Saturday May 9th 2026 "Are the left-over books and puzzles the best thing about YOUR favourite airbnb?"

Yes, Friends, are the left-over dog-eared books, moth-eaten board games and dodgy-looking jigsaw puzzles the best thing about YOUR favourite airbnb?

Remember, you too could 'get lucky', like local woman Caitlin Roth, whose sticky little hands were all over this morning's Onion News, to put it mildly!!!!

Kudos, Roth !!!!!

Roth's story, featured first in the local editions, gets quickly 'picked up' by 'the nationals' - Times, Telegraph etc - on an admittedly "slow news" day, and even leads some of the early BBC World Service bulletins, which is nice!

And Roth's 'good luck story' brings a trace of a knowing smile to the faces of me and my wife Lois this morning, here in semi-transparent Liphook, Hampshire, as we take our near-daily morning walk, which today takes us through the lush woodlands and streams of nearby Radford Park, that's for sure!!!!

my wife Lois and me taking our near-daily walk, which this morning 

takes us through the lush woodland and streams of nearby Radford Park

Lois and I are laughing at Roth's "lucky find" of a partly completed jigsaw puzzle at her airbnb, because, by complete coincidence, we've been invited to our daughter Alison's house this evening, 10 miles away in forested Churt, just over the county line, in Surrey, to join them in their evening meal. And Alison has also issued a 'cry for help' and, urgent request for assistance, with her latest jigsaw puzzle, a compendium of garden scenes from some of the most iconic books in the English language, which is certainly going to be a challenge, to put it mildly!!!!!

the terrifying jigsaw puzzle featuring garden scenes

from English literature, and for which our daughter

has issued an urgent 'cry for help' (!)

And when Lois and I arrive, at about 5pm, said jigsaw is all over the kitchen table, which will offer a different sort of challenge later, as we will have to clear it away before we can eat - definitely a priority task haha !!!! We'll dining tonight with Alison, and two of our lovely grandchildren, Rosalind (17) and Isaac (15) who eventually emerge from their rooms, where they've been revising for their upcoming A-Level exams (Rosalind), and GCSEs (Isaac). 

Our son-in-law Edward is away this weekend, helping a group of youngsters complete their current challenges on a Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme out in the sticks somewhere, and Rosalind and Isaac's big sister Josie (19) is away at Durham on the first year of her maths degree course.

What madness, isn't it !!!!!

(left) Lois helps our daughter Alison with her latest jigsaw puzzle, and (right)

with the puzzle cleared away, and young Rosalind and Isaac having emerged

from their rooms (!), we enjoy a delicious meal of chicken and rice - yum yum!

Later there's a chance to wander through the family's lovely garden, and I also get the chance to look over the 'book' for 'Nine-to-Five The Musical', in which Isaac will be playing the part of Joe, 'love- interest' for main character Violet, played by Lily Tomlin in the 1980 film version.

(above) we wander through the lovely garden with our daughter Alison

and (below) I look at the 'book' for 'Nine-to-Five The Musical', in which

our grandson Isaac will be singing the iconic song "Let Love Grow"

Awwwww!!!! 

A lovely day, in short, and when Lois and I eventually get back to our home in Liphook around 8pm, there are memories of other lovely days from long ago awaiting us, as we watch the first programme in former news-reader Angela Rippon's new celebrity travelogue series, "Angela Rippon's River Cruises", which tonight takes her from Budapest to Vienna and into the Austrian heartlands.

Starting in Budapest, we see Angela standing in Budapest near the iconic Fisherman's Bastion, looking down on the Danube, the beautiful Parliament building etc, where Lois and I once stood, back in the 1990's and 2000's, only 20-30 years ago, but it feels like a lifetime - oh dear!!!!

Later on her river cruise, Angela reaches Vienna with its lovely cafes and coffee-houses, including this one founded in 1876, so 150 years ago. She fantasises about having coffee and cake here, a century or two ago, with Gustav Mahler or with Puccini, for example.

She reminds us, however, that not all this coffee house's customers were nice, recalling that in 1913, for example, Vienna was playing host to characters like Hitler, Trotsky, Tito and Stalin - yikes! 

Angela's verdict? Any of those 'dodgy' characters at the tea-table "would have turned the cream in these delicious cakes  quite sour!", and that would have been a pity, she laments!

Yes, how about that for a nightmare tea party - special guests Hitler, Trotsky, Tito and Stalin: the tea party from hell, or what (!), haha !!!!

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

[That's enough madness! - Ed]

flashback to 2006: Lois, aged 60, when we visited Budapest 

and Vienna on our retirement celebration holiday, a lifetime ago (!)

Happy days!!!!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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