Yes, Friends, who'd be a politician today! Busy busy busy!!!!
This morning's Onion News reminds us all, in their popular "From the Archives" column (see page 94!) that the record of the busiest day ever was set by a US politician exactly 12 years ago this year! It's a record that's never been broken, according to the Guinness Book of Records, which is nice!
And "Just who was that "busy bee", Colin?", I hear you cry!
Step forward, former US Secretary of State, Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, no less !!!
However, reading the Onion story this morning, here in semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, brings a confident but "classified (till tomorrow!)" secret smile to the pursed lips of me and my wife Lois. And those lips are fully pursed, simply because we've contacted the Guinness records people to hold the front page! It could be that that 12-year record of Hillary's is about to be broken, would you believe!!!!
Yes, it's one of those rare days when Lois and I have more than one thing on our day's calendar entry - and today, it's two major events, I can't emphasise strongly enough!!!!
Yes, and not only that, as you can tell from the above, we spend a lot of this morning "poncing about" in our cod-Scottish "gear", trying out a plethora of "camera angles" so we'll look our best for any celebrity journalists who just "happen" to be around, covering local pub The Links Tavern's 'Early Bird' Burns Night.
I say 'Early Bird' because it's the day before the real Burns Night, and has been set up by the pub specifically for any Liphook's "old codgers" anxious to avoid the crowds, which is nice!
Yum yum!!!
First however, we have a local chamber music concert this morning, to "show our faces at" !!! If you're local 'icons' like Lois and me, it's important just to be seen at these rare events here in semi-rural Liphook. "Noblesse oblige" and all that!
The concert is being given by two young women, up-and-coming Anglo-Turkish musicians Ezo Sarici (violin) and Deniz Cengiz (piano), who together form Duo Ekes. The concert is being held this morning at the 850-year old St Bartholomew's Church in nearby Haslemere, just over the county line in Surrey.
And in between the "numbers" in their "set", the women banter and joke light-heartedly with their audience, and surprise surprise they talk in absolutely perfect English, just like you and me, would you believe! We google them later and find that Ezo, the violinist, was born in London, and Deniz, the pianist, though born in Istanbul, has, like Ezo, spent a lot of time studying at various conservatoires all over Europe, where we're guessing that English is the "lingua franca", but nonetheless "Kudos, Those Women!", You Kept Us Out of War!" haha!!!!
Lois and I "show our faces" at a local morning concert by Duo Ekes,
two young Anglo-Turkish musicians in the local 850-year-old St Bartholomew's Church
I'm wearing dark glasses, incidentally, ostensibly so as not to be recognised, but (state secret) it's actually because I forgot to change back to my "regular" pair, when we parked the car in the nearby Tanner Street pay car-park after driving into town in some unexpected blinding sunshine, which was a shock! But keep that one to yourselves, eh, nudge nudge wink wink!!!!
I don't know how long it is since we last went to any kind of concert, like, a billion years (more probably!), but as Lois remarks this morning, it's so nice to hear music being played in the flesh for once, and I have to agree.
The concert over, there's only a highly-anticipated afternoon in bed that separates us from tonight's "Caledonian" culinary delights at the tavern, so we're both shouting "Och aye!" as we climb into bed at 2pm for another 3-hour "stint", that's for certain! [You lazy buggers! - Ed]
our "Early Bird Burns Night Supper" at the Links Tavern, Liphook, tonight,
under the watchful eye of a piper and the tavern's "Sid the Bear" mascot!
It turns out tonight, that the advertised local "St. Andrew's Pipe Band" turns out to be just one lone piper - his mates in the band are probably "officiating" at other gigs in the area, presumably! And we know, for instance, that our daughter Alison and husband Ed, a hotshot London lawyer, are sitting somewhere only about half a mile away from us this evening, attending one of Ed's work-related Early Bird Burns Night "do's", at Liphook's prestigious Millennium Centre. We're hoping to exchange notes with Ali and Ed tomorrow, so watch this space!
the full St Andrews Pipe Band from Hamble-le-Rice, Hampshire,
seen here playing in Normandy in 2014, for the 70th anniversary of D-Day
It turns out to be a blessing in disguise, however, that we only have one piper to contend with! Have YOU ever tried to keep a conversation going when there's a bagpiper playing just a few feet away from you! Nevertheless we can't deny that our piper adds enormous value to the occasion, and, along with the packed house of other Tavern patrons, Lois and I applaud wildly at each of the many Scottish-related numbers in his "set", which is nice!
Well played, Jock, or whatever your name is haha!!!!
Here he is, "piping in the haggis" - touring the pub, followed by a waiter with a big haggis on a tray, which is an old custom, and a nice touch!
"piping in the haggis" - the piper tours the pub to loud applause,
followed closely by a waiter carrying a big haggis on a tray - nice touch!
Well done that man!
Tonight, Lois tells our waiter that her Cullen skink is as nice, if not nicer, than the one she had in Stirling, Scotland, on our pre-retirement holiday in Scotland, back in 2005, which is some compliment!
The waiter tells us he'll relay Lois's seal-of-approval to "Chef", so we wait a few minutes in case "Chef" comes out to give Lois a kiss or a bunch of flowers, but he's a "no-show" - too busy probably!
Well it is Early Bird Burns Night, and he's got, like, a billion "old codgers" to feed, more probably !
Och aye, the noo !!!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:30 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!
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