Saturday February 21st 2026 "We can all be heroes, just for one day! Look at this true 'local hero' !!!"

Yes, Friends, we can all be heroes, just for one day! Just see how this quiet, unassuming local guy did it - it's all over this morning's Onion News, if you want "chapter and verse" !!!!

Kudos, that man! And further proof, if proof were needed, that the ordinary guy can make headlines just by the occasional quiet example of "derring-do", which is refreshing!

And the story brings a fresh [no pun intended!!!] smile to the lips and cheeks of me and my wife Lois this afternoon, as we sit in the theatre in the Borough Hall in nearby Godalming (pronounced: Goddle-ming!), waiting for a local amateur operatic group's performance of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "Utopia Limited" to begin. 

me and my wife Lois today, grabbing two early seats and 

waiting for a performance of a Gilbert & Sullivan Operetta

to begin, here in Godalming Borough Hall this afternoon

"Utopia Limited" was the duo's last work together after patching up their quarrel over the bill for a red carpet at London's Savoy Theatre, which was a bit sad! "Just pay up and look good!" was what Lois's old dad Dennis always used to say, God rest his soul!

"Utopia Limited" is a highly amusing operetta, written in 1893, in which the king of some fictional tropical island sends his daughter to England to find out how "civilised" people run their affairs - legal system, stock market, parliament, army, navy etc. 

It's thought to have been inspired by the real-life story of the last King of Hawaii, David Kalakaua, a great Anglophile and ukulele-player, also round-the-world traveller. 

The King famously sent his daughter, Princess Ka'iulani, to England to be educated "properly" (!).

Hawaiian princess, Ka'ulani, visiting a ranch shortly being

leaving for England, to be properly-educated-like (!)

There are also echoes of the mid-19th century King of Siam's insistence on employing a British governess, Anna Leonowens, to properly educate his children and even his concubines (!) - the story later made famous by the 1956 film "The King And I", starring Deborah Kerr, as governess Anna.

This Gilbert and Sullivan operetta "Utopia Limited", that Lois and I are going to be seeing this afternoon here in Godalming, pokes some gentle satirical fun at the British "smugness" of the time, in always assuming that the British way of doing things was the best, and that Britain's "super-modern society" was something all the world could learn from!

And talking of "smugness", it's also very nice this afternoon for Lois and me to get here super-early and grab some premier, super-spacious seats near the "bar-and-toilets-exit" (!), and watch, with a somewhat triumphant "smirk" on our faces, the other "old codgers" here today now struggling to find spaces somewhere which will also accommodate their winter coats, scarves, mufflers, gloves etc on this cold February day - brrrrr!!!!

smug in our possession of two premier seats with a good view of the whole theatre,

Lois and I can't resist a "small smirk of triumph" as we get a good view of other "old codgers"

who didn't bother to arrive early (!), struggling  for spaces, which was ironic !

What madness!!!!

And Lois and I are feeling good for other reasons, because before sneaking into the theatre super-early (!), we also had a nice walk around this little town, Godalming, that we don't really know at all well, to put it mildly, walking its cobbled streets, and revelling in the sight of its many 16th and 17th century buildings.

Lois and I this morning, taking a wander through the cobbled streets of 
Godalming, Surrey, with its quaint 16th and 17th century buildings, me in

my shabby ancient brown coat, and Lois in her shiny new one (!), which is nice!

We're also feeling particularly good after a double order of tuna mayonnaise jacket potatoes at the town's branch of JD Weatherspoons.

And as confirmed and fully-paid up history buffs (!), we were pleased to see that the restaurant also features, on its walls, pictures and historical data about some of the town's famous sons: like, for instance Jack Phillips, one of the heroes of the Titanic, who, as the ship's chief telegraphist, saved lots of passengers' lives, and James Ogilvy MP, who founded the colony of Georgia in 1732, after getting a charter from King George II, after whom the colony (now US state) was named.

Happy days!!!!

Meanwhile our elder daughter Alison is spending the afternoon with husband Edward, at London's Twickenham Stadium, after a 3-course lunch with free drinks, watching the England Ireland rugby game, in the corporate box provided by Transport UK, where Edward works as a top executive and director, "doing the corporate thing", as Ali puts it, networking, chatting etc. 

What madness, isn't it!!!

Pity about the game, incidentally, which a "disappointing" England side lost by 21 to 42, would you believe!

So there you have it - that's modern life in a nutshell, isn't it!!!!

Younger people like our daughter Alison and her husband Edward, "swanning off" to London to have a nice 3-course lunch with free drinks, hobnobbing with other executives and business people, and then casually watching some sports event or other for a couple of hours, if you please (!).

Meanwhile poor "old codgers" like Lois and me, are rushed off our feet, tramping the cobbled streets of Godalming, trying to learn lots of local and international history, and, in-between-times, having to queue up in at a Wetherspoons to grab a humble jacket potato and a coffee, just to keep our strengths up and rest our aching limbs !!!

The whole world's gone mad, I tell you!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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