Wednesday was one of those “Oh my gosh. What a glorious day!” kind of days. Bright, bright blue skies with wispy clouds drifting along on a gentle breeze on a pleasantly warm Autumnal day with bright, crisp sunshine. Such a beautiful day it makes you want to stop and enjoy it. So, I did.
It was pleasant all day and in the afternoon we meandered over to Adam and Ava’s to surprise Jessie with a Grandma visit. It really is heart-warming. We go along to the school gate and wait while Adam or Ava goes along to her classroom to collect her. Eventually, the two of them emerge amongst the torrent of other parents and a jumble of skipping, jumping, shouting children steaming out of the school gate. About two-thirds of the way along the path Jessie spots Penny and shrieks, drops Adam’s hand and sprints to throw herself into Grandma’s arms. I get a similar if not quite so enthusiastic greeting – she races over and grasps my legs for a moment before sprinting back to grab Grandma’s hand and drag her off. Perfect, my training is done.
Although not as fine as Wednesday turned out, on Monday it was nice and sunny so we took the afternoon off and made our way down to Stowe Gardens near Buckingham. A lovely afternoon wandering around the estate and a pasty and coffee from the cafe for our efforts.
We had some of our lovely neighbours round for dinner on Tuesday – the first indoor gathering of friends we’ve hosted since I don’t remember when. It was lovely and Penny’s aubergine parmigiana was sensational.
And, if that’s not enough excitement, we both had our flu jab at the end of last week. Just waiting on the Covid booster which should be soon, I guess. What an exciting life we lead – dinner and flu jabs, that’s all I’ve got for you this week!
As four-times defending Sourdough champion at the annual Moreton Pinkney Horticultural Show I am always on the lookout for other competitive activities in which I might participate. So, I am grateful to the latest edition of Private Eye for alerting me to a competition at which I would be an absolute natural.
This is the tenth annual lying down contest,” Radoje Blagojevic told reporters in Ethno village in Donja Brezna (Montenegro), “held to poke fun at the widespread stereotype that Montenegrins are lazy. “Ten contestants lay down in the open air five days ago, and even though the world record of 52 hours was broken on August 24th, three of them are still going. Admittedly this year they are allowed to go the toilet every eight hours, so maybe it’s easier to break the record now.
Two years ago, the winner managed 52 hours lying down without going to the toilet at all. I couldn’t have managed that, so all credit goes to them.”
After 117 hours of lying down, ‘Duda’ Aksic from Podgorica was declared the winner of the €350 prize. “It was really hard,” she admitted, “especially at 3am last night when a heavy rain started. It was cold, and even though I used additional blankets, my body began to ache from so much lying down. But if it wasn’t for the rain, I would have remained even longer.” One of the runners-up added “it’s not easy to lie down for so long. We read things on our phones, talk to visitors, and we have become friends, almost a family. I applied out of curiosity, and the competitive spirit was there, but now lying down is starting to become boring It’s harder than it looks.” (RTCG, 24/8/21 and Global Voices, 26/8/21. Spotter: Francis Harvey)
I’ve been scooting along Route 66 on my virtual trek from Chicago to Santa Monica. I left the fine state of Missouri at the beginning of last week and am now skipping across Oklahoma.
The highlight of this leg of the virtual expedition has to be the splendidly named town of Big Cabin, Oklahoma, known in its heyday as the Hay Capital of the World. To my disappointment, however, the municipality did not get its name from an over-sized dwelling sufficiently large to accommodate a houseful of furniture on the scale of the World’s Largest Rocking Chair in Fanning, Missouri.
Rather, it takes its name from a large Indian cabin which the railway seems to have appropriated.
Ms Playchute and I were somewhat perplexed to discover some construction-type markers on the Upper Green just outside our front door which appeared on Friday night/Saturday morning. There are two additional markers in front of our two neighbour’s houses. I’m going to be pretty annoyed if they turn out to be a survey for the realignment of the HS2 railway currently being built in the area. On the other hand, if they turn out to be provisional locations for the planting of some trees in commemoration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year we would be delighted. I’ll let you know.
Meanwhile, keep happy, keep smiling, keep isolating as much as you can, wear a f**king facemask when you go out and keep your distance. And keep safe.
Lots of love to you all,
Greg
Since you mentioned honing your competive skills, I thought you might want to put this on your calender should you come stateside again for a visit:
https://www.sundayriver.com/events/north-american-wife-carrying-championship
I had Steph and I enrolled one year but strangely he went missing that day..hmmm
Hugs to you both