Friends - do you believe in magic? Most of us do, don't we, although in many cases we're too embarrassed to admit it! Well, I'm sure you saw this morning's headline bombshell in Onion News (West Worcestershire Edition). Am I right? Or am I right!!!
It's an astonishing breakthrough, isn't it - and the first of its kind since 1997 would you believe (!) and very good news for anybody who doesn't like their boss, which is just about most of us, although not me or my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois (78) - we've been retired for an astonishing 18 years, so bosses can't hurt us now, that's for sure!
[That's enough whimsy! - Ed]
.....it was that picture of Greggs Worcester branch boss Jim Herbert (41) giving that pedicure to counter assistant Ed Greening that "saves our bacon" for me and Lois this morning, as it reminds us in the nick of time that we're due to have our own bimonthly "pedicure" session with Age UK's local podiatrist Joanne this morning, at 12 noon - yikes!
And when Joanne arrives, she explains that the media failed to report that there had always been 2 branches of Age UK in Worcester for some obscure reason, and it was just a re-structuring issue. One branch will close and the other will take over all the charity's responsibilities in the two counties.
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
After all, nothing says you're old more clearly than having to get somebody young to cut your toe-nails does it. Message received, loud and clear thanks very much haha !!!!
She also reports some sightings that remind us that Halloween is only 10 days away.
And there's just time to tidy-up and hoover the living-room and clean the downstairs loo, before we see Joanne's little car draw up outside. We weren't sure whether she'd be coming after news media announced recently that Age UK was "closing its Herefordshire and Worcestershire branch".
"Merger" or "Restructuring" headlines don't make an eye-catching story though, do they.
In this age of online news, there's a need for scary headlines that will act as "click bait", frightening the reader so that they'll click on the story and see a bunch of adverts as a result, thereby boosting the website's "click-stats". How often have Lois and I clicked on an "Extreme Weather To Hit The UK" story, only to find that they're only talking about the North of Scotland, or just Shetland, that kind of malarkey.
What madness !!!!!
Anyway, "Footwoman", a.k.a. Joanne arrives, to our relief, only about 10 minutes late, and by the time she leaves, all is well with our feet again, which is a nice feeling.
Age UK's local "Footwoman", a.k.a. Joanne,
gives mine and Lois's feet a good "seeing-to" this morning
After all, nothing says you're old more clearly than having to get somebody young to cut your toe-nails does it. Message received, loud and clear thanks very much haha !!!!
It's a bit of a "horizontal" day for me anyway today, or at least a "horizontal-to-45-degree" kind of a day, because I pulled a muscle in my right leg last night leaping out of bed to disconnect a smoke-alarm that was [beeping] the living daylights out of Lois and me just around midnight.
flashback to September: I showcase one of our six
troublesome smoke-alarms - this one being in our kitchen
We usually take a daily walk together, but today, with my pulled muscle I put my feet up [What's new about that? - Ed], while Lois "flies solo" taking a walk on her own around the new-build housing estate in Malvern, that we downsized to almost exactly 2 years ago.
Luckily when afternoon comes, we can go to bed for "nap time" and both be horizontal-to-45 degrees together - bed is always the great "leveller" isn't it? And Lois can fill me in with a verbal report on her walk and its findings.
our house, in the middle of our street - on the daily walk
today Lois is "flying solo" because of my pulled muscle
some reminders how much of this planned 250-house
newbuild estate still remains to be completed
the forbidding presence, behind an 8-foot high security fence,
of the top-secret Ministry of Defence contractor Qinetiq,
the outfit where radar was developed in World War II
to combat raids by German bombers
Halloween - only 10 days away - yikes!!!!
Lois and I actually moved here to this housing-estate on Halloween 2022, and we've already bought huge piles - like a billion: more probably! At least 70 anyway! - of fun-size chocolate bars etc in preparation for the anticipated billion or more young trick-or-treaters.
we've invested in - like a billion - or at least 70 anyway (!)
fun-size party mix chocolates etc for the anticipated
young trick-or-treaters expected to ring our doorbell in 10 days' time
We actually moved here to Malvern on October 31st 2022, because, at that time, our daughter Sarah and family were planning to move here after spending 7 years in Australia. However, things didn't work out for them as planned, and they flew back to Oz about a month ago, with Sarah taking a new job in Perth, Western Australia.
Flashback to September 1st: our daughter Sarah and her husband
Francis busy cleaning their house in Alcester and doing last minute
packing of hand luggage, ready for flying off to a new life in Perth, Australia
Lois and I take our twin granddaughters Lily and Jessica
to the local park, not 100 yards from their house,
to "keep them out of their parents' hair" and give them
a bit of fun at the same time - awwwwww!!!!
afterwards, Lois and I treat the whole family
to a traditional British Sunday roast lunch at
Alcester's 18th century pub, The Royal Oak
So now we're thinking about moving nearer to our other daughter Alison in Headley, Hampshire, and we've already been looking at some adverts for houses in the Headley area online.
Next week is half-term week for most UK schools, so it seems like the perfect time for Lois and me to spend a bit of with Alison and family in Headley, and hopefully also go and look round some of the houses that are coming onto the market. But we'll see - it may not be convenient for them to host us just at the moment.
So watch this space! [I can hardly wait! - Ed]
21:00 We settle down on the couch and wind down for bed with a re-run of the old 1970's comedy quiz show, Call My Bluff, in which two teams challenge each other, supplying 3 alternative definitions of the same obscure old English word, only one of which is true, with the other two being "bluffs".
Take the word "fillady" - please!!!
Well no, it isn't either of those, as journalist Charles Osbourne reveals when he gives the true definition:
I don't know - what a crazy world they lived in, all those British sailors and explorers, back in 1622 !!!!
And if you've got any ideas how Lois and I can introduce the word "fillady" into our conversation, perhaps at the "Keep Fit for Old Codgers" class that we're thinking of joining, then do let me know won't you!
Postcards only (!) - and 10-character "max", as per usual, needless to say !!!!
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!
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