17:00 Jeg taler lidt på telefon med min søster, Gill, der bor i Cambridge,
sammen med Peter, sin handicappede mand, og Lucy, én af deres 3 døtre. Lucy er
også handicappet.
Familien har det i grov træk ganske godt. Peter har en degenerativ
handicap, der betyder, at når hans tilstand ændres (dvs forværres), er denne
ændring permanent. Sidste år blev det pludseligt sværere for ham til at løfte
hovedet, og Gill måtte få installeret kraftigere udstyr, for at hjælpe ham med
at fungere i det daglige. Men overraskende, men meget dejligt at sige, at hans
tilstand i dette tilfælde forbedredes.
Lucy har for nylig været igennem hårde tider, med mange alvorlige
problemer, men nu står det meget bedre til med hende. Hun uddanner sig til
advokat, og det er forventet, at hun om tre år får sine kvalifikationer. Hun
arbejder for et lokalt advokatfirma.
Maria arbejder stadigvæk for en japanske bank i London. Hun bekymrer sig
lidt over, om banken vil beslutte at forlade Storbritannien efter Brexit, men i
andre aspekter, går det meget godt med hende og hendes partner, Tom.
Zoe, den ældste datter, er stadigvæk i gang med at gøre forskning i området
af kræftbehandling på Manchester universitet. Hun har for nylig fået sin doktorgrad, og søge
for tiden en anden forskningstilling.
Gill er meget glad for, at hun tidligere på året er blevet pensionist (på
58 år), og det er især tilfredsstillende for hende, at dette er det første
efterår, hvor hun ikke har skullet starte et nyt skoleår, med alle de
forberedelser og arbejde, som at være lærerinde kræver – hurra!
Hun arbejder lidt de fleste dage sidst på eftermiddagen. Hun har nogle
private elever, der besøger hende mellem kl 16 og 18.
18:00 Vores ældste datter, Alison, der bor i København, har sendt mig en
artikel fra den lokale engelsksprogede avis, Copenhagen Post. Artiklen handler
om en atletikstævne, som hendes børns skole, Rygaards, for nylig deltog i.
Rygaards er en international engelsksproget skole i Hellerup, en lille forstad
til København. På stævnen dystede Rygaards med 4 andre internationale skoler
fra forskellige regioner af Danmark, men det var Rygaards, der endte med at
vinde pokalen – hurra!
Artiklen indeholder 4 fotos: det tredje viser Alisons lille datter Rosalind
(på 8 år) – hun er åbenbart ved at løbe så hurtigt som hun kan – Lois og jeg er
så stolt af hende!!!
Copenhagen Post-artiklen, som Alison sendte mig.
I
det tredje billede ser man Rosalind, ét af Alisons tre børn.
Lois
og jeg er så stolt af hende!!!
18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad og derefter bruger vi resten af aftenen på at se
lidt fjernsyn. De viser Top of the Pops, et gamle afsnit fra maj 1982, der
oprindeligt blev udsendt på vores svigersøn Eds 7. fødselsdag – Ed er Alisons
mand. Alison fejrede sin 7. fødselsdag tre måneder senere i USA. Vi flyttede
til USA i august 1982. Vi kendte dengang få mennesker derover, så vi fejrede
Alisons fødselsdag ved at tage hende og Amelia (datteren af én af mine
arbejdskollegaer) med til Enchanted Forest, en forlystelsepark, der ligger lidt
uden for Baltimore på rute 40 (øst!). Jeg må indrømme, at jeg ved ikke, hvor Ed
fejrede sin 7. fødselsdag.
Enchanted Forest, en forlystelsespark i
nærheden af Baltimore,
hvor
vi fejrede Alisons 7. fødselsdag i 1982
Men jeg har gjort her en lille sidespring – uha! Jeg må holde mig til det
emne, det interesserer mig – i aftens tv-programmer. Hurra!
Sangene i aften er for det meste noget skrammel, selvom jeg tydeligt husker
”House of Fun””, fortolket af Madness, og ”Hungry like the Wolf”, fortolket af
Duran Duran. Det er interessant at se en ganske ung Debbie Harry, der droppede
ind til showet for at snakke lidt med programmets vært, John Peel. Peel, der
betragtede sig som en dj, der kun interesserede sig for ”alvorlig” popmusik,
plejede at sige, at han hadede at præsentere Top of the Pops, men jeg læste for
nylig, at han i smug faktisk utrolig meget nød at gøre det! Du godeste, sikke
en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
a3
Debbie Harry, før hun blev en gammel krage, ligesom resten af os !!!
Peel
er i endnu en værre tilstand – han er død, stakkels John !!!!
20:30 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser Big Bang Theory (23.
(næstsidste) afsnit af den 9. serie).
Teknisk en genudsendelse, men Lois og jeg gik glip af dette afsnit, da vi
mellem april og juni var i Australien.
En komisk plot – ”drengene” betaler Stuart, den ensomme og forarmede
ejer af den lokale tegneseriebutik, for at udføre forskellige irriterende
opgaver, som de ikke har lyst til at gøre. For eksempel Sheldon betaler Stuart
$20 for at gå på bytur sammen med Amy, Sheldons kæreste, og endnu $20 for at
beklage sig til Amy på hans (dvs Sheldons) vegne – du godeste, sikke et
vanvid!!!
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz!!!!
05:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtester. Bagefter skynder jeg mig ind i køkkenet og laver to kopper te.
Jeg bringer teen op på vores soveværelse. Lidt senere står vi op og spiser
morgenmad.
09:00 Vi skal af sted. Vi kører først til byens Waitrose-supermarked, hvor
der er en renseriforretning (Johnson’s) fordi Lois har et par tøj, hun gerne vil
få renset. Bagefter går vi hen ind i bymidten (10-15 minutter til fods). Lois
smutter ind i banken, mens jeg kigger ind i Specsavers, og beder ekspeditøren
om at justere mine briller. Nu er det på tide at vende næsen tilbage mod
Waitrose. På vej går vi forbi Lois’s tidligere kirke, der nu er i gang med at
blive omdannet til kunstgalleri, tror vi.
Lois’s tidligere kirke, der nu er i gang med at blive omdannet til kunstgalleri
Det er nostalgisk at se den gamle bygning, hvor Lois brugte så meget tid
gennem 40 år. Vores to døtre, Alison og Sarah, gik over mange mange år i
sondagsskole. I 1990’erne påtog kirkens medlemmer sig ansvaret for at udføre
rengøring i kirken, og jeg hjalp Lois med at gøre det, når det var hendes tur –
jeg bidrog med at støvsuge.
Bagefter kører vi over til Bath Road parkeringsplads i Leckhampton. Vi
giver nogle gamle musikbøger til en butik der er drevet af en berømt velgørende
organisation, Røde Kors.
Bagefter kigger vi ind i CookShop. Vi køber 6 fedtfattige færdigretter men
bagefter drikker vi en kop kaffe og spiser et stykke kage i butikkens café - vi tager en kort pause fra vores slankekur,
der for tiden ikke ser ud til at virke ret godt – uha! Vi kigger ind hos den
lokale grønthandler ved siden af CookShop og køber forskellige grøntsager,
frugt og brød. Vi kører hjem.
12:30 Vi spiser frokost. Derefter går jeg i seng og tager mig en gigantisk
eftermiddagslur – zzzzzz!!!!
15:00 Jeg står op og vi slapper af med en kop te på sofaen.
English translation
17:00 I speak a little on the
phone with my sister, Gill, who lives in Cambridge, together with Peter, her
disabled husband, and Lucy, one of their three daughters. Lucy is also
disabled.
The family is roughly speaking
doing quite well. Peter has a degenerative disability that means that when his
condition changes (ie worsens), this change is permanent. Last year, it
suddenly became harder for him to lift his head, and Gill had to install more
powerful equipment to help him to function in daily life. However,
surprisingly, but very nice to say, his condition in this case improved.
Lucy has recently been through
hard times, with many serious problems, but now things are going much better for her. She
is training to become a lawyer, and it is expected that she will get her
qualifications in 3 years. She works for a local law firm.
Maria is still working for a
Japanese bank in London. She is a bit worried about whether the bank will
decide to leave the UK after Brexit, but in other aspects, things are going
very well with her and her partner, Tom.
Zoe, the eldest daughter, is
still in the process of doing research in the area of cancer treatment at
Manchester University. She recently obtained her doctorate and is currently
seeking another research position.
Gill is very happy about the fact
that earlier this year she retired (at 58), and it is particularly satisfying
to her that this is the first autumn when she has not had to start a new
school year with all the preparations and work that being a teacher requires -
hurrah!
She works a little most days late
in the afternoon. She has some private pupils who visit her between the hours
of 4pm and 6pm.
18:00 Our oldest daughter,
Alison, who lives in Copenhagen, has sent me an article from the local
English-language newspaper, Copenhagen Post. The article is about an athletics
event which her children's school, Rygaards, took part in. Rygaards is an
international English language school in Hellerup, a small suburb of
Copenhagen. At the event Rygaards competed with 4 other international schools
from different regions of Denmark, but it was Rygaards who went on to win the
trophy - hurrah!
The article contains 4 photos:
the third shows Alison's little daughter Rosalind (8 years) - she's obviously
running as fast as she can - Lois and I are so proud of her !!!
the Copenhagen Post article that Alison
sent me.
In the third picture we see Rosalind, one of
Alison's three children
Lois and I are so proud of her!
18:30 We have dinner and then we spend
the rest of the evening watching TV. They show Top of the Pops, an old episode
from May 1982, which was originally broadcast on our son-in-law Ed's 7th
birthday - Ed is Alison's husband. Alison celebrated her 7th birthday three
months later in the US.
We moved to the United States in
August 1982. We knew few people then over there, so we celebrated Alison's
birthday by taking her and Amelia (daughter of one of my work colleagues) with
us to the Enchanted Forest, an amusement park, located just outside of
Baltimore on route 40 (east). I must admit that I do not know where Ed
celebrated his 7th birthday.
Enchanted Forest, an amusement park near
Baltimore,
where we celebrated Alison's 7th birthday in 1982
But I have digressed a bit here -
oh dear! I must stick to the topic that interests me - this evening's TV
programs. Hooray!
The songs tonight are mostly a
load of junk, even though I clearly remember the "House of Fun"
", interpreted by Madness, and" Hungry like the Wolf ",
interpreted by Duran Duran. It is interesting to see a very young Debbie Harry,
who dropped into the show to talk a little bit with the program's host, John
Peel. Peel, who regarded himself as a DJ only interested in
"serious" pop music used to say that he hated presenting Top of the
Pops, but I recently read that he secretly actually enormously enjoyed doing it
! My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!
Debbie Harry, before she became an old
crow, like the rest of us !!!
Peel is in a worse state – he’s dead – poor
John!!!
20:30 We continue to watch TV.
They show Big Bang Theory (23rd (penultimate) episode of the 9th series).
Technically a rerun, but Lois and
I missed this episode as we were in Australia between April and June . A
comical plot - "the boys" pay Stuart, the lonely and impoverished
owner of the local comic book store, to perform various annoying tasks that
they do not want to do. For example, Sheldon pays Stuart $ 20 to go on a
shopping trip with Amy, Sheldon's girlfriend, and another $ 20 to complain to
Amy on his (ie Sheldon's) behalf - my goodness, what madness !!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz !!!!
5:00 I get up early and do one of
my routine Danish vocabulary tests. Afterwards I hurry into the kitchen and
make two cups of tea. I bring the tea up to our bedroom. A bit later, we get up
and eat breakfast.
09:00 We have to go out. We go
first to the town's Waitrose supermarket, where there is a dry cleaning
business (Johnson's) because Lois has a few clothes she would like to get
cleaned. Then we go into the city center (10-15 minutes on foot). Lois slips
into the bank while I look in at Specsavers and ask the assistant to adjust my
glasses. Now it's time to head back towards Waitrose. On the way we go past
Lois's former church, now in the process of being transformed into an art
gallery, we think.
Lois's former church, now in the process
of being transformed into an art gallery
It is nostalgic to see the old
building where Lois spent so much time over 40 years. Our two daughters, Alison
and Sarah, went to Sunday school over many years. In the 1990s, church members
took responsibility for carrying out the cleaning of the church, and I helped
Lois to do it when it was her turn - I contributed by doing the vacuuming.
Afterwards, we drive over to Bath
Road car park in Leckhampton. We give some old music books to a store that is
run by a famous charity, Red Cross.
Afterwards, we look into Cook
Shop. We buy 6 low-fat ready meals but afterwards we drink a cup of coffee and
eat a piece of cake in the store's café - we are taking a short break from our
diet, which currently does not seem to be working so well - oh dear! We pop
into the local greengrocer next to Cook Shop and buy various vegetables, fruit
and bread. We drive home.
12:30 We eat lunch. Then I go to
bed and take a giant nap - zzzzzz !!!!
15:00 I get up and we relax with
a cup of tea on the sofa.
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