Danskcolin: Friday September 6th 2024 "Feeling empty now, ARE we, with that 'bacon butty' gone from the fridge(!)"

Do you remember that 'scrummy' bacon butty that I think we pretty much all enjoyed last week, dear Readers - not all of us with the same butty, obviously (!).

And if yours has disappeared from your fridge, like mine has, there's that terrible 'empty feeling to cope with' isn't there. And I don't just mean the empty feeling in your stomach (!) - there's an emotional price to pay too here.

Did you see the story from the local Onion News Desk this week about poor old Sean Richardson, who lives only about a mile from here, in the beautiful Worcestershire village of Bell End?

Poor Sean !!!!!

Emptiness - it's a terrible feeling, in the stomach AND in the heart too, and in a way it's the theme-tune for our modern lives, isn't it: you can tell that by the way it's one of the most common emotions in daily headlines about all the heart-rending battles, many of them "under the radar", that are going on in our universe, unreported, every week: a "barometer" for our modern lives if ever there was one.

Poor Rex !!!!!

But if my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I have any advice to give, both to butty-lover Sean, and Sky Commander Rex, it's the advice we've given countless times already to all the other bacon-butty addicts and Sky Commanders that we have a 'nodding acquaintance' with, here locally in Malvern, Worcestershire: "It's time to move on !"

Lois and I ourselves are having to cope with an "It's time to move on" feeling this week, now that our dear 47-year-old daughter Sarah, her husband Francis and their 11-year-old twins Lily and Jessica, have left their home in nearby Alcester and jetted off to a new life in Perth, Western Australia.

flashback to Wednesday morning: our twin granddaughters,

Lily and Jessica, enjoying a "continental" breakfast

at London's Heathrow Airport, prior to boarding their plane

the news on our phone that greeted Lois and me early Thursday

morning at 5 am, that the family were about to land in Perth

to start their 2nd 'new' life there (!)

At least Lois and I have got what we call the 'Sarah's family pets' to keep us company in our old age, which is a comfort.

They're not actual pets, of course: they're the two stuffed toys that the family couldn't conveniently fit into their hand-luggage for their flight this week from London's Heathrow Airport to Perth International. Yes, I'm talking about 'Buckles the Unicorn' and 'Rover the Dog-faced Pony on Wheels', needless to say.

flashback to last night: abandoned by their family, Rover the Dog-Faced

Pony (left) and Buckles the Unicorn, watch their favourite TV programme,

"Colin from Accounts", the Aussie sitcom about plucky dog-on-wheels Colin

Rover this morning, waiting to be taken out for his

morning "walkies", waiting in vain, sadly (!)

Memo to self: Lois and I must make buying two leads a priority, so that we can take Rover and Buckles out safely (!) through this new-build estate where we've lived since Halloween Night 2022.

Suitable "car safety seats" are a priority too: the local Argos stocks the dog seats, but we haven't found unicorn seats yet - the Argos ones are out of stock, and a bit too pricey anyway at £99.95. We're still googling on that one. Let us know if you've got an old one to pass on to us, won't you - and don't waste time crafting an email, a simple postcard will do (!).

Poor Rover !!!! And poor Buckles !!!!!

Argos's "Cosatto" Unicorn Car Safety Seat, out of stock,

but a bit pricey anyway, at £99.95 - what madness !!!!

We're trying to "think positive" - it's our way. And on our morning walk today we reminisce about the pluses of the last 16 months when we've had the frequent pleasure of Sarah and family's company, especially with Sarah and the twins coming to stay over with us most weekends.

And when we stop in at the Poolbrook Kitchen and Coffee Shop, our slightly subdued mood is enlivened by the two fruity 'milfs' sitting behind us, single or separated or divorced, we're not sure which, talking about their relationship problems, which cheers us up no end. Wherever you go, there's always somebody worse off than yourselves, isn't there, which is a comfort, to put it mildly!

on our morning walk today, in the lee of the lovely 700 million-year-old

Malvern Hills, we reminisce about the many pluses we've enjoyed from our

16 months of close company with our daughter Sarah and family

we stop in at the local Poolbrook Kitchen and Coffee Shop

for coffee and toasted tea-cakes with blackcurrant jam, and we're cheered up

no end by the relationship problems of the two 'milfs' behind us

- there's always somebody worse off than yourself, isn't there, which is a comfort!

And later, in the Tesco Local mini-supermarket on Pickersleigh Road, we realise how much smaller our grocery needs are going to be from now on. No more of the 5-bushel 'catering packs' of Cheerios breakfast cereal that the twins used to get through every weekend - my goodness no!

we realise today that we don't need to buy the usual

5-bushel size pack of Cheerios Breakfast Cereal,

which will make our shopping bags lighter, to put it mildly!

Let's hope that Sarah and Francis will be able to locate the bigger boxes of Cheerios in the local Perth supermarkets. Lois and I have visited Australia twice, in 2016 and 2018, during Sarah and family's previous (7-year (!)) "spell" in the city 2015-2023), and as far as we can remember, the Aussie cereals are pretty much the same as ours, sometimes with slightly different names. Are boxes of 'Cheerios' called "Hooroo mate" boxes over there, perhaps? I think I should be told, don't you?

flashback to March 2018: Lois (in white hat) being served at the

Woolworths checkout, Currambine, Western Australia

And yes, they still have Woolworthses over there which is nostalgic too, isn't it.

21:00 Feeling much cheered up, and with Buckles the Unicorn, and Rover tucked up in the bed that our daughter used to sleep in (Awwwwww!!!!).

Buckles (left) and Rover tonight, tucked up in

the bed that Sarah used to sleep in. Awwwwww!!!!

We wind down for bed with tonight's re-run of an old 'Allo 'Allo sitcom episode: the series centred on harassed French café-owner René, trying to keep the peace during World War II between the local German officers, the local "De Gaulle" French resistance, and the local Communist French Resistance (!)

[That's enough exclamation marks in brackets (!) - Ed]

What madness !!!!

You can always learn things, even from slightly "cheeky-to-rude" (!) sitcoms like this one, can't you - it's a fact! Who knew where all today's different-shaped glasses all came from, for example (?).

In this scene, café-owner René claims to have the answer: