Here's the most personal question I think I've ever asked you, my friends, so gear yourself up for it, and don't waste any time - because here it is coming up right ........ now!
And here's the thing.
Is your name Colin? I think most of us would hold our hands up and say an emphatic "Yes!" to that little doozy of an enquiry, wouldn't we! Be honest now haha!! Well, today is a great day for Colins throughout the world, isn't it. I expect you saw the story in this morning's Onion News (West Worcestershire Print Edition), or if you're a "foreigner", just check out the International Version - you'll find it right there near the back (page 94), and it's a bit of a "corker" isn't it, to put it mildly!
Also gratifying to learn is that proto-Colin was discovered in Szeged, Hungary, where my medium-to-long-suffering wife and I once stayed for 3 nights in a nice hotel on our post-retirement celebratory "incursion" into deepest Europe. We were travelling with our friends "Magyar" Mike and his wife "Magyar Mary"
Did I feel the vibes at the time, perhaps, or any sort of nagging inkling, as a "modern Colin". that Szeged, Hungary area was my ancestral homeland?
I wonder....!
flashback to 2006, and mine and Lois's post-retirement holiday in Europe:
(left) the two of us with our friend "Magyar" Mary at a café in Szeged, Hungary,
and (right) a delighted Lois being serenaded by a gypsy violinist in our Szeged hotel
flashback even further - to 1994 and my first ever trip to Hungary, with my friend
"Magyar" Mike. We're seen here on a trip to the Croatian border at the time
of the Yugoslav Civil War: (left) Magyar Mike with our Hungarian friend János,
and (right) me, with János, looking over towards the then strife-torn Croatia.
And Lois and I think back nostalgically to those years of travelling with "Magyar" Mike and "Magyar" Mary, this morning, because we learn today, in an email from Mike's grandson Stephen, that poor Mike is "very unwell". Mike's a tough old bird, however, and we'll just have to hope that he pulls through this crisis. It does sound a bit ominous, nonetheless.
It's a bit of a funny day today for us all round. We grab a quick walk down by CS "Narnia" Lewis's old alma mater, Malvern College, but we have to hurry back home again, because it's going to be a mad day for deliveries: some of the so-called "vests" I've ordered for Lois as Christmas presents, plus a shiny new computer keyboard and stand, coming from Argos.
our daily "old codger" walk this morning in the lee of the lovely
700-million-year-old Malvern Hills, but we keep having to
check our watches, because our online deliveries
are due to start at 11:30am. What a crazy world we live in !!!
My laptop keyboard had been giving me problems recently. The 'Q' key stopped working entirely, so I'd been avoiding typing words with the letter 'q' in my blog posts, as far as possible, and where I couldn't, I had to copy and paste the letter 'Q' from other people's stuff on the web - what madness !!!!! And the 'Q' key's "sickness" turned out to be highly contagious, because it then spread to the 'M' key, which is right on the other side of the keyboard - the virus must have somehow evolved the ability to "jump" not just keys but also key rows, which is bad news not just for me, but for the human race in general.
The "vests", the keyboard and the laptop stand that I've ordered online, all arrive okay today, although partially disturbing our customary afternoon in bed - what madness!!
picture of my ancient laptop, displaying the distance between the two
infected keys - (left) the Q-key, and (right) the M-key,
both now infected by what I'm calling the "QM virus"
[Health warning: precise keyboard arrangements may vary]
And this evening I put it my new office "configuration" in place for the morning. Unfortunately, it seems to mean a bit of an awkwardly massive "footprint" for our dining-table.
What utter utter utter utter madness !!!! [That's enough madness! - Ed]
my new office "set-up" with its gigantic "footprint"
- creaky old laptop on shiny new laptop stand (above) and, beneath,
my shiny-new keyboard with fully functioning 'q' and 'm' keys
Lois comments that I'll have to "think again if you imagine I'm going to work around that monstrosity when I'm serving meals".
Well, we'll see. She may come round to the idea when she sees the so-called "vests" I'm giving her for Christmas. But maybe they won't "cut it", on reflection. Oh dear! Your ideas for supplementary gifts, please - postcards only haha!!!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz!!!!
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