Michael Portillo's new series of TV celebrity travelogues. In tonight's programme he's in Lisbon.
But who knew that you can cut down your waiting-time in Purgatory, if you, in your lifetime, make a point of occasionally going in or out of the doors of this Lisbon church (see picture below), a church ruined by the devastating earthquake of 1755.
Yes, incredibly, every time you go in or go out of that church, it cuts your waiting time in Purgatory by 40 days, which, at first glance, sounds worth doing.
Personally I wouldn't mind increasing my waiting-time in Purgatory - especially if there are comfy chairs or sofas, and maybe some nice magazines, a TV perhaps? Sounds a lot better than hell, doesn't it, let's be honest haha !!!!!
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz!!!!!!
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