16:30 Vi kører over til lægeklinikken i Bishops Cleeve, en lille landsby
der ligger 3 miles fra byen Cheltenham. Lois har bestilt en tid hos én af
klinikkens læger. Hun vil gerne tale med ham om sine grå stær, og hun
medbringer et brev fra sin optiker i Specsavers Optik. Lægen taler med hende og
giver Lois tilladelse til at bestille en tid hos den lokale hospitals øjenafdeling, og i mellemtiden vil han sende
et brev fra klinikken. Hurra! Til sidst går det fremad!!!
17:00 Vi kører hjem igen og spiser aftensmad. Udenfor kan vi hører
fyrværkeri, som man begynder at fejre Guy Fawkes Dag, der finder sted i morgen.
Guy Fawkes var én af hovedmændene i den katolsk sammensværgelse, Krudtsammensværgelsen.
Planen var at knuse den engelske protestantiske elite ved at sprænge kong Jakob 1. og begge parlamentets kamre i London i luften under
parlamentets åbning den femte november 1605.
Heldigvis blev sammensværgelsen opdaget i god tid og vi englændere blev
reddet fra pavens lange arm – hurra! Noget at fejre – det har jeg ikke nogen
tvivl om!!!
I 400 år har de to festivaler, der finder sted den ene snart efter den
anden, Halloween og Guy Fawkes Dag, konkurreret om hvilken er den vigtigste.
Der er ikke noget tegn på, at den ene eller den anden er ved at forsvinde:
mennesker kan godt lide at klæde sig ud som uhyggelige væsner og også at nyde
fyrværkeri, så det er en win-win situation, synes jeg.
19:30 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser et gamle
afsnit af ”Top of the Pops”, der for
første gang blev udsendt sidst i juli 1982.
Jeg er helt sikker på at jeg aldrig så dette afsnit i 1982. Lois og jeg, og
vores to døtre, Alison (6 år) og Sarah, der lige har fyldt 5 år, boede dengang
i Oxford i to uger, hos Lois’s forældre. Vi forberedede os på at flytte til USA
først i august 1982. Jeg var færdig med at rydde op i vores hus i Cheltenham,
og jeg havde lukket og låst hoveddøren. Vi havde besluttet at udleje huset i
tre år, og ikke at sælge det, for det tilfælde ejendomspriser steg for meget
under vores fravær.
En stribe af lejere boede i huset mellem 1982 og 1985, også mange unge par,
der desværre behandlede huset ikke så godt og forsigtigt, som Lois og jeg ville
have gjort det, hvilken er lidt uundgåeligt, synes jeg. Da vi i 1985 flyttede
tilbage til England, var baghaven blevet til en sand jungle, og køkkenet og
badeværelset var meget beskidte – uha! Lois følte aldrig igen det samme om
huset, som før, og vi flyttede til vores nuværende hus 5 måneder senere.
20:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser The Good Old Days, et
program, der prøver at genskabe stemningen af det gamle vaudeville-teater.
Et sjovt afsnit, og det er først og fremmest meget nostalgisk at se den
afdøde sanger/komiker Roy Castle igen, også Eartha Kitt (på 49 år), der i sit
ejendommelige, bævende stemme synger den gamle vaudeville-klassiker, ”I Was A
Good Little Girl Till I Met You”.
Det er meget nostalgisk at se den afdøde sanger/komiker, Roy Castle igen
Eartha
Kitt, på 49 år, synger den gamle vaudeville-klassiker,
”I Was A Good Little Girl Till I Met You”
22:00 Vi har ikke tilladt Minx, Alisons kat, at gå ud i haven i aften, på
grund af fyrværkeriet, men det er blevet nu (for det meste) stille og roligt
igen udenfor, og vi kan give hende tilbage hendes frihed. Hun er 16 år gammel,
og hun har oplevet 16 Guy Fawkes Dage i sit lange liv, og vi tror, at hun alligevel
nu kan høre det hele uden at gå i panik. Stakkels Minx !!!!!
Alison, vores ældste datter, flyttede for 4 år siden til København sammen
med sin familie, og hun efterlod Minx hos os, da de fløj derover.
Vi går i seng – zzzzz!!!!!
05:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtester. Bagefter laver jeg to kopper te og bringer dem op på vores
soveværelse. Jeg kryber tilbage i vores seng og vi drikker teen. Vi går i bad
og spiser så morgenmad.
10:00 Vi beslutter at blive til ”weekend-hipsters”, og besøge små lokale
butikker, i stedet for supermarkedet, selvom det tager flere, end en time at
gro et skæg – pokkers! Vi kører over til Bishops Cleeve igen og købe grøntsag,
brød og kød i de små butikker. Vi smutter så ind i Lowrys, en lille café for at
drikke en kop kaffe og spise et stykke kage – mmmmmm!!!! Til sidst kigger vi
ind i landsbyens skobutik – jeg køber hjemmesko og Lois et par ”fornuftige”
sko. Vi kører hjem igen.
13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går vi i seng i et par timer. Lois
læser 10 sider af sin godnatbog, ”Para Handy” af Neil Munro.
16:00 Vi står op og slapper af med en kop te på sofaen.
English translation
16:30 We drive over to the
medical clinic in Bishops Cleeve, a small village which is 3 miles from the
town of Cheltenham. Lois has booked an appointment with one of the clinic's
doctors. She wants to talk to him about her cataracts, and she is bringing with
her a letter from her optician at Specsavers Optik. The doctor speaks with her
and gives Lois permission to make an appointment with the local hospital's eye
department, and in the meantime he will send a letter from the clinic. Hurrah!
At last things are moving forward !!!
17:00 We go back home and eat
dinner. Outside, we hear fireworks, as people begin to celebrate Guy Fawkes
Day, which takes place tomorrow. Guy Fawkes was one of the kingpins of the
Catholic conspiracy, the Gunpowder Plot. The plan was to crush the English
Protestant elite by blowing up King James 1st and both Houses of Parliament in
London during Parliament's opening on Nov. 5, 1605.
Fortunately the conspiracy got
discovered in good time and we English were rescued from the Pope's long arm -
hurrah! Something to celebrate - I have no doubt of THAT!!!
For 400 years, the two festivals
that take place the one soon after another, Halloween and Guy Fawkes Day, competed
for which is the most important. There is no sign that the one or the other is
about to disappear: people like to dress up as scary creatures and also to
enjoy fireworks, so it's a win-win situation, I think.
19:30 We spend the rest of the
evening watching TV. They show an old episode of 'Top of the Pops", which
was first broadcast in late July 1982.
I am quite sure that I never saw
this episode in 1982. Lois and I and our two daughters, Alison (6 years) and
Sarah, who had just turned 5, were staying at that time in Oxford for two
weeks at Lois's parents' house. We were getting ready to move to the United
States early in August 1982. I had finished cleaning up our house in
Cheltenham, and I had closed and locked the front door. We had decided to rent
the house out for three years and not to sell it, in case property prices rose
too much during our absence.
A stream of tenants lived in the
house between 1982 and 1985, including many young couples who unfortunately
treated the house not as well or carefully as Lois and I would have done,
which is somewhat inevitable, I think. When we moved back to England in 1985,
the backyard had become a real jungle, and the kitchen and the bathroom were
very dirty - oh dear! Lois never again felt the same about the house as
before, and we moved to our current house five months later.
20:00 We continue to watch TV.
They show The Good Old Days, a program that tries to recreate the atmosphere of
the old vaudeville theater.
A fun episode, and it is above
all very nostalgic to see the late singer / comedian Roy Castle again, also
Eartha Kitt (at 49), singing in her peculiar, trembling voice the old
vaudeville classic "I Was A Good Little Girl Till I Met You ".
It is very nostalgic to see the late
singer / comedian Roy Castle again
Eartha Kitt, at 49, singing the old
vaudeville classic,
"I Was A Good Little Girl Till I Met
You"
22:00 We have not allowed Minx,
Alison's cat, to go out in the garden this evening, because of the fireworks,
but it has now gone (mostly) quiet outside, and we can give her back her
freedom. She is 16 years old and she has experienced 16 Guy Fawkes Days in her
long life, and we think that in any case she can hear it all now without going
into a panic. Poor Minx !!!!
Alison, our oldest daughter,
moved to Copenhagen with her family 4 years ago , and she left Minx with us when
they flew over there.
We go to bed - zzzzz !!!!!
05:00 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests. Afterwards, I make two cups of tea and
bring them up to our bedroom. I creep back in our bed and we drink the tea. We
take a shower and then eat breakfast.
10:00 We decide to become
"weekend-hipsters" and visit small local shops, rather than the
supermarket. It's a shame that it takes more than one hour to grow a beard -
damn! We drive over to Bishops Cleeve again and buy vegetables, bread and meat
in the small shops. Then we slip into Lowry's, a small cafe, for a cup of
coffee and a piece of cake - mmmmmm !!!! Finally, we take a look in the village
shoe shop - I buy slippers and Lois a pair of "sensible" shoes. We
drive back home.
13:00 We eat lunch and afterwards
we go to bed for a few hours. Lois reads 10 pages of her goodnight-book,
"Para Handy" by Neil Munro.
16:00 We get up and relax with a
cup of tea on the sofa.
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