Yes, Friends, are you 'going places' or are you merely 'stuck in the mud'? Well, you'd better find your 'get-up-and-go' pretty quick, as you long as you get the order right, and 'get up' first, before you 'go', take my advice - that's Colin's "tip of the day" !!!!
[Great 'Colin's tip of the day' today, Colin, if I may say so! - Ed] [Thanks! - Colin]
Certainly today is a day for moving about - no question about that! Just look at today's press, with Onion News leading the pack, as always. Just look at their travel-staff "doozies", from page 94 alone!!
And these stories (and more!) bring a quick, if only fleeting, and rather vapid, smile to the faces of me and my wife Lois, as we sit in her church's Sunday Morning Meeting this morning, here in Petersfield, Hampshire, a few miles from our home in semi-rural Liphook, that's for sure!
Truth be told, Lois and I can't help feeling a teeny bit jealous of all these people zooming about the world today, while, by contrast, we ourselves are strictly limited to the joys of Liphook and the other 'fleshpots' of East Hampshire, semi-attractive though they undoubtedly are !!!!
They're both over in Europe, having a jolly good time, hopefully (!), but meanwhile poor Lois and I are stuck here in Liphook - poor us!!!!
They whole family is really tired after their 4-hour total drive time plus all the "larking about" on the so-called Pinnacles, near the mysterious Hangover Bay coastal feature (!). Plus, don't forget it may be 1:30pm in Liphook, but it's already 8:30 pm in Perth, would you believe, and they're all probably heading for an early bed!
14:00 Lois and I, meanwhile, are definitely "not on the move" today, other than, just, this afternoon, going on our normal 10-second trip "up the stairs to Bedfordshire", as people used to say! Even in bed, however, we can't get away from even more "travel news", coming in on our phones!
16:00 It's four o'clock and Lois and I have to somehow struggle out of bed, not having travelled anywhere much this afternoon, other than here and there in our little 6ft x 5ft "space", which is at least cosy, even if any majestic "views" are somewhat strictly limited !!!!
Lois and me, with daughter Alison this evening, in our seats waiting for the film to begin,
I'm feeling a bit nervous, to put it mildly, because it's fair to say that the audience is very "female-heavy", as becomes obvious right from the moment when we first step into the cinema's bar from Liphook's "mean streets". It's a bit of a toxic cocktail (no pun intended!!!):- a huge mob of crazed Jane Austen fans in the proximity of seemingly unlimited supplies of "booze".
(left) my wife Lois and me, sitting in a village hall near nearby Petersfield, Hampshire,
waiting for the Sunday Morning Meeting to begin, as (right) other church-members
filter in, and the big screen lights up with this week's online participants (!)
First and foremost amongst these people 'going places' are my niece Lucy and new Anglo-American wife Rosanna who finally got away to Europe this week, travelling from London's St Pancras station, on their Euro-rail honeymoon, with first photos now at last coming through from Brussels and Vienna.
(left) London's St Pancras Station, and (right) the train route from London to Vienna
via Brussels that the happy couple [inset] have taken this week
And they're eating the most peculiar things, to judge from some of the pictures, but then, let's face it, that's what European holidays are all about, isn't it!!!! In the first picture (see below) it looks like Rosanna has an enormous bread-crumb-coated hat, or maybe breadcrumb-coated tea-cosy on her plate, while Lucy just has a slice of lemon, would you believe!
I hope that's not a symbol of what their married life is going to be like!
Share and share alike, girls! That's the motto that's kept mine and Lois's marriage going these last 54 years!!! And that's Colin's today's "supertip" for a successful marriage - just saying !!!!
my niece Lucy and new wife Rosanna in Brussels and Vienna, on their Eurorail
honeymoon this week, eating and drinking the 'most craziest' [sic] things - but that's Europe!!!!!
Even our daughter Sarah, who lives in Perth, Australia with husband Francis and their 13-year-old twins Lily and Jessica have been "out and about" today, with a 2-hour drive to the so-called "Pinnacles", followed (naturally!) by a 2-hour drive home to Perth, as Lois and I find out in our weekly Sunday catch-up whatsapp call with them this lunchtime - 234 miles in total, and on a Sunday too !!!!
At least they've all got a day off tomorrow, for the King's Birthday. But even so, what madness, isn't it !!!!!
our weekly Sunday "catch-up" call with our daughter Sarah, who lives in Perth, Australia
with husband Francis and their 13-year-old twins Lily and Jessica
But what a crazy planet we live on !!!!
What madness!!!! [That's enough madness for today! - Ed]
what mine and Lois's little "Australian family" have been doing today - driving 117 miles
up the coast to the so-called "Pinnacles" or "Pinnacles Desert" near the
mysteriously named "Hangover Bay" - what a crazy way to spend a Sunday !!!!!
But "What's that all about, Colin?", I hear you cry!
Well, to answer any questions you may have, "Hangover Bay" actually isn't a reference to any so-called 'towering cliffs' - it really is a place where people went when they'd been over-celebrating, and had had rather too much to drink, which is weird!
The native Yued People, however, call the bay "Ngoorndiny Wirn Ngoorbar", which means "resting spirit day", and sounds charming, but it's undoubtedly also a lot less "snappy", as a name, so fair enough - the native name evidently got quickly dumped by the busy Aussies, who haven't got time for all that kind of 'malarkey', no surprise there!
But what about "The Pinnacles" or "The Pinnacles Desert" - what's that all about, Colin?" I hear you still plaintively pleading (!) - believe me, I can just sense it !!!!!
No peace for the wicked!!!!
even in bed this afternoon, Lois and I can't get away from
even more crazy "travel news" - what madness!!!!
Yes, in bed this afternoon, Lois gets a message on her phone from Margaret, one of her "chair-yoga" friends, whose grandson Philip has been sending his first pictures from the faraway Falkland Islands, where he's recently been posted by the RAF, which is mad!
At least Philip has been getting to know some of the 'natives' - mainly ones of the winged variety (!), to judge from his latest 'snaps' (!).
one of Lois's "chair yoga" friends' grandson, Philip, just posted to the Falklands
by the RAF, getting to know some of the natives, who seem to be having a meeting!!!!
Awwwww !!!! Look at those penguins, standing about chatting during one of their so-called "meetings" - so sweet! Awwww (again) !!!!
Aren't birds weird! And you only have to look at the so-called "shoebill stork", if you want proof!!
the so-called "shoebill stork" - is this the world's weirdest bird?
Your views welcome - postcards only haha!!!
Perhaps the weirdest thing about birds is that they're the only remaining living relic of the dinosaur age, having survived all their dinosaur relations simply by having some "extra-fuzzy" feathers, which sounds crazy. And as a theory it's a bit "fuzzy" in its own way, to put it mildly(!), as Lois and I have been finding out from Lois's copy of "The Week" magazine, which "plopped" through our letter-box this week.
The magazine summarises the big stories of the past week, from home and abroad, and here's an extract from the journal's popular "What the Scientists Are Saying" column.
Lois's copy of "The Week" magazine with the latest theory about
whybirds were the only survivors of the Dinosaur Age
We're not, however, tempted to follow the example of ageing model Jerry Hall (70) who likes her empty bed, now that she's divorced from long-term "squeeze", singer Mick Jagger. Though devastated at first, friends say, Hall has now "bounced back", elated that she can now lie diagonally across their former bed, for example, according to "The Week", which is heart-warming!
18:00 This evening, however, Lois and I can at least travel in time, if not in space (!), because we've got tickets to see the latest film imagining of Jane Austen's early 19th century novel "Sense and Sensibility" at Liphook's "Living Room Cinema", just an easy half a mile away (!), which is nice!
Liphook's iconic "Living Room Cinema"
And today's "crazy bird" theme continues, because we're going to see the film not on our own, but with our other daughter Alison, who's currently suffering from "empty nest syndrome", now that her two eldest "fledgelings", Josie (20) and Rosalind (18) have both gone off to college this weekend for the autumn term (!),
Although luckily Alison will still have son Isaac (16) and husband Edward (51) still "chirping away in the nest" (!), and needing "feeding" three times a day, so that'll be some consolation to her!!!! Poor Alison !!!!!
me with a gin-and-tonic, bought in the bar by Alison for her poor old dad (!)
However, I stick close to Lois, and none of the women tries to pick me up, so that's all good!
[You don't say! - Ed]
me (extreme right), intimidated by being in an environment at the same time
"female-heavy", and, additionally, with access to seemingly unlimited supplies of "booze",
seen here in the cinema's bar, with my wife Alison and our elder daughter Alison,
before going through to our seats to see "Sense and Sensibility"
And I'm okay during the film too, because luckily Lois has given me a "briefing" in bed this afternoon, with a synopsis and a short summary of the main characters, so I find I can more or less keep up with the plot, although as usual I sometimes mix up the main characters, which is a pity (!).
It turns out that the story is all about 2 sisters, Elinor (who's sensible) and Marianne (who's sensuous - geddit?) and about their adventures on the tortuous path to finding true love, I can exclusively reveal, so that's all good!
It's visually stunning as a film, we all agree, although Lois and Alison, both big Austen fans to put it mildly, are critical of some of the bits in the film that are "not in the book" - like the imported failed attempt to stage a duel, and, more generally, the speed with which the 2-hour film attempts to cover the bumper 400-page events from the original novel (!).
So it's a partial "thumbs up" for the film, from at least one pair of Austen-lovers, which is nice (!).
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!
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