Yes, Friends, family get-togethers can be tricky sometimes, but I've got news for you. Onion News this morning says this is nothing new, which is a bit of a "bombshell" - in a small way!
Oops! Father bringing his new girlfriend, eh! That could have been 'awkward', admittedly, to put it mildly!!
But the story brings a bit of a sardonic smile to the lips of Yours Truly this morning, here in rural, semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, as I sit in the town's prestigious "Millennium Centre", listening to a talk in the local series of "Intermediate Local History for Local Old Codgers", because - you've guessed it, the subject is the neighbouring town of Petworth, just over the county line in West Sussex. It's the town where those wily Pilgrim Fathers are thought to have stopped for the night on their journey down to Southampton "without paying their bill" (!), on their way to join the big voyage across the Atlantic to America back in 1620, would you believe!
The landlord is said to have let the Pilgrims off their bill, as a favour, and as a result they dubbed him an "angel" - hence the name of the pub, "The Angel Inn" - see? Makes sense now, doesn't it !!!!
the Angel Inn, where the Pilgrim Fathers are alleged to have stayed
on their journey down to Southampton in 1620 en route to Massachusetts
Let me put my cards on the table at this point! [I wish you wouldn't keep doing that, Colin! - Ed]
My wife of 53 years, Lois, has "let me off the leash" this morning, to hobnob alone with a bunch of other local "old codgers", because she's got an online meeting scheduled with her "sisters' group" - the female members of her church in Petersfield, Hampshire.
So here I am, footloose and fancy free, but keeping a low profile, scooping one of the much-sought-after seats next to radiators on this chilly, and wet, Tuesday morning - brrrr!!! Plus, I'm trying to avoid the attentions of any of the local ageing "cougars" on the hunt for any piece of ageing, but seemingly unattached, "beefcake" (!).
I arrive in good time for this morning's talk in the series "Intermediate Local History
for Local Old Codgers", and manage to scoop one of the coveted "seats by a radiator",
on this chilly, wet Tuesday morning in semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire - brrrr!!!!
Poor Pytta !!!
The town subsequently grew and prospered - although "not a lot" (!), says presenter Ian Yonge, and by the time of the Norman Conquest it was thought to have become important enough to appear in William the Conqueror's Doomsday Book catalogue of his new realm.
James and his wife Emma have plans to make the house more of a tourist spot, with lots of exhibitions, including maybe the incredible model railway network that his grandfather David had, over the years, built up in the house's extensive attic area of interconnected rooms, just for his own pleasure.
What madness, wasn't it - but fascinating stuff !!!!
[If you say so! - Ed]
My wife Lois unfortunately misses out on the presentation this morning, but I take copious notes. And I give Lois my own version of Ian Yonge's presentation (without slides!) in bed this afternoon for our statutory "nap-time".
And there's more history to come this evening, but this time with memories especially vibrant for Lois herself, which redresses the balance somewhat!
Back in the 1990's, when Yours Truly still worked for a living, I was one of Her Majesty's civil servants "for my sins" (!), and "the Department" every few years used to hold week-long conferences to which our opposite numbers in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were invited. And at the end of the conference we would take overseas delegates out for a celebratory meal.
Wives were invited too, and Lois had a bit of a traumatic experience one year, when we were holding the farewell meal at Chavenage House, near Tetbury, in the lovely Cotswold Hills.
Lois went out from the dining tables to "powder her nose", and got stuck in the ladies loos, because the door jammed - it's a classic isn't it! Lois is nothing if not determined, however, and she eventually fought her way out.
Later, however, when the then "Lord of the Manor", David Lowsley-Williams, came by the tables to say hello, he asked Lois if she'd noticed that her finger was bleeding. She didn't realise that he was the lord of the manor, and cheerfully accepted his kind offer to go and find her a "band-aid".
Sadly, however, David Lowsley-Williams died a couple of years ago, but on a Channel More4 programme tonight we see David's grandson James, a former professional cyclist and presenter on the Global Cycling Network channel, who, together with his wife Emma, is carrying out their plans to make the old place a financial success, offering to tourists regular themed weekends, and the like, at the family's "old pile".
Yes, "the peaceful retreat of one man"... step forward, James's old grandad, David!
And when James and Emma venture up the stairs to the old attic in tonight's programme, it looks just as if the old guy had been working on his "train set" that very morning, which was nice!
And although James and Emma have plans to make grandad's old model railway a tourist attraction, and a bit of a money-spinner for the house as it is today, they recognise that this is probably not what old grandad had in mind.
And it's especially nice for Lois and me to hear about the real David Lowsley-Williams, because it puts a little flesh on the bones of the man whom Lois and I, in our family, became accustomed to refer to simply as "Band-aid guy".
Rest in peace, Band-aid Guy, you kept us out of war!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!
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