Tuesday June 24th 2025 "Do YOUR window blinds get stuck sometimes - not quite "up" and yet, somehow, not quite "down" ??? So embarrassing isn't it haha !!!!"

Yes, Dear Reader, do YOUR horizontal window blinds get stuck sometimes, not wanting to go up and not wanting to fully come down, like when Santa Claus gets stuck in your chimney, "not quite up and not quite down", as it says in the old song (!) ? 

"Get them fixed, and do it now!" - that's my advice! Particularly if you're anxious not to adversely affect your neighbours' disadvantaged children, that is!

Did you see the big story this morning - it was in all the papers? [source: Onion News]

A chilling story, isn't it, and one that shows the importance of having good window-blinds that you can lower and raise without difficulty, so that only the people you want to look at you can do it without difficulty !!!

It may be hard to believe but, here in rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, where Lois and I live, it's my proud boast that there's normally a crowd of neighbours on ladders outside our windows, sometimes as early as 5 am, watching me "crafting" my daily blog, wanting to steal a march on fellow-readers by being first in the to see what "Old Colin" has been up to the previous day (!). 

Especially when I'm typing my popular "Neighbourhood Watch" column, in which I keep tabs on all the people in our tiny town, i.e. mine and Lois's "fellow-Lip-Hookers", as we call them !!!

(left) me, in my dressing-gown at 5 am, 'crafting' the US version of my blog's popular

"Lip-Hookers Neighbourhood Watch" Column, with the blinds firmly shut tight 

for obvious reasons (!), and (right) my first draft of latest news about what's-her-name next door (!)

And I'm sure that the very worst thing for these "Peeping Lip-Hookers" is... if my window blinds have got stuck and they can only read, like, the bottom half of the screen, which is often blank because I haven't typed anything on it yet!!! 

[I won't comment on the, like, sheer mega unlikeliness of that "proud boast" being even 0.00001 per cent true ! - Ed]

But the other side of the coin to my fame is that my medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois and I also like a bit of privacy sometimes - call us "kinky" if you like !!! 

Whether we're savouring a bit of "you-and-me-time" when we're upstairs in bed for the afternoon nap, or when we're on the sofa in the evenings, eating a particularly mouth-watering dessert, such as rhubarb and Icelandic yoghurt - yum yum! - we don't want to do it in front of a bunch of neighbours or passers-by thank you very much!

although we're used to living our life very much "in the public eye"

here in Liphook, Hampshire, due to my unfortunate fame as "the local blogger", 

there are times when we demand privacy, like nap-time or "rhubarb on the couch" time (!)

Yes, one of my most popular blog posts - ever - was that one (see above) about our neighbour, what's her name - the one who's been expecting her fourth child and has been observed to be reducing the quantity of exclamation marks in her emails to friends and family etc. 

[That's enough whimsy! - Ed]

And if you've been counting the exclamation marks in this blog post, you'll have noticed already, I'm sure, a significant sharp decrease in the usual "forest" of the little buggers, to put it mildly! And you'll know that it can only mean one thing - yes, for Yours Truly it's being a bit of a hard day !!!!

Yes, it's true!!! Poor old Yours Truly has had a bit of a bad day, having had to don my stylish "countryman's cap" and endure another visit to Jose, our new Portuguese dentist with the New Zealand accent, coming home 90 minutes later with a mouth numb from the pain-killing injection, and under strict instructions "not to have anything hot for 3 hours" - what madness !!!!!!

(left) Lois, with me in my stylish "countryman's cap" in our Portuguese dentist's 

waiting-area this morning, waiting to see dentist Jose (centre) and hygienist Lisa (right)

The worst thing is, however, that I've been given a warning to "cut out the snacks" between meals: especially biscuits or anything else sweet, but also fruit even, and just concentrate on my "main meals", although Jose says that cheese and crackers are "okay" as snacks "if you must have something, Colin". 

What madness !!!!!

Today is only our second ever visit to Jose and Lisa, the hygienist, so it's all been a bit traumatic to say the least. Almost every day we're finding that we're meeting somebody new, either in the dentist's chair, or anywhere else round here, for that matter!

You see, we've only been living in Liphook, Hampshire for 6 months now, so the new experiences are coming thick and fast every day.

However, the most major point of concern to us (apart from our teeth !!!) is that, after 6 months, we still haven't sold our previous home in Malvern, Worcestershire. A few days ago we got word that a young couple were wanting to buy the house as their first home together, with both sets of parents agreeing to "chip in" to help the young "rascals" - Sophie and George - which was all rather sweet - awwww!!! 

(left, and centre) our old home in Malvern, Worcestershire, still unsold,

and (right) our current home in Liphook, Hampshire

Today, however, that "sweet young couple" Sophie and George have been bombarding Lois and me, via our estate-agent, with a lot of annoying questions about the house, which suggests strongly to us that they are having "second thoughts" about buying it. 

Those bastards !!!!!!!

Only kidding - I love them to bits really!!! Well perhaps not that much !!!!

But what a crazy world we live in !!!!! 

But, vever mind, because there's nothing like a bit of "retail therapy" for cheering the day up - no doubt about that! And Lois and I between us this afternoon order an astonishing array of items small and large, from a humble little office stapler from Amazon, up to a massive shiny new medium-to-tall freezer, from the Curry's branch at Basingstoke, an appliance that they say will work all-year-round in our garage. And Curry's can deliver it this Friday, which is exciting!

We got a shock when we first moved in here in Liphook in January, to discover that our existing old freezer wouldn't work in the garage "because it was too cold there" - what a madness that was !!!!

Mind you, even Yours Truly wouldn't work in the garage in January, even if I was paid to, so fair enough, I have to grudgingly admit !!!!!

(left) flashback to January, after Lois and I moved into our new home, only to discover

that our old freezer wouldn't work in the garage, because it was too cold there,

(and right) the Curry's advert that seduced us this afternoon, 

with delivery promised for Friday - exciting times !!!!!

Lois and I are both "boomers", both born in 1946, and we still struggle a bit with "metrics", but we think the new freezer will be "not quite Lois-size", when it comes to height, and definitely much smaller than the standard Lois-dimensions when it comes to her width and depth, especially since she's been on that low-fat, low-sugar diet - only kidding, Lois, by the way !!!!! 

Yours Truly was about 8 inches taller than Lois on the day we got married, but despite everything she still hasn't managed to catch me up, even after 55 years, would you believe!!!!

included for height comparison purposes: flashback to our wedding day in 1972,

(left) cutting the cake, and (right) just about to fly off on our honeymoon in Norway,

an early chance to test internal thermostats

I estimate Lois today as about 157H 40W 20D "in Curry terms", which isn't ideal for these purposes, to put it mildly (!), although it's fine for everything else, may I humbly say!

In terms of capacity I don't know how many so-called "litres" she is (or gallons in old-speak) - I'm still gathering data on that haha!!!

However, having said that, Lois is the nearest thing I've got to something so gloriously "middle-sized" as a BEKO medium-to-tall freezer, so I try her out standing by the wall in the garage next to the microwave, just to give us a rough idea how our shiny new freezer will "pan out" space-wise, when it arrives. This is even though, Lois is famously "not suitable for outbuildings" and "tends to switch off altogether" if it gets too cold (!).

my medium-to-hard-pressed wife Lois, famously

"not suitable for outbuildings" (!)

We don't know about the potential size issues for definite until  Friday however, when the Curry's guys will drop off this "beast of a machine" (the freezer, not Lois haha!!!!). 

So watch this space (literally - no pun intended haha !!!!!).

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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