Tirsdag den 16. august til onsdag den 17. august 2016

17:00 Manden fra Blade Honda afleverer vores bil. Jeg har allerede betalt med betalingskort på telefon. Jeg er nu væsentlig fattigere – uha!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad på terrassen og bagefter smutter vi ind i vores naboers baghave. Stephen og Francis er væk hjemmefra i denne uge – de er på ferie i Sussex, og de har bedt os om at passe på deres grøntsaghave og blomsterbede og vande dem om aftenen, hvis det har været en varm dag, som i dag.

Lois og jeg går i gang med at vande vores naboers grøntsaghave

19:55 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser Grand Designs og vi ser et par, Stephen og Anita, få bygget et nyt hus i Lewes, en pæn lille by i Sussex.

Som vi forudså, er det nye hus meget grimt. Der ser ud til, at Stephen har lyst til at forarge sine naboer, ligesom mange af de mænd, som vi ser i denne tv-serie. Huset er bygget af rustent, orangegult stål, og ser ud som en fabrik eller en industriel lagerbygning. Byens indbyggere er meget vrede, også byens borgmester.

Byens indbyggere er meget vrede – og med rette!

Stephen ked ikke af, at hans naboer alle er vrede på ham. Programmets vært, Kevin McCloud roser selvfølgelig det nye huset til skyerne, som altid! Det eneste, der er vigtigt fra Stephens vedkommende, er at huset er ”smukt” (i hans øjnene), og han bekymrer sig ikke for, om husets detaljer er praktiske eller ej. Husets stue er enorm, med de sædvanlige ukomfortable sofaer, det enorme grimme spisebord, og de enorme vinduer. Han afviser at installere gardiner eller persienner.

I denne slags program hører vi ikke noget om problemer med at rengøre disse enorme vinduer. Det ville være total umuligt i dette hus, fordi huset hænger ud over en flod. Vi må håbe at duer og andre fugler holder sig væk!

Det nye hus er ekstrem grimt – du godeste! Det er grufuldt!

de sædvanlige ukomfortable sofaer, og enorme vinduer uden gardiner – de kan ikke gå nøgne eller i undertøj rundt i stuen – ingen tvivl om det !!!!

et enormt grim spisebord med takkede kanter og huller i overfladen – total upraktisk!

21:00 Derefter viser de en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om Castle Howard. Dette slot ligger i North Yorkshire. Det har været privat bolig for Carlisle-grenen af Howard slægten i mere end 300 år.

Jeg må indromme, at vi sjældent ser på dette slags program, men vi beslutter at se det fordi værten er Phil Spencer, der ser sig om i slottet ikke som en historiker, men ligesom en ukultiveret ejendomsmægler – du godeste – sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz !!!!!

06:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtester. Jeg laver to kopper te og bringer dem op på vores soveværelse. Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.

09:00 Vi smutter ind i det lokale postkontor for at sende forskellige pakker af til Australien og Danmark, hvor vores 2 døtre bor. Bagefter går vi en kort tur i nabolaget (1 mile, 25 minutter). Vores rute: Højgade, Southamvej, Møllegade, Borgergade og tilbage igen. Engang imellem stopper vi for at se nærmere på nogle af landsbyens gamle huse.

Vi går en kort tur i nabolaget

13:00 Vi spiser frokost og derefter går jeg i seng og tager mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzzz!!!!

15:00 Jeg står op og vi slapper af med en kop te på sofaen.

English translation

17:00 The man from Blade Honda delivers our car. I have already paid with credit card by phone. I am now considerably poorer - oh dear!

18:00 We have dinner on the terrace and then we pop into our neighbors' backyard. Stephen and Frances are away from home this week - they are on holiday in Sussex, and they have asked us to take care of their vegetable garden and flower beds and water them in the evening if it has been a hot day like today.

Lois and I begin to water our neighbors' vegetable garden

19:55 We use the rest of the evening to watch TV. They show Grand Designs, and we see a couple, Stephen and Anita, getting a new house built in Lewes, a nice little town in Sussex.

As we predicted, the new house is very ugly. It seems that Stephen wants to offend his neighbors, just like so many of the men, as we see in this TV series. The house is built of rusty, orange yellow steel, and looks like a factory or industrial warehouse. The city's residents are very angry, also the city's mayor.

The city's residents are very angry - and rightly so!

Stephen is not sorry that his neighbors are all angry with him. The program's host, Kevin McCloud of course praises the new house to the skies, as always! The only thing that is important from Stephens viewpoint, is that the house is "beautiful" (in his eyes) and he does not care about whether the house details are practical or not. The living-room is huge, with the usual uncomfortable sofas, the huge ugly dining table, and the huge windows. He refuses to install curtains or blinds.

In this kind of program, we hear nothing about problems with cleaning these huge windows. It would be totally impossible in this house, because the house hangs over a river. We must hope that pigeons and other birds stay away!

The new house is extremely ugly - my goodness! It's horrible!

 the usual uncomfortable sofas and huge windows without curtains - they can not go naked or in underwear around the room - no doubt about it !!!!

a huge ugly dining table with jagged edges and holes in the surface - totally impractical!

21:00 Then they show a interesting documentary about Castle Howard. This castle is located in North Yorkshire. It has been a private residence for Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years.

I must admit that we rarely watch this kind of program, but we decide to see it because the host is Phil Spencer, who looks around the palace not as a historian but like an uncultured realtor - my goodness - what a crazy world we live in !!!!

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

6:00 I get up early and do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests. I make two cups of tea and bring them up to our bedroom. We get up and eat breakfast.

09:00 We pop into the local post office to send various packages to Australia and Denmark, where our 2 daughters live. Afterwards we go for a short walk in the neighborhood (1 mile, 25 minutes). Our route: Højgade, Southamvej, Møllegade, Borgergade and back again. Sometimes we stop to look at some of the village's old houses.

We go for a short walk in the neighborhood

13:00 We eat lunch and then I go to bed and take a giant nap - zzzzz !!!!

15:00 I get up and we relax with a cup of tea on the sofa.