Thursday October 2nd - Friday October 3rd 2026
Thursday October 2nd 2026
Yes, Friends, "Honeymoon Season" is here again - and that's official !!!! Especially for 'early bird' couples who want to "beat the spring rush", to put it mildly!!!
Well, it's October, and you may have noticed that suddenly the press is full of "early-bird honeymoon" stories, with Onion News well to the fore, as per usual !!!! Just feast your eyes on these "doozies" in this morning's print edition, and we're talking page 94 alone, would you believe !!!
my wife Lois and me - on one of our recent near-daily walks
over the 'hallowed turf' of local soccer heroes Liphook United
You see, this afternoon Lois and I find ourselves desperately trying to control another rowdy fortnightly online meeting of the local U3A "Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" group, which we allegedly "run" - "for our sins (!)".
And Jeanette, the group's only authentically Danish member, tells us all about her recent "Saga Cruise" to the Norwegian fjords with her British husband, Mike, later sending us these iconic pictures:
And Jeanette's pictures bring back many happy memories to Lois and me of our honeymoon in the Norwegian fjords 54 years ago now, back in September 1972, would you believe!
The crazy thing about the Norwegian fjords is that, most places you go, there isn't a soul about, so you can really "go mad" and get up to the most "madcap" japes anybody could imagine, and generally "larking about", in ways that would be frowned on here in Liphook, Hampshire, especially on the locally much-revered "hallowed turf" of local soccer heroes Liphook United, to put it mildly!!!!!
What a great time Lois and I had on our honeymoon all those years ago - see these pictures!!!
flashback to September 1972: Lois and me "larking about"
on honeymoon in the Norwegian fjords - what a madness it all was!!!!
Back to today, however, and the "honeymoon" theme continues later, when pictures come in from my niece Lucy, who got married in Ipswich, a couple of weeks ago, to her Anglo-American fiancee Rosanna, and are now on a Eurorail honeymoon over in Europe, which is nice!
They're currently in Cologne. See the iconic "twin towers" of Cologne Cathedral looming in the background, as the happy couple cower under an interesting umbrella. which must be the "modern" sort, Lois and I are guessing !!!!
What a pair of young scamps !!!!!
(left) my niece Lucy with her wife of 2 weeks Rosanna, cowering under an umbrella
with the twin towers of Cologne Cathedral in the background, and (right)
Lucy enjoying a typical continental meal at a Cologne restaurant - yum yum!!!!
Tyre pressures have to be checked, and a route planned - busy busy busy!!!
me checking the tyre pressures today on our 2012 Honda Jazz - busy busy busy!!!
As for our route tomorrow, once more we're planning to stop for lunch at Cliveden, the iconic stately home that was the backdrop for the greatest sex scandal of the 1960's, when it hosted various orgies, including trysts between War Minister John Profumo and high-class call-girl Christine Keeler, trysts all facilitated by notorious osteopath Stephen Ward.
And the best thing is - Lois and I will get into Cliveden free of charge tomorrow, as members of the National Trust, so that's all good!
flashback to the early 1960's: (left) high-end osteopath and orgy facilitator
Stephen Ward frolicking with model/call-girl Christine Keeler in the gardens at Cliveden, and
(right) the shock news of the scandal, which brought down Macmillan's Conservative Government
flashback to 2024: us at Cliveden House, Bucks, searching the house and gardens
for anything "naughty" going on: (right) Lois checks for bodies in the pagoda (!)
However, our planned weekend in Bucks was not to be - as we discover, early on Friday morning....
Friday October 2nd 2026
07:30 I wake Lois with a cup of tea, as usual, only to discover that she had put her back out last night, so badly that she is asking me to help her get dressed, even, although I persuade her not to bother, and just stay in her nightie and dressing-gown, today. Nobody's going to see - it'll just be us, here, obviously, all weekend, so no problem there!
As a result, Friday turns out to be a day of intermittent pain and forced idleness for poor Lois, and a weird, topsy-turvy day for me. I had been packing a case and gearing myself up for a fairly short, but stressful, drive round London's orbital motorway, the M25, the kind of drive I don't really do much any more.
Instead, however, I suddenly find myself many of the routine jobs around the house that poor Lois does normally, plus preparing 3 meals, would you believe, something which she normally tries to dissuade me from doing, which is mad! I'm actually a perfectly good chef, given the chance, believe it or not!!!
[I really don't think so, Colin, on this evidence! - Ed]
(left) I abandon the half-begun suitcase-packing, and (right) settle
Lois in front of the TV with a nice DVD, while starting to plan today's
so-called "meals", would you believe, which is mad!!!!!
On the meal-preparation front, luckily, over the years, I've developed a useful suite of "signature meals" for use in emergency: what I call my "surprise suite" - 'corn beef surprise', 'boiled egg surprise', 'poached egg surprise', and even a 'sausage surprise', which always makes us giggle (!).
Here, in pictures, is me tonight showing how it's done, with a rare glimpse of me with my "chef hat" on - not literally (!), I haven't got one actually!!! But a good idea for somebody to 'gift' me as a Christmas present maybe?
I wonder.....!!!!!
(above) me with my chef's hat on (figuratively!) and (below) tonight's "gourmet meal"
my popular "Corn Beef Surprise", prepared to perfection, although I say it myself!!!!
Meanwhile, poor Lois is making progress of sorts with her back, having taken 3 doses of ibuprofen, one dose after each of my so-called "meals", which is nice, so fingers crossed for the weekend!
Watch this space!!!!
And at least some relief is at hand for Lois, and an end to my reign of terror in the kitchen, thanks to these delicious CookShop ready-meals which I order today, coming tomorrow morning - so that's a comfort!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzz!!!!!
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