Today I learned…

Here’s a link to a previous post which explains the origin of this idea.

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… that there are more parking wardens in the UK than soldiers in the British armed forces. The scale of cutbacks to the British armed forces of late is not unknown to me, but this statistic seems to be saying that the importance we place on parking is entirely out of proportion.

… that you can buy an “emotional support” plushie missile and/or Panzerfaust (German WW2 anti-tank weapon), but whether they’re intended for children or grown men was hard for me to decipher.

… that it wasn’t pure chance the Apollo astronauts took some great photographs. In addition to all the expected training, they were also schooled in photography and had their work severely critiqued before departure. I learned this when I received a simply gorgeous book of remastered photographs from the Apollo missions for Christmas.

… that you can get pockets to cook a cheese toastie in a microwave! Oh, and that they work unexpectedly well 🙂

… that among all the other days for marking things, there is a day set aside for Typing (8th January was World Typing Day). Many decades ago, I learned how to type on a manual typewriter, progressing through electric and electronic, before moving to Word Processors and Personal Computers. I once took my trusty portable typewriter (and coffee maker) to a new job so we had some basics while I got to work setting up the business. Today I find myself feeling worryingly nostalgic for that old portable 😉

… that a sportsman responded to an typically dull question about how a particular experience felt as being like “taking a running f*** at a rolling doughnut!” That’s one sports presenter who might (but only might) learn how to vary their game on questions!

… that a disgruntled person left the following review on the Radical Tea Towel website along with their one star review:“Bunch of Socialist, hippy and woke tea towel nonsense!” This didn’t have had the effect they were going for because, when the website shared their feedback, people flocked to the site to buy said tea towels. I bought one which says “Vote Larry the Cat for PM!” which features the cat who lives at 10 Downing Street.

… that watching the final Downton Abbey film over the festive period was a downright disappointment. We’ve watched it all, so weren’t expecting anything high-brow, but it really was a nonsense, with the only people to come out of it well being the wardrobe department.

… that the DVDs in my boxset of the West Wing have deteriorated and no longer work properly. I hoped it would be the DVD player which was the problem, but it works perfectly on other DVDs. I am gutted, both as it’s one of my favourite pieces of TV and because I felt the need to comfort watch it right now… My distress was exacerbated when I discovered the price to replace it.

What’s new in your world? Or just new to you? Anything making you feel amused, raise your eyebrows, or even gob-smacked?

© Debs Carey, 2026