Yes, Friends, is there a black sheep in YOUR family? And I bet it's you - at least if today's "splash" headlines in the local Onion News for East Hampshire are to be believed!
And what my wife Lois and I say, as we laugh over the story in bed this morning, here in our new home in semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, is... "Poor Mr and Mrs Kemble"!!!
my wife Lois and me - a recent picture
Yes, poor Mr and Mrs Kemble, finding themselves, perhaps gradually over the years, to be the "shepherds" of a whole flock of "black sheep", and "Kudos" to them for not "throwing in the towel" yonks ago!!!! And if you're saying to yourself, "I've read that story before!", you're probably right, because it's featured in the paper's popular "From the Archives" column near the bottom of page 94, would you believe!!!!
10:30 Lois and I first read that Onion News story many years ago, and that picture of young Anna Kemble, painting by herself at the campsite, comes back to us to haunt us this morning, as we talk to our dear younger daughter Sarah, 9000 miles away in Bremer Bay, Western Australia this morning, and we see pictures of her little family - husband Francis and their 12-year-old twins Lily and Jessica.
It's already dark there would you believe, due to the 8-hour time difference with the UK, and the campsite is alive with children's voices still, we can tell from the little film that Sarah shoots for us. Let's hope all that "mayhem" dies down eventually and the family can get some much-needed sleep after their punishing 350-mile drive down there on Sunday from their home in Yanchep, in Perth's northern suburbs.
What madness, isn't it !!!!
some "stills" from the video clip our daughter Sarah shoots for us today from
the family's campsite in Bremer Bay, W. Australia: (left) husband Francis's view
from his folding chair, and the cheery waves Lois and I receive from (centre) our
12-year-old twin granddaughters Lily and Jessica, and (right) our son-in-law Francis
But what a crazy world they lived in, back in those far-off times !!!!!
11:00 For Lois and me this morning, a day of "tying up loose ends" is beginning, having our weekly shower, checking the tyres on our little car, and making some last-minute extra jam-tarts and mince-pies ["not a success", Lois says (!)], wrapping our presents to each other [not shown] - you know the sort of thing!
a last-minute Christmas Eve batch of jam tarts and mince pies etc,
which Lois dubs "not a success" - wrong sort of flour apparently (!)
What madness !!!!! [That's enough madness! - Ed]
The pressure is off Lois and me a bit today, because, from 11 am tomorrow, our other daughter Alison, will be coming by to "whisk us away" to her home 10 miles away in Churt, just over the county line in Surrey, where we'll spend a traditionally lovely merry Christmas Day with Alison's family - husband Edward and their 3 teenage kids, Josie (19), Rosalind (17) and Isaac (15).
our daughter Alison with husband Edward and their 3 teenage kids
- a recent picture
It'll be a traditional Christmas turkey-with-all-the-trimmings meal tomorrow, cooked by Edward, followed by an afternoon of present-unwrapping by the Christmas tree - "as in days of yore". And Lois and I can still vividly remember Christmas Days in the 1950's and 1960's, gathered round the tree on Christmas Day afternoon, with our parents and siblings, although no pictures survive: in those crazy days we had to go outdoors if we wanted to take photos, which was a pity!
These two photos are from our daughter Alison's first-ever Christmas, back in 1975, at my parents' home in Headington, Oxford, featuring my dear sister Jill and my dear late brother Steve - dig that crazy hair !!!! And not to forget my parents' crazy spaniel Luke, who insisted on being photographed with the group - dig those crazy eyes!!!!
And much later from the 1990's here's a Christmas Day dinner picture featuring my dear late parents and Kathy my dear late sister, who had flown here from the States for the holidays, with American husband Steve : my parents being younger then than Lois and I are now, at Christmas 2025 - yikes !!!!!
Those 'golden, happy olden days of yore' eh !!!! Yes, happy times!!!!
And not to forget mine and Lois's craziest Christmas ever, in 1981, when we were preparing to pack up and move to the States for 3 years. Our younger daughter Sarah (4) somehow got a bad eye infection and had to spend a week in hospital over Christmas, and Lois and I took turns to spend the night there with her.
flashback to Christmas 1981: (top) our younger daughter Sarah (4) somehow got
a bad eye infection and had to spend Christmas in hospital, and (below)
happily out of hospital, and back home, seen here by our Christmas tree with her sister Alison (6)
And no Christmas Eve is ever complete without seeing the annual awards for the "Gone Fishing" angling programme, the series presented by angling enthusiasts and media celebs Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer.
And after some more fishing expeditions in the rivers of Devon and Cornwall, the mood quietens for the evening's supper at a local restaurant, where anticipation is on the rise, ahead of the series' annual awards ceremony, presided over by Bob himself:
First up is the series' prestigious "Employee of the Year" award, which, again this year, Bob has awarded to himself:
So fair enough, Lois and I think! And that's one achievement we've had ourselves, which is a comfort!
Ted gets his own little crown, which is a nice touch, we feel!
It's becoming clear, by this point, however, that Bob's co-presenter Paul is going to be walking away from the ceremony empty-handed again. And there's a bit of an ugly scene, when Paul walks out of the restaurant in protest:
the scene later, when Ted can be seen eating his "Lifetime Achievement Award"
a small crown, in the gutter outside the restaurant
Poor Paul !!!!! Better luck next year haha !!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!
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