Danskcolin: Monday September 7th 2026 "Those crazy Japs, eh!! Always making us see things in a different light!!!"

Yes, Friends, what about those crazy Japs, eh! Always thinking "outside the box" with their fancy chopsticks and all!!! Simple knife and fork too 'conventional' for them, seemingly !!!

And for their latest crazy antics, check out your daily print version of Onion News, and you'll get your proof, if proof be needed!!

What madness, isn't it !!!!

But these Onion stories at least bring an unhealthy glow to the cheeks of me and my wife Lois this morning, here in lovely, semi-industrial Liphook, Hampshire - no question about that!!!

my wife Lois and me - a recent picture

And we can't resist smiling today, because Josie, the eldest of our 5 grandchildren, turns 20 today, a pivotal moment, which is making Lois and me feel a bit like "a right pair of old codgers", that's for sure! "You know you must be old, when one of your grandchildren hits the big 'two-oh " - that's what Lois and I always say, but with an impish grin on our faces at the same time, so fair do's !!!!

Here's the proof in black and white - with added new 'technicolour'!!!! - in pictures that Josie's 51-year-old mum, our daughter Alison, sends us later today from their temporary rental home just over the county line, in Churt, Surrey, which is nice!!!

for the eldest of our 5 grandchildren, Josie, it's the "Big Two-Oh" today,

which is making Lois and me feel a bit like a couple of 'old codgers', that's a given!!!!!

And the Japanese connection?

Well, Josie's parents, our daughter Alison and husband Edward, will be treating young Josie to a Japanese sushi meal tonight at her fave restaurant, the Sticks'n'Sushi by Victoria Railway Station in bustling London, no less, and not for the first time, as these birthday pictures from way back in 2020 attest, when Josie was a mere 14-year-old !!!

flashback to September 2020: (left) Josie celebrating her 14th birthday

at the Sticks'n'Sushi by Victoria Station, London, with, also pictured,

dad Edward, and siblings Rosalind (12) and Isaac (10) - awwwwwww,

how young they all looked, Edward included !!!!!!

My goodness - it's a busy day for Josie's family, and, by a complete coincidence it's also turning into a typically busy day for Yours Truly and for Lois too, no surprise there! It starts with an early visit by Josie's mum, our daughter Alison, who fills us in on the latest birthday news about Josie, and also picks up one of our mattresses for Josie's brother Isaac, who's currently having disturbed nights on his temporary air-bed, which "keeps deflating", according to reports, would you believe, which is mad!!!!!

Alison and family are currently 'between houses', if you please (!), and "all of a doodah", as they prepare to leave their temporary rental home in Churt, in order to return to their 'proper home', a crumbling Victorian mansion in Headley, as builders finish their 18 months of extensive renovation work on the property. Yes, it's 'all go' for all of us, today, that's for sure!!!

(left) our daughter Alison this morning, when she drops in to see us for a 'catch-up',

and (right) seen outside our house with Lois, loading a mattress into her car-boot

And no sooner has Alison left, with our mattress tucked safely in her car-boot, than, literally 10 minutes later, we have about 30 minutes to grab a scratch snack-lunch and then find ourselves having to drive the 3 miles over to Haslemere to attend, of all things, the first meeting in the new academic year of our friend Joe's local U3A "Intermediate Latin for Old Codgers" group, which is mad too!!!!

the route that, after extensive research (!), Lois and I plan to take this morning

to attend our friend Joe's U3A "Intermediate Latin for Old Codgers" class

What a crazy schedule it is for Joe's fortnightly class - 12:30 to 2:30pm (!!!!!!!!), and especially inconvenient for Lois and me, who are normally either in bed, or thinking about going to bed (!), during those 2 hours (!).

However, help is at hand, because, as Joe explains during today's meeting, the somewhat eccentric timing for his classes is going to be abandoned after today. The mad timing was originally determined by being the only slot available at the nearby, freezing cold, Haslemere Methodist Church Hall, where all Joe's meetings used to be held in the past.

flashback to last winter: a typical meeting of Joe's "Intermediate Latin

for Old Codgers" group, at the freezing-cold Methodist Church Hall

in Haslemere, Surrey - brrrrrrrr!!!!

However, now that widower Joe has elected to hold all future group meetings at his own spacious, comfortably furnished, and heated, retirement flat, it's finally "Liberty Hall" as regards timing, which is a relief! And after a lengthy and, at times acrimonious, debate today (!), we all collectively agree to a more civilised time-slot of 11:30am to 13:30pm for future classes.

And provisionally, Lois and I plan, on future class-days, to have a mid-morning snack at around 11am before we leave home, and then a quick bite when we get back, which should set us up for the afternoon, which is nice! But your suggestions welcome - postcards only haha!!!!

the scenes this afternoon at our friend Joe's first session of his U3A

"Intermediate Latin for Old Codgers" group for the new academic year,

held at his comfortable retirement flat in Haslemere, Surrey: a lengthy

and, at times acrimonious, debate on future class timings, followed

by a little bit of time to read a bit of Sallust and Virgil, which is nice!

Yes, in short, another crazy day!!!!

20:00 And the madness continues this evening, when Lois and I finally find space for a bit of "us time" on the sofa, watching one of our favourite TV quizzes, Only Connect, which tests lateral thinking.

And here's a real "doozy" for you from tonight's show! Can YOU spot the link between these 4 seemingly unrelated "things" ???

I think you've got this one already, haven't you? Thought so !!!! Yes, they're all descriptions of the so-called "mullet" hairstyle, and contestant Louise McMillan (see picture above), who also speaks Swedish, would you believe, gets the answer after only two clues, which is super-fast!

Presenter Victoria Coren-Mitchell accepts this answer, although quibbling about the term 'euphemism', which suggests that the much derided 'mullet' hair-style is something obscene or otherwise 'unacceptable in polite society', which Victoria denies, saying, "We love mullets on this show" (!), so that's all good!

"Kentucky Waterfall", it seems, is just an early term for the mullet hair style, and Bundesligahar stems from a Swedish footballer who sported the style, popularising it in Europe. And the band "Super Furry Animals" apparently had a single by the name "Ice Hockey Hair".

[??? - Ed]

Presenter Victoria, however, has never heard of the fourth description of the style as: "Business At The Front, Party At The Back".

Oh dear!!!!

There's a happier ending to the show, however, when, by tradition, Victoria reads out her "letter of the week" from one of the show's thousands of dedicated viewers, which is always fascinating!