Saturday September 27th 2025 "When was the last time YOU met a fairy princess! Makes you think, doesn't it!"

Yes, friends, can you remember the last time YOU met a fairy princess? Bet it was a while ago, wasn't it! And there's a good reason for that, according to this morning's Onion News - see page 94, look at that graph on the whiteboard, and weep!!!!

It's a worrying report, but in reality it has its funny side too, hasn't it! And for personal reasons, it brings a bit of a chuckle to the faces of me and my light-to-moderate wife Lois in leafy Liphook, Hampshire this morning, which is nice!

my light-to-moderate wife Lois and me - a recent picture

"But why the chuckle, Colin?", I hear you cry!

Well, today, Saturday, is going to be an unusually busy day for us, because we've got to pick up our 15-year-old grandson Isaac up from his home just over the county line in Churt, Surrey and take him to some auditions and rehearsals in nearby Haslemere, for a part in next spring's production of "Legally Blonde The Musical" in Haslemere Town Hall. 

And before he goes in to the auditions, Isaac tells us it's all about a ditsy-looking blonde woman who nevertheless becomes a lawyer while staying true to her "girly-girly" roots, so in a way it's an answer to all the "Moaning Minnies" decrying the recent lack of Fairy Princesses, which is a heartening news, to put it mildly!

We imagine Isaac will get a good part in the production, because he's a seasoned local amateur actor/singer - having recently played the part of the Tin Man in his school's version of "The Wizard of Oz", so we think he'll be a "shoo-in" - call us biased if you like haha!!!

The production is being organised by the Surrey Theatre Group's answer to New Yorks "Fame" Academy. 

Lois outside Haslemere Hall this morning, while our 15-year-old grandson is inside

auditioning for a part in the Surrey Theatre Group's production of "Legally Blonde the Musical" 

flashback to July: our 15-year-old grandson Isaac in his Tin Man costume for

his school's version of the Wizard of Oz, seen here with mum Alison (our elder

daughter) and dad Isaac, a hotshot London lawyer

"Shoo-in" for the part, or not - it's a bit of a nail-biting 2 hours for Lois and me, as two "old codgers" knocking around Haslemere town centre, sampling some of its many delights, buying bras from Amazing Grace (just for Lois haha! - but of the same brand that Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II favoured, according to shop-owner Grace!). 

Basically we are trying to stay out of trouble (!), for Isaac's sake!

Haslemere Town Centre with it iconic mile-stone, indicating

that we're a mere 40 miles from London's Hyde Park Corner

I sit in the "husband's chair" at the Amazing Grace underwear shop, while

shop-owner Grace takes Lois upstairs for a fitting, one of the bras 

favoured by our late Queen, according to Grace (!)

we kill more time and try to stay out of trouble (!), with a coffee

at Hemingway's and a bacon-and-brie-jacket-potato lunch at Oliver's

Lois and I have been retired for almost 20 years, so having to do something we don't do everyday makes any day "busy", according to the "Old Codgers Rule-book" that we've made up haha!

Poor us !!!!!

We're having to "chauffeur" young Isaac around in Haslemere this morning because his mum and dad are away this weekend in Durham, where they've taken their eldest Josie to start her 3-4 year maths-and-Mandarin degree course up there, in the "frozen north" (!). 

flashback to Friday last week: (top left) me with Josie on the sofa at the family's

home in Churt, and (top right) Josie modelling the coat Lois and I gave her

as a birthday present, to equip her for 3-4 years in "The Frozen North" (!),

and (bottom) Josie today getting to know her room in her college at Durham

in the company of dad Edward and mum Alison

Dad Edward will be staying up there on business or something resembling it, allegedly (!). He works for some of the UK's railway companies and he'll be in Liverpool this week for this year's Labour Party conference, with a view to "schmoozing", sorry, I mean, "having frank discussions with" (!), Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander  and her officials. 

(left) the setup for this week's annual Labour Party Conference in Liverpool,

and (right) Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, whom our son-in-law Edward

will be "schmoozing", oops sorry (!), "having frank discussions with" (!)

What madness!!!! 

And mum Alison will be coming home from Durham tomorrow (Sunday) by train, and Lois and I will be picking her up at Haslemere Railway Station tomorrow afternoon.

So, all in all, another very busy day for Lois and me tomorrow haha !!!!

Luckily, Lois decides she'll stay at home tomorrow morning, and just take part online in her church's Sunday Morning Meeting, to make the day slightly less busy, cutting out the travel down to Petersfield where the church holds its services.

flashback to 2024: Lois, in one of her "meeting hats"

 attending her church's Sunday Morning Meeting online

It's probably just as well that we won't be travelling to Petersfield anyway, because the town is on the fringes of the New Forest, where, according to an email from Steve, our brother-in-law in Pennsylvania, there could be a lot of loose pigs wandering around. Steve monitors the British press for us, as Lois and I are often too busy (!) to even switch on the news, let alone concentrate on it, would you believe!

What a crazy country we live in !!!!! And, as Steve comments, figures for dead and injured pigs don't seem to have been reported. Which begs the question -  exactly what are our elected 'masters' trying to hide from us?

I think we should be told, don't you!

20:00 Relieved that Lois and I personally won't be in danger of injuring or killing any pigs tomorrow, we decide to go to bed on ITV's original film version of the Legally Blonde musical that our grandson Isaac will be taking part in next year, just to get a rough idea and try and guess what part Isaac would be most suited for.

Sorry we can't resist it haha !!!

It's an entertaining film: here we see ditsy-looking blonde Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) arriving at Harvard for the first time and meeting her study-group for an informal get-to-know-you session on the grass outside the college.

Notes: Our heroine, Elle, is the one sitting on the right, dressed in pink clutching her adorable little dog (!).

First up, here's a nervous-looking David Kidney:

Next up we have Enid Wexler: 

After Enid, we hear from Aaron Mitchell:

Sounds like a tough crowd, doesn't it, to put it mildly!

Luckily, it turns out that our heroine, Elle, together with her adorable little dog Bruiser, has more qualifications than the lot of them, which is cheering!

Fair enough, enough said! "Elle takes the trophy!", Lois and I think! If anything she's overqualified, we say - call us biased if you like haha!

And it's all the most tremendous fun at the same time!!!!

Grandparental note: if asked, the role we'll be suggesting for our grandson Isaac is the David Kidney role (see above). Unlike Kidney, our young grandson Isaac hasn't got a masters in Russian Literature, but he is taking a GCSE in Mandarin Chinese. He's never been to Somalia to de-worm orphans, but he has been on a school trip to China, which knocks de-worming in Somalia into a cocked hat, to put it mildly!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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