Wednesday April 29th 2026 "Are YOU spending YOUR whole life taking pleasure cruises? It can be tiring, can't it!!!!"

Yes, Friends, do YOU spend your whole life going from one Caribbean cruise to another? Most of us do, don't we! But there are risks, as today's Onion News points out so graphically with this shock page 94 blockbuster headline, to put it mildly!!!!! 

Poor Gary !!!!!!

But Gary's sober reflections, or maybe his semi-sober reflections as he's still on board (!), certainly bring a knowing smile to the faces of me and my wife Lois this morning, here in leafy Liphook, Hampshire, as we take our near-daily walk over the "hallowed turf" of local soccer giant-killers, Liphook United - that's for sure!

Because, by total coincidence, what should fly over our heads, during our walk, but British Airways flight BA 206 from Miami to Heathrow bringing home a bunch of British tourists home to London's Heathrow Airport, as if to rub in Gary's already plentiful woes!!!!

my wife Lois and me on our near-daily walk this morning, being overflown

- although not exactly 'buzzed' (!), by an incoming flight from sunny Miami, Florida

Seeing the plane, however, reminds us of a lovely holiday we took in Florida long ago, during our 3 years in the States 1982-1985, with our then very young daughters Alison (9) and Sarah (7).

flashback to 1984: Lois and me, with our two young daughters

Alison (9) and Sarah (7) on holiday in Florida, seen here at Fort Myers,

and on Sanibel Island in the Gulf of Mexico

The plane's flight is also, more urgently (!),  a salutary reminder to Lois and me to get home swiftly to see the recording of King Charles' speech yesterday to the US Congress, a tricky exercise for the old boy, no doubt about that, and also a bit of a political 'minefield', although a metaphorical one, not a physical one, hopefully!!!!

Lois and I both think Charles made a really good job of it, showing his sense of humour, and staying very much on the positive side, which was a good choice. References to Magna Carta, the rule of law, and the importance of an independent judiciary, are always good value, that's for sure. And we were heartened by all the seemingly universal standing ovations that he received, one almost every 3 minutes or so, which was a surprise, no doubt about that! And if any rogue members were refusing to stand up for them, they must have done so very unobtrusively, that's what we think!!!!

We're just a pair of 'old codgers', however, and Brit ones at that. But what did the US press make of Charles's day yesterday? This is what the New York Times said: 

 

What about the views of the ordinary American-in-the-street, however?

And today, Onion News has wheeled out three of their most experienced commentators to give us their verdict on yesterday's events, which is nice!

Enough said, I think!!!!

The whole business also reminds Lois and me today to create, and send off, a personalised Moonpig Mother's Day card to our daughter Sarah - yes, that same little 7-year-old girl on that beach in Florida, is now 48, would you believe, and living 9000 miles away, in Perth, Australia with husband Francis and their 12-year-old twins, Lily and Jessica. Our Mother's Day card to her will feature a photo of Sarah herself when she arrived last year, totally exhausted but very happy to have arrived, at our house in Liphook after the flight from Perth, more or less 'collapsed' inside our front porch - poor Sarah!!!!

And Lois and I need to "get our skates on" today, because Australia has followed the US practice, it seems, in having their Mother's Day in May, which is mad!

What a crazy world we live in !!!!

21:00 And tonight, Lois and I are back in Miami again, would you believe, not physically (!), but watching BBC TV's reality documentary on the shenanigans of the international FIFA Committee members who are allegedly "planning" the next soccer World Cup event coming up this year, and, incidentally, making a right "balls-up" of it, in our humble opinion!!!!

If only this committee would stop either agreeing with, or quarrelling with, each other! And if only they would stop trying to promote worthy causes, like so-called "sustainability", and get on with actually planning the World Cup, would be something of a step forward, Lois and I think!

This week their planning work has been side-tracked by the committee's "head of sustainability" spokesperson Sarah's on-air gaffe during a podcast, when she talked about issuing footballers with 'wooden condoms' for the duration of the Cup, a simple slip-of-the-tongue. She had meant to say something like 'biodegradable condoms and wooden [something-else]', but her slip-of-the-tongue has already 'gone viral', to-date clocking up, like, a billion 'views' - more, probably!

At today's committee meeting, however, Sarah,, sitting leftmost at the table, is defiant about her slip-of-the-tongue, stressing that she had immediately corrected herself on the podcast, which should have been enough, she claims.

The incident sparks a useful, but lengthy, debate on the wider implications of the issue, nevertheless, which is stimulating, although arguably, doesn't help the Committee to actually get on with the work of organising the actual World Cup, which is a pity!

Oh dear - Lois and I are beginning to despair! Is this World Cup ever going to take place?

Not at this rate of progress, that's for sure!!!!! Pull your finger out [Committee chairman and Head of Integrity] Ian Fletcher (veteran Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville, no less!!!!) !!!!!

But what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

[That's enough madness! - Ed]

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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