Yes, Friends, did YOU struggle to find the 'readies' to pay for a ticket to YOUR 'fave' pop festival this month? A lot of people did, apparently, which meant that these events are becoming more and more exclusive, or, in today's increasingly 'woke' era, should I be saying 'less and less inclusive (!)'?
I wonder....!
Onion News has more....!
And reading Petricott's tragic story this morning, here in semi-mythical Liphook, Hampshire, this morning, brings an ironic smile to the faces of me and my wife Lois, to put it mildly!
me and my wife Lois - a recent picture
We're laughing, because, by complete coincidence, our daughter Alison, with husband Edward, drops by this afternoon after a hard day shifting logs at their crumbling Victorian mansion, currently being refurbished.
And would you believe it, the talk is all about the couple's eldest daughter, Josie, a first year maths student at Durham University, who somehow found the cash to attend BBC Radio One's 2026 Big Weekend pop festival at nearby Sunderland this week, headlined by Swedish pop sensation Zara Larsson, no less !!!!
(left) our daughter Alison with husband Ed, who drop by for a 'catch-up' with
Lois and me this afternoon, and (right) our granddaughter Josie (19), in the black shorts,
with a Durham fellow-student at Radio One's Big Weekend festival at nearby Sunderland
But what madness!!!!
(below left) our granddaughter Josie (19) on the shoulders of current beau Will
- could Lois and me some day be fortunate enough to acquire great-grandparent status?
Apart from the news of young Josie's latest antics (!), the talk this afternoon is all about this crazily scorching hot weather that we've all been experiencing in this part of the world over the last couple of days, today being the hottest May day ever recorded in the UK.
Our crazy weather has even been making headlines in Hungary, would you believe, a country that Lois and I visited often, back in the day.
flashback to the 1990's: (left) our Hungarian friends Istvan and Maria,
standing between us, and (right) me with Istvan and his son Marty, in Pecs, Hungary
And my Hungarian penfriend Tunde, today sends me an email linking to this shock report from the 24.hu Hungarian website - health warning: you'll need at least a smattering of Intermediate Hungarian to fully understand the headline, but you can probably guess what it means, roughly !!!
The report points out, however, that while temperatures in the south of England are hitting 35C (95F), temperatures in the north west coast of Scotland - e.g. Stornoway - are only running at 14C (57F). What madness isn't it !!!!!
It all goes to confirm what Lois and I have always suspected - that the weather seems to differ according to where exactly you live. Take Perth in Western Australia, for example, where our other daughter Sarah lives, with husband Francis and their 12-year-old twins Lily and Jessica. Over there, 9000 miles from here, they're just coming into winter, which is crazy!!!
our mad world of stark contrast: (left) me showcasing our battered room thermometers
as they look today, and (right) the totally different situation in Perth, Australia
What a crazy planet we live on !!!!!
Sarah and family will be getting a taste of our semi-tropical British weather next month, however, when they arrive at our house for a 3-week stay. And yesterday, during our catch-up zoom call with the family, Lois and I got an inkling of how the family want to spend their time with us. And on their wish-list it's clear that they want to visit a lot of attractions in or near London, including Harry Potter World at the Warner Bros Studios near Watford, The London Eye big wheel, plus the view from the top of the 1000ft high Shard Building, Hamley's Toy Store, museums, jazz cruise on the Thames etc etc. What madness!!!
[That's enough madness! - Ed]
flashback to yesterday: Lois and me on our catch-up weekly video call
to our daughter Sarah and family 9000 miles away in Perth, Australia
It's got Lois and me thinking that maybe I ought to have a club in London that we could stay at sometimes, to save the exhausting journey to and from Liphook.
I expect you've noticed the number one glaring anomaly about me, the fact that I'm one of the few people in the UK who haven't got a cosy London club that they're a member of, where they can be chatting in a civilised manner in the bars, or sitting in deep, comfortable armchairs in quiet lounges in the afternoons and evenings, and, later, relaxing with their 'squeeze' in comfortable bedrooms.
And if I decide to make the move towards being a 'clubman', as an ex-civil servant, the obvious one to choose is the prestigious and stylish club for current and former civil servants, near to Parliament, on fashionable Northumberland Avenue.
the stylish Civil Service Club, on London's Northumberland Avenue,
near to Parliament, where civil servants, working or retired, can go to relax
I wonder.....!
So watch this space!
[I really don't think they'd want anybody like you in their precious club, Colin! - Ed]
Yes, this Bank Holiday Monday has been just another hectic day for Lois and me, as you may have guessed by now, reading between the lines!!!!
"If only we were simple woodpeckers, with nothing to do except bang away in trees all day!" - that's what Lois and I say! However, as we learn from tonight's first programme in this year's Springwatch nature series, the woodpecker's lot is not such a happy one as you might suppose, which is mad!
In tonight's opening episode, presenters Chris and Michaela wonder how a little woodpecker weighing 80g (about 3 oz) can possibly exert the incredible force they appear to be able to marshal, on a tough old tree trunk? How on earth can they peck at up to 25 times a second, with a force of nearly 2kg (about 4.5 lbs)?
Yes, Lois and I didn't know, but scientists at Brown University, over in the States, have finally worked out the answer. The little fellow apparently uses his chest muscles to pull its little head back, and then uses its little hips to push its little body a bit away from the tree; then it puts its tail down, a tail made up of very very stiff feathers - they have a stiff coil that means that they can press against the tree to brace themselves.
Having got itself in that position and the body slightly away from the tree, with its little hips primed, the little chap can then start pecking the tree. It then engages its little neck muscles to increase the power that's being powered into the trunk, varying the amount of force used, through its neck and hip muscles.
Woodpeckers peck trees for lots of different reasons, including extracting pine cones, claiming territory, or trying to attract a mate. And while drumming, the bird periodically takes its beak away, it takes a tiny breath, which it then expels, when it resumes pecking. So correct breathing is key, just like in yoga, as Michaela points out, especially with the so-called "Lion's breath" manoeuvre.
Lois and I think, however, that our chakras are stimulated enough already, especially in this hot weather!!!
But what a lot of trouble those little woodpecker chaps have to go to! And I think Lois and I would rather be a pair of old codgers stimulating our chakras on a sofa, than to be out on the side of a tree doing that kind of malarkey !!!
But your views welcome - postcards only !!!!!
What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz!!!!!!
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