Yes, Friends, is YOUR life so busy these days that you miss opportunities for making classic one-liners?
It's the fate of many of us isn't it, and there's a real "doozy" of a story plastered all over the page 94s of today's Onion News - I expect you saw it, but if not, here's my handy summary, for your reading pleasure, which will save you time, and maybe put a harassed smile back on your face at the same time, if only for a few seconds!!!!
Whitford's sorrow, however, is mine and my wife Lois's joy (!) this morning here in semi-tropical Liphook, Hampshire, as we read the story while at the same time rueing sympathetically, not just on Judge Whitford's "lost moments of mirth" but also on poor housekeeper Ortega - apparently "too busy to make wisecracks".
What madness, isn't it! As the man said, "What is life if full of woe-about-it, we have no time to joke, then crow-about-it!" - how true those words seem today, centuries after they were first written, to put it mildly!!!!
my wife Lois and me - a recent picture
Our own day is busy enough, let me tell YOU! Starting with a 10-mile drive down the bustling A3 "artery" to attend the Sunday Morning Meeting just outside Petersfield, Hampshire, with poor Lois having her turn on the rota to supply the "emblems" - the bread and wine for the communion, and then having to bring the little individual plastic communion cups back home afterwards, for washing and drying etc etc.
No wonder, neighbours have dubbed us "possibly Liphook's busiest retired couple", but that's just the so-called "modern world", really, isn't it!!!
(above, left) the village hall near Petersfield, Hampshire, where Lois's church
holds its meetings, and (above, right) us in the back row waiting for the meeting
to start, and (below) the plastic communion cups that Lois has to organise
We rush back from the meeting and eat a hurried lunch, because at 1:30pm we've scheduled our weekly catch-up zoom call with our daughter Sarah who lives in Perth, Australia, with husband Francis and their 13-year-old twins Lily and Jessica.
flashback to last month: Lois and me, with our daughter Sarah and family
sampling "the view from the Shard" - Europe's tallest building,
during their recent visit to the UK to spend 3 weeks with us
13:30 Today, however, logging into "zoom" at the appointed time, Lois and I find that there's no sign of Sarah, and later we discover that she was distracted by a "work nightmare" that she had to sort out - on a Sunday, would you believe!!!!
We call her "Sarah Two-Jobs", because she is somehow combining her new accountancy job in Perth, while somehow still doing her old one in Evesham UK. Even her recent visit to the UK to spend 3 weeks with us, was punctuated by her having to sort her company's problems out. What a crazy world we live in !!!!
flashback to last month: Lois and me having fun, doing jigsaws and watching TV,
while for our guest, our poor daughter, Sarah "Two Jobs", it's "business as usual",
sorting out the company's problems online (!) - what madness !!!!!
flashback to last week - I showcase our guest bed, ready for its rollout
as our "go to" refuge for the afternoons, which is nice
Today, however, it's another case of "No peace for the wicked" (!), even in our guest bed, because we soon find ourselves experiencing a horrible smoky smell coming in from outside, so have to close the window. We suspect that some neighbour is having a barbecue, maybe, but later we find out that it's a big fire in a field on the nearby Haslemere Road - yikes!!!!
It's all this so-called "drought" that's the problem - that's what Lois and I keep saying!
the current 'drought map' of England and Wales
First this afternoon there's a 'tweet' from the West Sussex County Fire Service, and later a report in the Petersfield News, talking of 12 fire engines from three counties having to be in attendance - yikes again !!!!
The country's new Prime Minister, Peter Magyar, however, has been very visible on the country's media, however, calling for calm. He has also urged major industries to reduce power and water use, to ease grid pressure. The European Commission say they are monitoring the electricity power situation, while emphasising that there are no immediate concerns about security of supply.
And later, there's more "drought news" from Tunde, my Hungarian penfriend. Apparently record low river levels in the Danube have spelt trouble for the country's power sources, forcing nuclear reactors in Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria offline, as the heatwave drives up power demand.
Yikes (again) !!!
my Hungarian penfriend, Tunde (left), seen here with us,
in Bath, in happier times, on her visit to the UK back in 2008
Apparently, Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant, which supplies nearly half of the country's electricity, and which uses river water from the Danube to safely cool its reactors, could be shut down for weeks as a result.
Yikes (again)!!!!! [That's enough 'yikeses' ! - Ed]
15:00 Luckily, this afternoon ends on a happier note, with a visit from our other daughter Alison, who lives just over the county line, in Churt, Surrey, with husband Edward and their 3 teenage kids Josie (19), Rosalind (18) and Isaac (16). And we're delighted that Rosalind is able to accompany Alison to our house and we can spend a jolly hour or two catching up on the family's news.
The family is currently renting a house in Churt, while their real home, a crumbling Victorian mansion in Headley, Hampshire, is currently being extensively refurbished. Ali and Ed spend most of their Sundays back at their 4-bed Headley mansion, gardening and doing bits of DIY, also maintaining the enormous 7.5 acre grounds. And today Ali brings news of a welcome addition - a shepherd's hut, which can be used as for guest accommodation, any time when space in the mansion gets tight (!).
The family's two dogs, Sika and Bjorn have been testing out the shepherd's hut this weekend, and their initial feedback is positive, Ali says - see pictures below, if you want "chapter and verse" !!!!
In tonight's episode, we see the town mayor - the scruffy Roland Schitt - is again asking Alexis to help out when their baby-sitter lets them down. He and his wife Jocelyn had planned a couple's massage evening with friends.
Oops!
(above, left) our daughter Ali and her daughter Rosalind (18) on their visit to us
this afternoon, bringing news of their shiny new "shepherds hut" recently delivered
to the generous 7.5 acre grounds of their crumbling Victorian mansion in Headley
and the family's two dogs are giving it a cautious "thumbs up", which is nice!
There's also, this afternoon, exciting news about Ali and Ed's eldest progeny, Josie (20), who's just finished the first year of a maths degree course at Durham. Tomorrow Josie will be starting a summer job at transport consultancy firm Systra in London - dad Edward is on the board of Transport UK, and has had dealings with Systra in the course of his work, and the omens are good for a possible internship for Josie at some point, so watch this space!
(above) the family on their recent Mediterranean holiday in the Spanish Balearic Islands:
Josie (19) is second from left, sitting next to her mum, our daughter Alison
The stress of Josie's first week at work with Systra will be eased somewhat by her parents' generous booking of an airbnb for her in London for the weeki, to save Josie the hassle of commuting to and from the family's temporary home in Churt, which is a nice touch!
21:00 We wind down for bed with another short binge-watch of the recent Canadian series, Schitt's Creek, all about a "riches to rags" story of a billionaire and his wife, Johnny and Moira Rose, and their two useless grown-up kids, David and Alexis. After being cheated of their fortune by one of dad Johnny's crooked business associates, the family are force to rent two cheap rooms in a seedy motel in the backwoods town of Schitt's Creek.
a formerly billionaire family Johnny and Moira Rose, with their
useless grown-up kids David and Alexis, cheated of their fortune
by one of Johnny's crooked business associates, are forced to
rent 2 rooms in a seedy motel in the backwoods town of Schitt's Creek
They ask whether young Alexis and her beau, local vet Ted can step in and fill the gap, but they're otherwise engaged. They then invite Alexis's brother David and his latest "squeeze" Patrick, but ditto, apparently (!).
Dad Johnny is mortified by all this it seems, however, and he expresses his feelings in no uncertain terms after Rolando and Jocelyn finally leave the restaurant, resigned to cancelling the evening they had so been looking forward to - awwwww!!!!
It's hard, though, isn't it, that moment when you first realise that everybody else thinks you're "past it" (!).
Poor Johnny!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!!!
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