Yes, friends, have YOU ever got stuck on one of Big Ben's hands, when visiting London? If you have, there's no real excuse for it these days, what with all the "warning" notices posted up around the place - you've got to admit!
However, tourists keep doing it, seemingly - there's an article about it in this morning's Onion News for East Hampshire - turn to page 94 for full details!
I have to confess, however, that reading the story gives me and my light-to-moderate wife Lois a bit of a chuckle this morning here in grassy, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, because we're going to be "playing tourist" ourselves today - not in London but just outside the nearby town of Alton.
me and my light-to-moderate wife Lois - a recent picture
Call us over-cautious if you like haha !!!
We're both a bit over-tired after a busy week in Bournemouth on the English Channel coast, followed by a Latin "exam" yesterday in our bid to join the local U3A "Intermediate Latin for Old Codgers" group. And what we're visiting today is only Jane Austen's brother's house, not Jane's actual cottage, although she did spend a lot of time at her brother's. For example, we see the cosy little upstairs alcove where Jane used to sit and look down on the grand house's long driveway, which is nice.
(left) Lois and I start the long walk down the driveway of Chawton House, owned by
Jane Austen's brother Edward, and (right) meeting Lois's fellow-church members outside the entrance
Above all, it's a nice chance for Lois to "hobnob" with her fellow church members, see a few old paintings on the walls and hear about them from the volunteer guide, have lunch in the Old Kitchen Tea-room, and finally take a wander round the house's extensive grounds - you know the kind of thing!
And that's how you do it - job done, and then home to bed for a nap afterwards haha!
At least Lois and I have got a quiet evening to look forward to, watching the traditional "Last Night of the Proms", where a few surprises are promised this year - although nothing too exhausting, we hope!!!
We get the traditional crowd-pleasing anthems, of course - Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem, God Save the King and Auld Lang Syne, all conducted by the diminutive, but fiery Hong-Kong-born "conductress" Elim Chan.
soprano Louise Alder blows her Union Jack "giggle stick"
as she embarks on the traditional "Rule Britannia"
But there are also some novelties - surviving members of Queen rock group singing Freddie Mercury's "Bohemian Rhapsody" on its 50th anniversary, plus comedian Bill Bailey on the organ - what's not to like haha!
surviving Queen rock group members Brian May and Roger Taylor
give a 50th anniversary rendering of Freddie Mercury's Bohemian Rhapsody
Eventually Bill is persuaded to "give it a rest, Bill!" (!), and he invites the crowd to link arms for the traditional finale - "Auld Lang Syne":
And suddenly it's all over for another year.
22:00 Oops - must be time for bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!!
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