Yes, Friends, it's a thousand years since the Vikings last ruled Britain! And yet we still can't get enough of them, can we!
They're even casting their hilarious shadow over the current World Cup - did YOU see those amusing pictures of Norway's team taken before the tournament began?
Even Norway's national football team finds time to do
a bit of dressing-up before their first game!
And stories about the Vikings and their legacy continue to dominate the world's press on an almost daily basis - did you see today's Onion News?
me and my wife Lois - a recent picture
It's kind of appropriate, however, as a gift for me, because, a few years ago, my sister Jill sent results of her DNA test to the ancestry.com website, and discovered that she, and by implication I myself, are 2% Norwegian, through our father, who was 4% Norwegian, which is weird! But check my maths, won't you, just to be on the safe side haha!
And Olaf Haraldsson is a real man's Viking, or a real Viking's Viking, should I say! In recent years, there's been a determined attempt to "soften" the Vikings' "ruthless" image, saying that they were just farmers really, forced to leave Scandinavia by population growth, and they didn't mean any harm, would you believe, which is totally crazy!
Well Olaf wasn't that kind of a 'nice' Viking, and tales of his pillaging and ruthless "derring-do" make refreshing reading in these increasingly "woke" times - that's for sure! A busy pillager since his teenage years, and devotee of the Viking goddess Freyja, goddess of copulation and witchcraft, whilst in England, the "busy busy" Olaf somehow found time to destroy London Bridge, as well as annihilating a string of English towns, including Oxford, which was totally mad!
some illustrations from the book on busy Viking, Olaf Haraldsson, that I receive as a
Father's Day gift from Lois today: (left) the man himself, and (right) one of his
inspirations, the Viking goddess Freyja, "goddess of copulation and witchcraft" (!)
To sum today up, I can exclusively reveal, that I have a great Father's Day with enjoying presents from Lois and from our elder daughter Alison, who lives 10 miles away just over the county line in Churt, Surrey.
Yours Truly's Father's Day gifts today - (left) from Lois, the Olaf book, some of my
"fave" chocolates and a lightweight dressing-gown, and (right) from our daughter
Alison, some high-end biscuits and two varieties of specialty green tea - yum yum!
Lucky old Yours Truly !!!!
There are no Father's Day gifts this morning, however, from our other daughter, Sarah, but that's to be expected - she lives in Perth, Australia, with husband Francis and their 12-year-old twins Lily and Jessica, and Australia has fixed its Father's Day in September, which is mad, but it will give me a lift when it comes, given how light the UK September is on 'special days' ! So watch this space!!!!
Lois and I actually talk to Sarah this morning via zoom, on our weekly 'catch-up call', and, of course, she herself has got a special day coming up tomorrow, her 49th birthday - yikes! You know you're getting old when your children hit middle-age, that's for sure!
[What do you mean, "getting" old, Colin! - Ed]
(above) us this lunchtime talking on zoom to our daughter Sarah in Perth, Australia,
and (centre, below) the Swan Valley Retreat, where Sarah (bottom left) and her
American friend Charissa (bottom, right) enjoyed sauna, plunge pools and jacuzzis
- lucky them !!!!!
There isn't much chance to talk to our twin grandchildren today on this week's zoom call - they're getting ready for bed, it's 9pm in Perth, which is mad, and the twins are tired out, and getting ready for school tomorrow, their last week before the school term ends for their so-called 'winter holidays' - what madness, isn't it!!!
Those two little rascals have been busy working on their "portfolio projects", an expression that Lois and I had never heard of, so we had to look it up on google. And for their "projects", little Lily and Jessica, those clever little blighters (!) have been doing research into such topics as The Black Death in Europe, and World War II, not to mention the arrival of the Native Australians in Australia, which was 55,000 years ago, Jessica tells me, although it didn't "make the papers" at the time, seemingly! What madness, isn't it !!!
We won't need zoom to talk to them soon, because Lois and I will be seeing Sarah and family in person in just over a week's time. The family will be flying into London for a 3-week "break" in the UK, something which Lois and I are hoping will be an annual event. They came here in July last year, so here's hoping!
flashback to July 2025: Lois and me with our delightful
12-year-old twin granddaughters on their last UK visit
And Lois decides to join her church's Sunday Morning Meeting remotely this morning, to escape the heat of the journey and of the village hall near Petersfield, where services are held.
(left) temperatures rising into the 80s F - they'll be in the 90's next week,
and (right) Lois in her "meeting hat" taking part in her church's Sunday Morning Meeting,
with the curtains closed, to keep out the sun and heat - what madness!!!!
And the rest of this Father's Day Lois gives the 'royal' treatment with an afternoon in bed for "statutory naptime ", and my favourite meal - shepherd's pie - for tea. What's not to like!!!
20:00 There's nothing much on the "telly" at the moment other than sports and repeats, so Lois and I decide to "binge watch" another episode of the Canadian sitcom "Schitt's Creek", which BBC3 are doing a re-run of at the moment, and which Lois and I had never heard of, or watched, at the time, so it's a good chance to catch up, that's for sure!
In the series, a wealthy family - a couple with two grown-up children - are turned out of their billionaire mansion, after being cheated of all their money by some crooked accountant or other. Luckily the father had bought a small rural town some years ago, 'as a joke' present for his son, so now, the family, down on their luck, can at least seek refuge in the town they own (!), and they manage to book two rooms on a long-term rental, at the local sleazy, run-down motel, in run-down, backwoods town, Schitt's Creek.
In this scene, pampered son David, who's been told by his dad that he has to find a job - his first ever - because of the family's reduced circumstances, decides to ask the motel receptionist Stevie, how he should go about finding a job in shabby, rural backwater, Schitt's Creek, so Stevie takes a look through the 'jobs vacant' column of the local paper, on David's behalf.
Oh dear!!!!!
Yes, you see, Canada (and even Australia!) - they're both as crazy as the UK, seemingly, so don't look for relief by emigrating to either of those two superficially inviting destinations - just saying!!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz!!!!!!
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