Friday November 21st 2025 Do YOU always respect the boundaries of others, especially if you live with them?"

Yes, Friends, how important it is to respect the boundaries of others, especially if you live with them!  

But it's also permissible, these days, to "nibble away" at those boundaries, especially if they're not looking, or otherwise engaged! That's what my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I say, anyway - we're constantly "nibbling away" at each other's boundaries, but we have been married for 53 years, so fair enough. 

"You're only old once!" is what we say!

my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and me - a recent picture

Have you seen this morning's local Onion News for East Hampshire, however? Arguably, area man Andrew Baker hasn't been so punctilious!!!!

Naughty Andrew !!!!!

But the image of Andrew grabbing a couple of bites of his roommate's left-over chicken pad thai brings a wicked smirk to the "chops" of Lois and me this morning, here in our new home in leafy Liphook, Hampshire. And it's all because we're going to be celebrating today with a lunch at the Sabai Thai restaurant just over the county line in Haslemere, Surrey, before spending another self-indulgent afternoon in bed.

Well, why not! It's not every day that you sell your house, and I'm talking about our former home in Malvern, Worcestershire where Yours Truly and Mrs Yours Truly, as I like to call her (!), used to live till January this year. We left the house vacant and unsold when we moved to Liphook, but contracts were finally exchanged yesterday with a nice young couple called Sophie and George, and the deal was completed today, which is nice!

(left, centre) our old house in Malvern, which has lain empty and unsold - until today,

and (right) our current home in Liphook, where we moved in January

So, as of today, we're the proud non-owners of that Malvern House, and we can stop paying council tax there, and we can stop insuring that house and all the kitchen and other equipment etc: the central heating boiler, the cooker, the hob, the cooker hood, the electric shower etc, you name it!!! 

What a crazy world we live in !!!!!!

Yes, today's a day to celebrate, no question!!!! So bring on the veggie spring rolls and the Thai chicken stir-fries, not to mention the bottles of Thai-ger beer - geddit haha!!!

flashback to lunchtime today: our celebratory meal at the Sabai Thai Restaurant

just over the county line in Haslemere, Surrey

Woohoo!!! Yes, at last we're no longer multiple-home-owners, which is a relief, to put it mildly!

And talking things over at the restaurant, we calculate that our Malvern House is the fourth house that Lois and I have sold, in our long lives. We've been home-owners since 1974, would you believe, when we bought our first one, for about £8000 (!), a little Victorian terraced house in Cheltenham, with just a small concrete yard and a little flower bed at the back.

And back in 1974, as home-owners for the first time in our lives, we calculated we could now try for a baby, and why not? You're only young once!!!!!

flashback to our snowy backyard in early 1975, and Lois's "bump"

is just beginning to show - our first child, Alison, was born in August

flashback to the long hot summer of 1976: (left) our first child, Alison, at the wheel of

our old Morris Minor, parked in front of our little terraced house in Cheltenham, and

(right) little Alison on her first ever seaside holiday, to Minehead, Somerset

Happy days!!!!

It seems like only yesterday, but "Time flies", doesn't it.

And this month Lois and I, who are now both 79 would you believe (!), got some alarming news from the US, from Steve, our American brother-in-law, on exactly how much more life we can expect - something they must obviously be monitoring over there (!).

Yikes!!! Well, Lois is okay for a bit longer, obviously, but I myself am clearly living on borrowed time (!).

We've already "had a good innings", as people say, using the cricket phrase, and there's an amusing story Lois reads out to me in bed this afternoon. It's taken from her last week's copy of "The Week" magazine, which gives a digest of the big news stories from the UK and abroad.

It's all about popular author Jilly Cooper, writer of steamy stories about country folk. Sadly, Jilly died last month, but at the grand old age of 88, so she also "had a good innings", which is nice to know.

What a crazy world we live in !!!!! [You've done that one once already - just saying! - Ed]

21:00 We go to bed on this week's edition of the comedy news quiz "Have I Got News For You", chaired this week by Sports Journalist Gabby Logan, with regular team-captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop.

Gaby assures us that, following the Panorama scandal, all footage of Donald Trump in the show has been edited fairly, and she gives us this week's excerpts.

And tonight we see Donald confirming on tape that he apparently loves watching Have I Got News For You.

And in the clip we see, the applause for Donald's frank admission of his love for the programme just keeps on coming, as he travels the world, repeating his frank confession. I guess all that must be genuine?

Yes, go on Rachel, think of your reputation! Sue those bastards for every last penny they've got! 

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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

Thursday November 20th 2025 "Have YOU ever wished you'd become an estate agent?"

Yes, Friends, have you ever wished you'd decided to become an estate agent? Especially if you're of a creative turn of mind, because the estate agent's chances to "wax creative" can't really be beaten, can they haha!!!!

And if you live in Liphook, East Hampshire, as my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I do (for our sins!!!!), you'll have seen today's "splash" headlines in the local Onion News, I'm sure of that!!!!!

The Onion story brings a bit of a lop-sided "guffaw" to Lois's face and my face this morning, when we settle down to read the paper, in our lovely home in Liphook, which we moved into just 11 short months ago.

my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and me - a recent picture

But why the very prominent, lop-sided "guffaw" on your faces this morning, Colin?", I hear you cry!

Well, we're laughing because our own estate agent, Lee, is on the phone, giving us the great news that our previous  home in Malvern, Worcestershire is definitely going to be "snapped up" by a nice young couple, Sophie and George. 

our buyers, Sophie and George

A lovely couple, I expect, but they certainly take their time over things, to put it mildly! 

They first put in an offer on the house back in July, and even 2 weeks ago they were still asking us footling little questions, like, "Is the house still spick and span and tidy, and can you pay for it to be deep-cleaned please?", to which we gave them a somewhat "dusty" answer - no pun intended!!!!!

(left, centre) our dear former home in Malvern, Worcestershire, which has lain unloved

and unsold since January, when we moved to (right) our new home in Liphook, Hampshire

And if you don't know what a "dusty answer" is, let that nice Mr. Google enlighten you!!!

(left) George Meredith, the poet who wrote "Modern Love" in 1862, which popularised

the phrase "dusty answer", and (right) Rosamond Lehmann's book of the same name

Well, whether you're "hot for certainties" (as per Meredith!), or simply on an "inconclusive and bitter-sweet search for certainty" (as per Lehmann!), you'll rejoice with Lois and me today, because uncertainty is now just "so yesterday" for us, I'm glad to say!

Cheers!!!!

Contracts for the sale of our old house are officially being exchanged today, with completion date set for tomorrow, Friday, so, after 11 months of total "uncertainty", Lois and I feel we can at last really celebrate today, to put it mildly!

flashback to January: we move out of our old home in Malvern, and have a night

of pure self-indulgence at the Holiday Inn near Gloucester, before travelling on to Liphook

This is the plan for today - as soon as our new gardener, Matthew, has gone home, we're going to have a Jamie Oliver double pancake surprise for lunch followed by an extra-long afternoon in bed for statutory "nap-time", and tomorrow a lunch out, probably a Thai meal in nearby Haslemere, just over the county line, in Surrey, followed by - you've guessed it! Yes, another extra-long afternoon in bed!!! What's not to like haha!!!!

Well, you're only old once, aren't you haha!!!!

(left) Lois gives our new gardener Matthew his instructions for today, and (right)

Matthew in action, trimming shrubs and making our garden seem about 25% bigger, which is nice!

a double 'pancake surprise' choice for lunch, both for "mains" and for dessert,

courtesy of Jamie Oliver's new "Healthy Eating" recipe book, 

Somehow I manage today also to tell the old gas, electric and water companies, the ones we used in Malvern, to send us final bills, and tomorrow I'll be contacting the Malvern Hills District Council to tell them we don't want to pay them any council tax any more, and I'll also need to cancel the old house insurance, plus insurance for our former kitchen appliances etc - what madness!!!!

Busy busy busy!!!!

[You really don't know understand the word 'busy', do you, Colin! - Ed]

Yes, "certainty" at last! And speaking personally, I need certainty, yes, but what I most need now is actually a beer!!!! However, there's no time for that, till, hopefully, when we go out for lunch tomorrow - Thai beers are nice and refreshing, so watch this space!!!!

[I can't wait! - Ed]

flashback to February: we go out for a Thai meal on Valentine's Day

And Lois and I didn't know that there used to be 5 pubs just in the Tower of London, in days gone by, although now there's only one remaining: it must be those "£10 pints" putting them out of business, the pints that Steve, our American brother-in-law, warned us about the other day.

Yes, Lois and I didn't know that there used to be several taverns just within the walls of William the Conqueror's iconic Tower of London. But now there's only one, "The Keys". What madness !!!!

The tavern manageress, "AJ", apparently has some strong ideas about what drinks she's willing to serve to customers, and what she's not willing to serve - what madness (again) !!!!

Of course, only Beefeater Gin, which makes sense! That's all okay with me, "AJ" !!!!!

And if you like your pub to be absolutely "stuffed" with tacky Tower of London "nick-nacks", then you're in luck too!!!

And did you notice that lovely portrait of the Queen in the picture of the castle above - nice one, AJ !!!!

However, AJ has been manageress there at the tavern for 8 years now, and she thinks it's probably time to make way for a younger person.

"Will you miss it?", she's asked tonight, and this is her answer:

Kudos, AJ !!!!

Oh, and I almost forgot,  "Happy retirement, AJ!" haha !!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed}

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