Saturday September 27th 2025 "When was the last time YOU met a fairy princess! Makes you think, doesn't it!"

Yes, friends, can you remember the last time YOU met a fairy princess? Bet it was a while ago, wasn't it! And there's a good reason for that, according to this morning's Onion News - see page 94, look at that graph on the whiteboard, and weep!!!!

It's a worrying report, but in reality it has its funny side too, hasn't it! And for personal reasons, it brings a bit of a chuckle to the faces of me and my light-to-moderate wife Lois in leafy Liphook, Hampshire this morning, which is nice!

my light-to-moderate wife Lois and me - a recent picture

"But why the chuckle, Colin?", I hear you cry!

Well, today, Saturday, is going to be an unusually busy day for us, because we've got to pick up our 15-year-old grandson Isaac up from his home just over the county line in Churt, Surrey and take him to some auditions and rehearsals in nearby Haslemere, for a part in next spring's production of "Legally Blonde The Musical" in Haslemere Town Hall. 

And before he goes in to the auditions, Isaac tells us it's all about a ditsy-looking blonde woman who nevertheless becomes a lawyer while staying true to her "girly-girly" roots, so in a way it's an answer to all the "Moaning Minnies" decrying the recent lack of Fairy Princesses, which is a heartening news, to put it mildly!

We imagine Isaac will get a good part in the production, because he's a seasoned local amateur actor/singer - having recently played the part of the Tin Man in his school's version of "The Wizard of Oz", so we think he'll be a "shoo-in" - call us biased if you like haha!!!

The production is being organised by the Surrey Theatre Group's answer to New Yorks "Fame" Academy. 

Lois outside Haslemere Hall this morning, while our 15-year-old grandson is inside

auditioning for a part in the Surrey Theatre Group's production of "Legally Blonde the Musical" 

flashback to July: our 15-year-old grandson Isaac in his Tin Man costume for

his school's version of the Wizard of Oz, seen here with mum Alison (our elder

daughter) and dad Isaac, a hotshot London lawyer

"Shoo-in" for the part, or not - it's a bit of a nail-biting 2 hours for Lois and me, as two "old codgers" knocking around Haslemere town centre, sampling some of its many delights, buying bras from Amazing Grace (just for Lois haha! - but of the same brand that Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II favoured, according to shop-owner Grace!). 

Basically we are trying to stay out of trouble (!), for Isaac's sake!

Haslemere Town Centre with it iconic mile-stone, indicating

that we're a mere 40 miles from London's Hyde Park Corner

I sit in the "husband's chair" at the Amazing Grace underwear shop, while

shop-owner Grace takes Lois upstairs for a fitting, one of the bras 

favoured by our late Queen, according to Grace (!)

we kill more time and try to stay out of trouble (!), with a coffee

at Hemingway's and a bacon-and-brie-jacket-potato lunch at Oliver's

Lois and I have been retired for almost 20 years, so having to do something we don't do everyday makes any day "busy", according to the "Old Codgers Rule-book" that we've made up haha!

Poor us !!!!!

We're having to "chauffeur" young Isaac around in Haslemere this morning because his mum and dad are away this weekend in Durham, where they've taken their eldest Josie to start her 3-4 year maths-and-Mandarin degree course up there, in the "frozen north" (!). 

flashback to Friday last week: (top left) me with Josie on the sofa at the family's

home in Churt, and (top right) Josie modelling the coat Lois and I gave her

as a birthday present, to equip her for 3-4 years in "The Frozen North" (!),

and (bottom) Josie today getting to know her room in her college at Durham

in the company of dad Edward and mum Alison

Dad Edward will be staying up there on business or something resembling it, allegedly (!). He works for some of the UK's railway companies and he'll be in Liverpool this week for this year's Labour Party conference, with a view to "schmoozing", sorry, I mean, "having frank discussions with" (!), Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander  and her officials. 

(left) the setup for this week's annual Labour Party Conference in Liverpool,

and (right) Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, whom our son-in-law Edward

will be "schmoozing", oops sorry (!), "having frank discussions with" (!)

What madness!!!! 

And mum Alison will be coming home from Durham tomorrow (Sunday) by train, and Lois and I will be picking her up at Haslemere Railway Station tomorrow afternoon.

So, all in all, another very busy day for Lois and me tomorrow haha !!!!

Luckily, Lois decides she'll stay at home tomorrow morning, and just take part online in her church's Sunday Morning Meeting, to make the day slightly less busy, cutting out the travel down to Petersfield where the church holds its services.

flashback to 2024: Lois, in one of her "meeting hats"

 attending her church's Sunday Morning Meeting online

It's probably just as well that we won't be travelling to Petersfield anyway, because the town is on the fringes of the New Forest, where, according to an email from Steve, our brother-in-law in Pennsylvania, there could be a lot of loose pigs wandering around. Steve monitors the British press for us, as Lois and I are often too busy (!) to even switch on the news, let alone concentrate on it, would you believe!

What a crazy country we live in !!!!! And, as Steve comments, figures for dead and injured pigs don't seem to have been reported. Which begs the question -  exactly what are our elected 'masters' trying to hide from us?

I think we should be told, don't you!

20:00 Relieved that Lois and I personally won't be in danger of injuring or killing any pigs tomorrow, we decide to go to bed on ITV's original film version of the Legally Blonde musical that our grandson Isaac will be taking part in next year, just to get a rough idea and try and guess what part Isaac would be most suited for.

Sorry we can't resist it haha !!!

It's an entertaining film: here we see ditsy-looking blonde Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) arriving at Harvard for the first time and meeting her study-group for an informal get-to-know-you session on the grass outside the college.

Notes: Our heroine, Elle, is the one sitting on the right, dressed in pink clutching her adorable little dog (!).

First up, here's a nervous-looking David Kidney:

Next up we have Enid Wexler: 

After Enid, we hear from Aaron Mitchell:

Sounds like a tough crowd, doesn't it, to put it mildly!

Luckily, it turns out that our heroine, Elle, together with her adorable little dog Bruiser, has more qualifications than the lot of them, which is cheering!

Fair enough, enough said! "Elle takes the trophy!", Lois and I think! If anything she's overqualified, we say - call us biased if you like haha!

And it's all the most tremendous fun at the same time!!!!

Grandparental note: if asked, the role we'll be suggesting for our grandson Isaac is the David Kidney role (see above). Unlike Kidney, our young grandson Isaac hasn't got a masters in Russian Literature, but he is taking a GCSE in Mandarin Chinese. He's never been to Somalia to de-worm orphans, but he has been on a school trip to China, which knocks de-worming in Somalia into a cocked hat, to put it mildly!

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz!!!!

Friday September 26th 2025 "Britain's fate is on a knife-edge, experts are saying - Are YOU hanging on in there haha?!?!"

Yes, friends, are YOU still there, physically and emotionally intact (!), after Britain's "big news day" today, when our fate has been on a knife-edge, according to experts? 

And sincerely, I do hope you ARE hanging on, by your fingertips, or even the tips of your fingertips if necessary !!!!

Here in semi-leafy Liphook, Hampshire, my medium-to-light wife Lois and I have been walking about all day in total ignorance of it all this "mayhem" (!), until, in bed this afternoon, our fragile equilibrium is upset, momentarily, by this "UK crisis update summary" from, of all places, America, when an email "roars in" (!) from Steve, our brother-in-law in Pennsylvania. 

my medium-to-light wife Lois and me - a recent picture

Over there in Pennsylvania, Steve is a regular reader of the UK's "The Guardian", and, unlike Lois and me, has his finger on Britain's pulse, to put it mildly!

And those are just some of the worrying signs of our latest national crisis apparently!

Yikes!

In a way it's fortunate that Lois and I are having a quiet but busy day today and haven't even once turned on the news, to hear all these sickening stories. As a result, we've ended up missing all the "mayhem" completely, would you believe, which may have been for the best, to put it mildly!

We simply haven't had time to follow the crisis from minute to minute, what with Lois busy in the kitchen making eight 1 lb jars of apple chutney from some local apples, and me with my head down, preparing some vocab sheets for the local U3A's rowdy "Intermediate Danish for Old Codgers" group, that Lois are I allegedly "manage" - "for our sins" (!).

our quiet day - my light-to-medium wife Lois making some delicious apple chutney

from a bunch of local apples, and me with my head down over my trusty

Danish dictionary, preparing vocab sheets for the area's avid Danish speakers

- see our happy faces: little did we realise that our country was in crisis !!!!!!

On the plus side, we've been savouring that "quiet" yesterday and today, because we've got a busy weekend coming up - and, as you know, for old codgers like Lois and me, retired for almost 20 years, a "busy day" is defined as "any day where we've got to do more than one thing" (!). 

Today, Friday, our eldest grandchild Josie (19) is travelling up to Durham to start her 3-4 year university maths degree course, with supplementary subject Mandarin Chinese. Travelling with Josie today, by road, on this almost exactly 300 mile journey north from nearby Churt, Surrey, are Josie's parents - our 50-year-old daughter Alison, and our 50-year-old son-in-law and hotshot London lawyer, Edward.

And hence mine and Lois's "busy weekend", because in Ali and Ed's absence up north, we've got to do a couple of things for Josie's siblings, Rosalind (18) and Isaac (15), mostly driving Isaac to this and that - so busy, busy, busy!!!!

Durham is further north than Yorkshire, and almost as far north as Copenhagen, Denmark, would you believe. And poor Josie is going to have the brave the freezing cold up in those far-off parts for the next 3 to 4 years! 

Luckily the family spent 7 years in Denmark from 2012 to 2018, so they've got some "extreme cold hands-on experience", which will come in handy - no pun intended!!!!

Lois and I have helped in this by getting Josie a lovely warm fake-furry coat for her birthday, which will be a bonus for her, 300 miles away, up in the "frozen North", we believe!

(top) flashback to last Friday, when Lois and I say our official "goodbye and good luck"

to our eldest grandchild Josie (19) at Hemingway's in Haslemere, and (bottom)

me and Josie at the family's temporary home in Churt, with Josie showcasing

the warmish, fake-furry coat Lois and I have bought her for her birthday this year.

It's a big moment in Josie's young life, that's for sure. 

And I can't help thinking back to the day in September 1965, more or less exactly 60 years ago, when Yours Truly, yes, I myself, left home for the first time to start my 4-year university degree course, during which I was also got to know my wife Lois, so a fateful choice of uni, "fateful" in a very nice way, I must stress haha (!):

flashback to 1965: me, just prior to starting my own university degree course, pictured

here on holiday in Kijkduin, Holland, and (right) my 7-year-old little sister Jill, modelling

my shiny new "scholar's cap" in our family's back garden in Redland, Bristol

Happy days!!!!

Poor Josie doesn't even get to Durham today till 10 o'clock at night, apparently, according to a text we receive from her sister Rosalind, just as Lois and I getting back into bed for another "session" (!). Rosalind says the journey took longer than expected, due to the "Friday afternoon rush", with crazy people taking off early for the weekend, no doubt with heavy hearts, due to the UK's big "crisis day" (see those Guardian reports above!), all determined to have one last "fling", before the Apocalypse (!).

What madness, isn't it !!!!

Travel was so  much more civilised in the great eras of luxury travel, as Lois and I have been seeing, with the 4th and final episode of the More4 series on the Orient Express line from London to Budapest.

In tonight's final episode in this fascinating series, we see the most distant part of the Orient Express traveller's route, through Bulgaria and into Turkey. And the travellers' "unusual" (!) journey through Bulgaria during the post-World War II era, is here described for us, graphically, by a young Bulgarian tourist guide:

Indeed, the advent of the Iron Curtain caused enormous problems for the Orient Express trains, and the service was in fact, completely banned by the Communist authorities for many years after World War II.

When eventually the authorities relented and allowed the London to Istanbul service to be reinstated through Bulgaria, the government of the country continued to worry about the security implications. 

What madness! And what a bummer for the passengers, who must have had to eat their way through extra portions of caviar etc, if only just to pass the time!

From the regime's point of view, however, there were several plus signs for allowing the train through Bulgaria's territory:

And how annoying this must have been for ordinary Bulgarians living day to day in their ordinary home towns, that weren't freshly painted, didn't have nice benches and water fountains and didn't have places for children to play etc etc!

What a crazy world we live in! 

Will this do?

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz!!!!!