Danskcolin: Tuesday October 28th 2025 It's 'tough decision time for sure', when YOUR robot gets 'past it' haha!"

Yes, friends, what to do when the family robot is obviously a bit "over the hill" (!) - it's a tough decision, but at least one Japanese family has found a humane answer, according to this morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire.

And if you missed the story, or don't live in East Hampshire (or both!), here's the article in full, just lightly edited by Yours Truly for content, style, overall message, facts etc (!):

Poor robot !!! But it's all for best, probably, isn't it! And here in rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, the Onion story brings a wry smile to the mouths of me and my light-to-moderate wife Lois this morning, while at the same time warming our "cockles" on this breezy October morning, which is nice!

my light-to-moderate wife Lois and me, seen here on our

daily walk, which this morning takes us over the "hallowed turf"

of East Hampshire Premier League soccer giants, Liphook United

The paper doesn't name the Akiyama family's robot in the story, but Lois and I are dubbing him "Robert" in our debate this morning about the story and the issues it raises.

Although both 79 and fully paid-up members of East Hampshire's "Old Codgers" community, our two daughters and their families have yet to make "that decision" to put us away - for our own good, obviously (!) - and so currently we're having to make do by giving each other those critical oil baths to ease our creaking (and squeaking!) limbs.

Also, unlike "Robert the Robot" in his cushy Japanese retirement home, we haven't got a tame physiotherapist "on tap" to press us in sensitive places and make us feel ten times worse haha!

Hence our trip this afternoon to nearby Liss, so that Lois can see an NHS physiotherapist about the intermittent aches and pains she gets in her back. Lois isn't sure whether she's any further forward today after her 20 minutes with Jo, the surgery's specialist, but at least she gets the promise of an x-ray appointment at nearby Petersfield, so maybe some good will come our of that.

Well, we'll just have to see - so watch this space!

(left) the 5.5 mile journey from our home in Liphook to nearby Liss, and

(right) us in the waiting-room for Lois's appointment with physiotherapist Jo

This is our first time seeing the fleshpots of Liss - we only moved to East Hampshire 9 months ago - and so after Lois's session with physiotherapist Jo, Lois and I take a little walk around the town to catch its "vibe", and snap any amusing signs. Well, you're only old once haha (!).

Although prehistoric human remains have been found around these parts going back to neolithic times, the town, first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, seems to have had a relatively quiet history, and it's certainly quiet this afternoon, to put it mildly!

It's got a lovely wool shop, however, so if you're into knitting, that's "a must" to drop by there!

we stroll around downtown West Liss, taking in the "vibe" and snapping any unusual signs etc:

(bottom left) the "rubbish sweater" on sale in the wool shop (made from recycled materials!)

and one of the local pubs' function rooms, dubbed "Bit on the Side"

By this point, Lois and I are gagging for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. Liss boasts two cafes, but as luck would have it, they both close at 3pm, which we didn't realise. As a matter of fact, we walk into one of them just on three o'clock, only to be given this very sad news !!!!

Poor us !!!!!

a typical shop in Liss's vibrant downtown shopping area

The problem is - when you start thinking about cake, you've just got to have a bit: that's what we say! So on our drive home to Liphook we stop by at Rake Garden Centre, which we know has a cafe, and Lois also picks up some plants for the garden, so that's all good!

So we have 6 dwarf wallflowers, 6 tall ones, 12 narcissi and 12 crocuses to fill up our car boot with, which makes the drive home in our little Honda Jazz somewhat sluggish (!), but we get home in time to go to bed, if just for "a quick one", so all's well.

at last a bit of cake, and a cup of tea from a china teapot, at the Rake Garden Centre cafe,

where we also pick up a bunch (no pun intended!) of plants to load our car down with !!!!

What a day - busy busy busy! [I don't think you know what the word 'busy' means, do you, Colin! - Ed]

21:00 We go to bed on tonight's programme in the current series of "QI XL", the comedy quiz which has the aim of telling us all the facts about the world that we need to know, in alphabetical order. They've now got to the letter 'W', so, probably even within mine and Lois's lifetime we'll be qualified to say "we now know everything that's worth knowing about the world", which will, among other things, certainly make this blog into a "must read", to put it mildly!

[I'm not holding my breath on that one, Colin! - Ed]

Lois and I didn't know that wood-feeding cockroaches eat each other's wings after mating. And in a way it's a bit like getting married for them, because after the mating's over, now both wingless, they're pretty much stuck where they are, and can only have sex with each other.

They start out with playful little nibbles while they're "at it", but by the time they've finished, their wings are completely reduced to stubs, and neither of them can now fly away anywhere. So they stay together, in effect "mating for life", which gives the species some evolutionary advantages.

two wood-feeding cockroaches mating for life

Aisling Bea calls that scenario "a quite human one", thinking about human couples who stay together, because they haven't got a "Plan B", but who feel increasingly bitter about the situation as the years go by.

What was it that Woody Allen said about his parents?

Poor Mr and Mrs Konigsberg !!!

That's not me when it comes to Lois, may I hasten to add. As Huey Lewis once sang to his girlfriend after they were marooned on a desert island, "I'm so happy to be stuck with you". And I didn't even have to nibble Lois's toes off to get her to stay, which is a good sign, to put it mildly!