Danskcolin: Monday November 10th 2025 "Are YOU the kind of person everybody wants to 'offload' on?

Yes, Friends, are YOU the kind of person who everybody seems to want to "offload" on? Maybe you've just got one of those "sympathetic faces"?

Don't worry, you're not the only one, as evidenced by the splash headline on page 94 of this morning's Onion News for East Hampshire - and if you missed it, here it is, only lightly edited for content and language by Yours Truly - at no extra cost to your good self, so put that chequebook away - and do it now !!!

Poor Kent !!!!! Although this morning, reading Ms Kent's admittedly tragic "sob-story", my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and I can't help noticing some of the comments about Ms Kent already on local social media, claiming that Kent is a bit of a "bighead", perhaps a bit too "cocky" or "thinks too much of herself", to quote one local resident.

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

And in our fortnightly 'U3A Intermediate Latin for Old Codgers' class this morning, in the local Methodist Church Hall, Lois and I can't help exchanging a few wry glances as our teacher Joe and other class-members discuss the Roman poet Horace (65BC - 8BC), who, despite his world-class poetry, so famously "thought a lot of himself", without needing much encouragement to do so, to put it mildly!

our local 'U3A Intermediate Latin for Old Codgers'

class - some recent pictures

In the top right picture, you'll see me with Lois, smiling wrily at the antics of our teacher Joe (at the whiteboard) and of our fellow-class members, arguing, as per usual, about whether the window at the local Methodist Church Hall, should be open or closed today - what madness!!!!!

Roman poet Horace certainly had a high opinion of himself, saying that "[with my poetry], I have erected a monument longer-lasting than bronze, and loftier than pyramids built for kings" [Latin: exegi monumentum aere perennius, regalique situ pyramidum altius].

Well, get YOU, Horace !!!!

the Roman poet Horace (centre, standing) regales local friends

with some of his classic poems

Our teacher Joe, tells us this morning that Horace's villa in the Italian countryside has almost certainly been discovered and identified by archaeologists, and a major study of the remains was done between 1997 and 2003.

It's a big villa - a bit like Horace's head (!!!) - with numerous lavish bedrooms.

Horace's villa, discovered by archaeologists near the Italian town of Licenza

Joe tells us also that although Horace never married, he was certainly a favourite with local ladies - and hence the bedrooms, which would have come in handy (!).

Leucone was one of Horace's many local "squeezes", and his famous chat-up line to her: "Carpe diem!" (seize the day, [and don't worry about tomorrow], just pour out the wine!) has certainly rung down the two millennia since he was finally laid to rest, that's for sure!!!

Poor Leuconoe!!!!!

Leuconoe, one of Roman poet Horace's many "squeezes" -

'Don't worry about tomorrow, just pour out the wine', he told her. What madness !!!!

14:30 The class ends after 2 hours, and Lois and I, finally get to drive back to our new home in nearby rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, feeling like total "limp rags". Joe's fortnightly class has the unfortunate timing of 12:30 to 2:30 pm - I expect our teacher, Joe, gets the Methodist Church Hall study room at a bargain price at that sort of time - what madness again! Fortunately there's still time for Lois and me to go to bed for "statutory nap-time", which is a help - you would not believe (!).

I think that, for people who live very busy lives, like Lois and me [You've got to be joking there, Colin! - Ed], taking a daytime nap can be a life-saver And that's also the case even for young-to-middle-aged people like our daughter Sarah, who lives 9000 miles away from us, in Perth, Australia, with husband Francis and their 12-year-old twin daughters Lily and Jessica.

flashback to July: on their last trip to the UK, our little Australian family:

son-in-law Francis, our twin granddaughters and our daughter Sarah,

seen here with Lois on the banks of the Thames, in London

Poor Sarah! An accountant, she currently does two jobs, her "main one" in Perth, and, concurrently, her "old" job in Evesham UK, working weekends, and also evenings, to stay on top of her workload. Sometimes I get texts from Sarah as late as 5pm GMT, which is 1 o'clock in the morning Perth time - what madness!

Yesterday morning (Sunday), Lois and I had settled down on the couch for our regular "catch-up zoom call" with Sarah, but Sarah didn't come up on our screen, and we were left "waiting for host to start the meeting". We find out later that she had gone for a quick lie-down and a nap, but had then fell heavily asleep.

Poor Sarah!!! And today, as compensation, she sends us a cute picture of the twins outside Joondalup Public Library, with Jessie clutching their new library books, which is nice!

Luckily, Sarah is the type of person who "likes to be busy", and she's certainly got that, in spades !!!!

17:00 Lois and I struggle out of bed and relax (!) with a cup of tea and a Ryvita or three (!).

At least we've got a bit further today with our Latin. It may be a dead language, and Lois will sadly never get to talk to Roman poet Horace, even on zoom, but that might be for the best, given the old guy's "way with the ladies" (!), but let me know what YOU think - postcards only !!!!

And our developing knowledge of Latin kind of helps us tonight while watching our favourite TV quiz, Only Connect, hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell, the quiz that tests lateral thinking.

Booze lover Victoria starts tonight's show off with a bang, and a disarming personal confession, which is nice!

Kudos, Victoria haha!

But now for a question where Lois and I are helped by our knowledge of languages, which is gratifying.

Can YOU work out the connection between these four, seemingly unrelated "things"?

Yes, you've guessed it! They're all US state capitals with their names translated into English. "Holy faith" is Santa Fe (New Mexico), "Of the monks" is Des Moines (Iowa), "Sacrament" is Sacramento (California), and "Red stick" is Baton Rouge (Louisiana).

See? Simples!

And the question is a "walk in the park" for Lois and me - forgive my boasting! Yes, not only do we both know French and a bit of Spanish, but we also spent 3 years in the States between 1982 and 1985.

flashback to 1984: Lois and me with our daughters Alison (9)

and Sarah (7) touring the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia

Our two daughters, Alison and Sarah, attended the local elementary school in Columbia, Maryland, where, as well as learning the correct use and placement of commas (!), they also learnt the names of all the state capitals, a list on which they were regularly tested, and on which also Lois and I regularly tested them in between times, to keep them "up to scratch", like all good parents would have done (!).