Friday June 26th 2026 "Cars - we can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em! Sad, isn't it haha!!!!"

Yes, Friends, admit it! Where would YOU be without YOUR car? Waiting in some sad bus queue, probably!

Certainly news about cars continues to dominate the headlines, doesn't it! Today's Onion News is all the proof you need of that statement !!!! 

It's all madness, yes! But, you know, in a way it kind of makes sense, in this crazy old world of ours, if that makes sense - no pun intended!!!!!

And today's Onion News headlines, again fixated on the 'car phenomenon', ironically, bring some welcome relief to the taut lower-faces of me and my wife Lois this morning, here in semi-welcoming Liphook, Hampshire. No doubt about that!!!!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

We're laughing, because, by total coincidence, it's big day today for our own little 12-year-old Honda Jazz. Yes, it's the little gal's annual 'appointment with destiny' - her annual service, and MOT test, and also the only day in the year when she gets to get cleaned, the little rascal!

my wife Lois - almost literally 'all over' our little

Honda Jazz after it's 2023 clean

Luckily, in the current heatwave, we had paid extra to have the car collected from our doorstep and after its little service and MOT test, delivered back to us later today by John from the Honda Yeoman dealership, which saves us a hot trip, and enables us to 'hunker down' inside the house, on what we're hoping will be the last 'super-hot' day of the heatwave - tomorrow is forecast to be just 'very hot', which will come as a relief, to put it mildly!

flashback to last summer, when Lois and I took our 'little gal' in, in person, for the MOT,

to the Yeoman Honda dealership in nearby Churt, over the county line in Surrey

No hot outings for Lois and me this year, which is nice! And the excitement even brings an slight air of tension to our afternoon in bed - will John be ringing our doorbell before 'statutory nap-time' is all 'done and dusted'? Fortunately John seems to understand our priorities, because he doesn't deliver the car to our home until around 5pm, to general relief, which is nice !!!!

Initially congratulating ourselves, over dinner, because our little gal has passed her MOT test, the euphoria turns a little sour later, when Yeoman's emails us with her so-called "health-report", and there is much anger!

What a crazy world we live in !!!!

It's still 2 days to go before the big event of our year - the visit of our dear daughter Sarah, with husband Francis, and their 12-year-old twins Lily and Jessica, flying into London's Heathrow Airport at the crack of dawn on Monday for what's becoming their annual 3-week stay with us.

flashback to July 2025, and the last visit here of our daughter Sarah

and family from their home in Perth, Western Australia

Luckily the weather is forecast to cool down substantially by then, so fingers crossed!!!!

Yes, it's only a couple of days to go, now, till Sarah and family arrive, and, although it's too hot today to do any more cleaning and hoovering, Lois and I somehow find the time (and energy!) to order, like, a billion food-items (more probably!), to be delivered tomorrow by online supermarket Ocado, as well as, like, a billion ready meals from Cook.

What utter madness isn't it !!!!

And the twins' 'army' of stuffed toys seem to be feeling the excitement. And in guest bedroom 3, where the twins will be sleeping, the tension is palpable, especially when it comes to the more mobile Buckles the Unicorn and dog-on-wheels Rover !!! Awwww, bless them !!!!!

the tension is palpable among the twins' former 'stuffed toys',

gathered together in Bedroom 3, where the twins will be sleeping - awwww!!!!

Awwww!!!!!

21:00 And there's more tension in the air tonight, in Canadian sitcom "Schitt's Creek", which Lois and I have been binge-watching since the start of the World Cup - you know, the one about the billionaire family down on their luck - parents Johnny and Moira, with grown up, pampered kids David and Alexis, all four of them suddenly forced to live in 2 shabby rooms in a seedy backwoods motel in a ramshackle town called Schitt's Creek.

We've now progressed, with our binge-watching, all the way to Series 2 Episode 2, would you believe, and we're still up to our ears (and eyes) with it, shall I say!!!!

Although the once-billionaire Rose family appear to be finally adjusting to their new life in a shabby backwoods motel, the show's writers brilliantly give hints of the continued underlying tension, just below the surface, even after a couple of weeks of living in this ramshackle Schitt's Creek motel.

Like in tonight's episode, for example, where, in a key scene, pampered son David is helping his mother Moira cook what she claims is her 'old family enchilada recipe' for the family's weekly 'family dinner'.

It seems a simple enough step in the recipe, but the show's writers brilliantly show David's continued unease at the process.

And here's the point where Moira's own frustration begins to 'bubble up', a bit like the pot itself - and the irony isn't lost on the show's writers, to put it mildly!

And now Moira, finding herself on the back foot at this point, tries to spell it out slowly, for David's benefit!

Oh dear - things are starting to get heated - a bit like the pot, as the writers brilliantly illustrate with the occasional close-up of what son David is trying to stir, but without much success!!!

At this point, David tears off his apron and storms out of the kitchen, and Moira is left hanging, uncertain how to proceed!

What will happen to the bubbling enchiladas in the pot!

One thing's for sure - mine and Lois's eyes will be glued to the screen tomorrow evening,  to see how the finished 'dish' eventually turns out. Chekhov, Tolstoy etc, eat your hearts out (but not on enchiladas haha!!!!!)

Fabulous stuff, though, isn't it! 

[If you say so! - Ed]

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

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