Yes, Friends, have YOU got a pet, or are you thinking of getting one? Or do you already own quite the 'menagerie', maybe? (!)
One things for sure - pets will always be in the headlines! Open YOUR printed edition of Onion News, if it's "plopped" through YOUR letter-box this morning, that is!
And that last story is particularly heart-rending, because, as you probably know, the landlord at the city zoo has a strict "no pets" policy, which is a pity! Senior zookeeper Alison Weepie has more...
However, that 'pets' story, and the thousand others in today's paper, bring a tearful smile of recognition to the faces of the normally impassive Yours Truly and the woman I call "Mrs Yours Truly". Yes, step forward, my own dear wife Lois, and take a quick bow for the folks!!!
me and my wife Lois, a.k.a. "Mrs Yours Truly" - a recent picture
And we're smiling because, tomorrow, we'll be getting a visit from our daughter Alison, after she's dropped her mischievous young dog Bjørn off at his new canine "youth club", just over the county line, in Haslemere, Surrey.
Bjørn, who currently spends most of his evenings at home alone on a plumped-up mattress, has difficulties forming friendships with other young dogs, apparently, and the club offers the chance for young-to-youngish dogs to meet other like-minded dogs of their own age, in a controlled, "safe" environment.
(left) a typical scene at the local Haslemere "Canine Youth Club", and (right)
a typical evening for our daughter's dog, Bjørn, alone in front of the "telly",
watching re-runs of the likes of "Lassie" and "Blue Peter", I'm guessing (!)
Sadly, there are no table-tennis facilities at the club, unfortunately, like you get at human youth clubs, which is a pity, but there'll probably be a "water bar", Alison thinks, where Bjørn will be able to bark informally, or to "slurp", with other single or unattached canines, for friendship,or maybe more (?).
I promise to let you know how that develops, so watch this space!
It'll be good tomorrow to chat with our daughter Alison, in any case, because there's a lot going on in her family right now, to put mildly!
Husband Edward, who's on the board of one of the UK's many railway companies, has been up in Birmingham this week attending fringe events at the 2026 Conservative Party Conference, and hoping to catch the eye of yet another Alison - and this time it's Alison Griffiths, MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, who's Shadow Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Transport, if you please!
(left) Edward, our railway company board-member and son-in-law, with our daughter Alison,
and (right) the other Alison in Edward's life (!) - Alison Griffiths, Conservative MP
and Shadow Under-Secretary for Transport, seen here talking to constituents
What madness, isn't 'it !!!!
And that's not all that's going on in Alison's family this week, would you believe! While Alison and Edward's eldest offspring Josie (20) is starting the 2nd year of her maths degree course at Durham, middle offspring Rosalind (18) is starting the 1st year of her International Politics degree course at London's UCL.
Rosalind is also taking a "minor" in Danish, which sounds like a mad choice, but then the family did spend 7 years in Copenhagen 2012-2018, so "Fair enough!" - that's what Lois and I say!!!!!
flashback to a couple of weeks ago: (above) our granddaughter Josie settling into
her all-girl flat-share at Durham, and (below) our son-in-law Edward settling
our granddaughter Rosalind [inset] into her room at UCL, London
Rosalind tells us today that she's already had 2 Danish lessons with her female Danish native teacher, who is very nice and friendly apparently, and enthusiastic, although so far the class has just been covering things like introducing yourself, although that's a good place to start, Lois and I feel! However, Rosalind stresses how useful it is to have somebody to tell you exactly how to pronounce Danish words, and correcting you when necessary.
Famously, to speak Danish correctly is to sound like you've got a potato in your mouth, so Rosalind is going to need all the help she can get, and all the potatoes she can get, to put it mildly!
flashback to 2024: Isaac's first ever visit to China, with schoolmates: (left) Isaac [inset]
also to be seen bottom-right, half out of shot, on the school bus-ride to
London's Heathrow Airport, and (right) the group arriving at their destination in China
For Lois and me, however, it'll also be a welcome distraction tomorrow to hear more about our daughter's family and their latest doings, all seemingly travelling hither and thither, and getting up to all kinds of mischief, the young rascals !!!!
And it'll be a nice distraction, because, you see, poor Lois put her back out one crazy night last week, but she's now progressing, and on her way back to general fitness, which is good news!
This week, I've set Lois up with a "recuperation corner" - her own comfy IKEA "Bingsta" armchair right in front of the "telly", with not one but two side-tables, plus one larger "front-table", with the capacity to accommodate, not just Lois, but all her "stuff", including reference works, pills, tissues, her Cotton Traders winterwear catalogue, a selection of pictorial notelets, her book of crosswords, coasters for two cups of tea, her mobile - you name it, she's got it there, and within handy reach, which is nice!!!
(left) the little "recuperation corner" which I set up for poor Lois this week: her own "Bingsta"
armchair with, like, a billion little side-tables a round her to carry all her "stuff" - pills, tissues,
catalogues, phone, cups of tea etc - you name it - and (right) Lois sitting there today,
pictured sending a quick text to a friend, which is nice!!!!
Unfortunately we had an unnecessarily early start this morning, because Matthew, our gardener, the son of one of Lois's fellow church-members, had arranged to come over at 9am, i.e. the crack of dawn, or almost (!), to do some work in our tiny garden. However, at 8:30am he rang to cancel, in view of the heavy rain that had set in, which was a poor excuse, but we let him off this time - underneath our impassive exterior, we're actually all heart haha!!!!
(left) this week's weather so far, with heavy rain this morning, and (right)
our gardener Matthew, seen here in happier (and drier!) times, weeding a flower bed
So an early start, but all the more reason to "catch up", with an afternoon in bed, that's what we say, so that's all good!!!
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!!!
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