Tuesday October 14th 2025 "Have YOU ever been on a solo adventure? No? Well, don't be such a 'wuss' !!!!!"

Have YOU ever gone on a "solo adventure"? Don't be a 'wuss' !!! It's a bit scary, but you'll get a tremendous rush of adrenalin if you try it! And let me know how it goes, won't you (postcards only!!!!).

And a typical "solo adventure" story "popped up" in today's local Onion News for East Hampshire, as it happens - just turn to page 94 !!!!!

Kudos, Connor !!!!

And Connor's story brought a slight chuckle to the face of Yours Truly, and to the face of my light-to-moderate wife Lois this morning, as she kissed me a tearful goodbye on the doorstep, on my own first "solo adventure", my first for, like, a billion years, more probably!!!!

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

Let me put my cards on the table at this point [I wish you wouldn't keep doing that, Colin! - Ed].

As you can see from the above picture Lois and I are fully-paid-up "old codgers", and since we retired in 2006, we've been living in each other's pockets 24/7. And even when we go out in our car, it's a joint effort, with me merely holding, and moving, the steering wheel, and Lois keeping a watchful eye on the other traffic, telling me when to left and when to turn right, and giving me the "all clear" at T-junctions etc, which makes driving so much easier for me, and so much more fun, you would not believe! 

me and my "navigator", a.k.a. my light-to-moderate wife Lois, 

just about to go on another hair-raising drive over some local strings of 

potholes that they call "country lanes" in these here parts (!)

And it's especially useful to have her sitting right there beside me in the passenger seat, since we only moved to our current home in rural, leafy, semi-grassy Liphook, Hampshire just 9 months ago, and we're never 100% sure at any given moment what particular pothole-ridden country lane we're driving on half the time, to put it mildly (!).

Today, however, I've got no option but to do both the steering and the navigating all on my own, which is a bit nerve-wracking. Lois wants me to do my first ever solo drive into "downtown" Liphook and sign us both up for the local U3A "Intermediate Local History for Old Codgers" group, and also attend the group's October meeting. She herself can't come with me today because it's her church's monthly online "Sisters' Class" this morning. Yikes!

Luckily all goes well on my solo ride-from-hell, I can exclusively reveal, and I fully meet the challenge, but like the friends of plucky little 6-year-old trike-driver Connor (see Onion story above!), Lois breathes a sigh of relief when I come home 90-minutes later, a bit "ashen-faced" but still alive and in one piece, which is encouraging!

At this morning's talk, all about Liphook's iconic "Royal Anchor Hotel", I even get to know a few local fellow old-codgers, and have a few conversations without Lois being there to make the first approach and take the lead, which is probably extremely good for my personal development and sense of initiative (!). [It's a bit late for that at your stage of life, Colin - just saying! - Ed].

I do something without Lois for the first time in, like, a billion years, more probably! 

This morning's talk is all about Liphook's oldest surviving inn, the Royal Anchor, plumb in the centre of Liphook, and an inn that's more historical than you'd expect, given the lowly nature of this otherwise unremarkable little town. 

Kings and queens have stayed there at the current building or its predecessors. Also in the visitor's book are the names of famous writers like Samuel Pepys, author of the iconic 17th century diary, and Admiral Nelson, who saved us from the French at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Pepys famously was a pen-pusher in the Government's Navy Dept, and frequently had to travel to and from Portsmouth.

the historic Royal Anchor Inn as it looks today in the centre of Liphook

- "a big, big inn in a small, small town"

But "Why did all these great monarchs and celebrities stay the night in a little place like Liphook, Colin?", I hear you cry. [Not me, I've given up on this post! - Ed]

Well, seeing as how you're obviously "gagging" to know (!), Liphook lies on the old road between London and Royal Naval Headquarters, in Portsmouth on the English Channel coast, and given that in the old days, there were even more potholes etc then, than there are today, that journey took a full two and a half days, so Liphook was a good place to stay your first night if travelling to Portsmouth from London.

Admiral Nelson actually spent his last night ever in England at the inn, before boarding his ship HMS Victory at Portsmouth, and sailing down to Trafalgar, the battle in which he famously died, after leading the Royal Navy to victory over the French and Spanish fleets in 1805.

Nelson knew the inn well, because he'd previously had some "naughty nights" there with his mistress, Lady Hamilton - nudge nudge wink wink haha!

Monarchs galore have stayed at the inn too - Liphook was also on the route from London to the New Forest, where medieval kings liked to do their hunting. Edward II (1284-1387) was the earliest example of this, but others followed. 

And the last monarch to stay there was George III, who came with Queen Charlotte in 1789, and hence the inn's current name The Royal Anchor. Foreign monarchs came over from the Continent and, together with Britain's Prince Regent, celebrated the defeat of Napoleon at the inn, in 1815, which "made the world safe for monarchy (!)". 

What a crazy world they lived in, in those far-off days!!!!

21:00 There's no doubt that all old codgers like Lois and me need somebody younger with a head-on-their-shoulders if this crazy world of ours, in 2025, that's for sure!

This is proved over and over by tonight's second programme in the new game show series, "Worlds Apart" which pairs 6 old codgers each with their own "young whippersnappers" (!) to face a number of challenges travelling round Japan, with the winning old-young couple up for a possible £50,000 prize.

Tonight old codger Colin with his team-mate Caroline, a 20-something Welsh woman from Swansea, discover a red British telephone box that turns out to be a secret entrance to a Japanese whisky bar. Although whisky was first distilled in Scotland, it's also a massive industry in Japan.

Once inside Colin and Caroline find that they have to answer some questions about Japan.

The couple start off well, getting a lot of answers right, but their performance goes right off the rails the more drams of whisky they win, especially in Colin's case.

Poor Colin!!!! Still you're only old once, aren't you haha!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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