Tuesday January 20th 2026 "Want to look more 'businessy' at YOUR job today? Here are some ideas for you!!!! !?

Yes, Friends, the world of business is changing fast, that's for sure! And with that trend come new strategies for looking more 'business-y', like, and maybe catching the eyes of that vital "promotion board" along the way !!!!

Onion News has more:

My wife Lois and I, reading this story this morning here in semi-charming Liphook, Hampshire, find a curious, sideways, chuckle developing in what we call our "oral regions" (!), to put it mildly! And 

"Kudos, McGale!", is our cry, for at last bringing that notorious dinosaur of the local economy, Nexus Solutions, kicking and screaming into the 21st century !!!!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

And it's ironic that today, Lois and I will be dragging each other kicking and screaming not into the 21st century, but back into the 18th century, when we take our daily walk, which this morning takes us over lovely local beauty spot, the Devil's Punchbowl, a natural 1000ft crater deep in the Surrey hills, which is nice!

We're reminded also, when we stop for one of our many "little rests" (!), that wearing a "sailor-suit" didn't save the career of one poor sailor back in 1786, when he was robbed and murdered by 3 men at a lonely spot here. It lies just next to the muddy trackway that, in those crazy, far-off days was the main road between London and Portsmouth: the road that high admirals like Horatio Nelson once travelled on, on their journey to and from work, would you believe!!!

The three murderers of that poor sailor, whose name, even, isn't known, fled over the county line into Hampshire/West Sussex, but they were arrested when found trying to sell that poor sailor's clothes. They were brought back into Surrey on a "long-cart", and once back in Surrey, the three men were questioned by the  local JP (Justice of the Peace), James Fielding, who found that they indeed had a case to answer, and he committed them for trial at Kingston, where they were sentenced to be hanged.

flashback to this morning: Lois and I, on our daily walk over the Devil's Punchbowl

stop to read the signboard to the unknown sailor murdered here in 1786

The weird thing is that James Fielding, the JP who committed the murderers for trial, was not just a JP, but also a "Reverend" in the Church of England, and also, almost certainly, was a part-time highwayman himself. 

Kudos, James for your "multi-tasking" (!) but I guess it meant him pulling a lot of "all-nighters", which can't have been good for his health, to put it mildly!!

But what a crazy world they lived in, in those far-off times !!!!

11:00 And after our walk, during which we were constantly fighting a bitterly cold south-easterly wind, it's nice for Lois and me to warm up with a coffee at the Devil's Punchbowl cafe, taking a table near to the cafe's roaring fire, and ordering cheese scones instead of pastries, would you believe! Well, with Lois's 2025 Christmas cake now completely devoured, today is "the first day of the rest of our lives", and marks the start of the obligatory "new year's diet" (!!!!), and not before time!!!

we warm up in the Devil's Puncbbowl cafe, taking a table next to the roaring fire,

and ordering cheese scones instead of doughnuts - yes, the New Year's Diet has begun haha!!!

13:00 Back home for a meagre lunch (!), Lois and I find there's plenty to talk about, as per usual (!!!). 

Tunde, my Hungarian penfriend has sent us news of one of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's millionaire buddies, Lorinc Meszaros, once a humble gas-fitter, who's climbed the ranks to become Hungary's richest man. In Hungary, one of Europe's poorest countries, Meszaros has got rich on multiple government construction contracts, and has now been dubbed one of the country's most powerful "oligarchs". 

And guess what? Meszaros went to school with Prime Minister Orban back in the day - surprise surprise!

Hungary's ex-gas fitter and now the country's richest man, 

seen here back in the day with childhood buddy Viktor Orban, 

now the country's Prime Minister

Lois and I are keen followers of the news, believe it or not (!), and we've noticed that many foreign countries these days are ruled by billionaires - President Donald Trump of the US is a prime example. 

However, we can't write Donald off as "just one more billionaire oligarch" (!), because he continues to surprise us with some of his unexpected, and somewhat endearing traits, like his passion for collecting other people's medals (!), like the Nobel Peace Prize recently won by Maria Machado, Venezuela's courageous opposition leader.

There must be a lot of similar unwanted "gongs" just lying around, idly, in drawers and cupboards around the world,  and I remark to Lois that, wouldn't it be a nice gesture for their owners to send these 'bits of metal' to Donald for his "collection", maybe!

I wonder....!

Lois tells me that in this week's Radio Times, there's a letter from a reader in praise of actress Sally Lindsay, TV's "Madame Blanc", who was obviously a bit embarrassed about receiving an MBE medal from King Charles recently. Sally has now decided to dedicate her medal to the UK's [struggling] working-class actors, who find it so hard to get parts when they're competing with actors who went to "poncy" private schools.

The Radio Times reader who wrote to the magazine, has noticed that in the new series of "The Inspector Lynley Mysteries", the lead role of sleuth Inspector Lynley is being played by Leo Suter, the privately-educated scion of a "business-people" family, while Lynley's working-class sidekick is being played by Sofia Barclay, the granddaughter of a billionaire (see picture above).

At a time when people the world over are trying to "placate" Donald using various subterfuges, wouldn't it be a nice gesture for actress Sally to give him her MBE medal for his collection? I'm sure Donald must be harbouring a grudge that King Charles has "overlooked" him, yet again, this time in favour of a humble TV actress, like Sally?

I wonder......!

19:00 Lois and I felt really good after our punishing walk in the bitter winds this morning, and it's clear that we got a real buzz from the exercise, as a lot of people do. 

However, we learn from this evening's first programme in the new BBC2 series of "Winterwatch" that animals like it too, which is interesting. Here lead presenter Chris Packham tells colleague Michaela Strachan (cute hat!!!) about an interesting experiment by Dutch scientists.

Scientists from the Netherlands conducted an experiment, Chris explains, leaving miniature "running wheels" out in the wild, and putting little bits of food by them, to act as bait.

No! Not just mice! The Dutch scientists found that passing frogs "gave it a go" too, and even slugs, although at a noticeably more 'laid-back' pace (!) - more like Yours Truly would, probably (!).

Eventually the scientists stopped leaving the bits of food by the equipment, but the little animals still kept coming back to have a go on the wheels, which is a surprise.

Lois says she's going to leave bits of food around in the garage, beside my exercise bike, to see if she can tempt me to take rides on it more often, so we'll see! Happy days !!!!

flashback to last summer: I take delivery of

my shiny-new exercise bike

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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