18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad. Lois snakker om et radioprogram, hun hørte midt
på dagen, hvor Michael Mosley, den berømte ”tv-læge”, kommenterede, at folk
lever et mere or mere stillesiddende liv, på trods af sundhedseksperters råd
over de seneste 20-30 år.
Dette rører en nerve i mig, fordi det for nylig gik op for mig, hvor
inaktiv jeg er blevet, siden vi i juni kom tilbage fra Australien. Mine muskler
og led synes at være blevet svagere – det er jeg helt sikker på. Jeg har en
mavefornemmelse om, at psykisk moral er meget vigtig, når det kommer til at
vedligeholde fysisk velbehag. Lois og jeg hygger os meget, vi hulker af grin
nogle gange, når vi snakker om dette og hint i sengen. Men det ville være
underligt, hvis der ikke manglede mindst
1% af den tidligere gniste i vores liv, siden vores to kære døtre og deres familier
flyttede i udlandet . Det kan være, at vi trænger til at finde noget, der engang
imellem giver et ekstra pift. For vores sundheds skyld trænger vi til at
maksimere piften – det ved jeg med sikkerhed. Mere pift betyder mindre
stillesidden. Lad os starte i dag!!!
Undskyld, det var et sidespring – det begynde vi på i morgen (eller i
overmorgen)!
Mosley tror, at regeringens sundhedsråd er altid givet i form af enheder af
målinger, som folk har svært ved at forstå eller huske. Han mener, at hvis
sundhedseksperternes ”regler” kunne blive forenkelt, ville flere mennesker
overholde dem. Dette er især vigtigt for de, der er godt oppe i årene og der er
en risiko for, at man mister muskelkraft som følge af en mangel på motion.
Han foreslår 3 simple regler: for det første, at man
dyrker ”hurtig motion” i 1-2 minutter, når som helst det er
muligt; for det andet, at lave pushups og situps, også hugsiddende øvelser hver dag for at
stærke musklerne; for det tredje, at sidde ikke længere end 20 minutter max.
Det går op for mig, at jeg for eksempel kunne rejse mig op og gå op og ned ad
trappen, når som helst de viser tv-reklamer, hvilket ville slå to fluer med et
smæk – ha ha ha!
Han mener, at folk
ikke forstår ”alkoholenheder”, og han foretrækker at tale om glas alkohol i
stedet. Han tror også, at man hører en
masse vildledende oplysninger om frugter og grøntsager, og hvor meget svarer
til én enhed – og hvor mange enheder man bør spise hver dag (5 i Storbritannien,
7 i USA, 9 i Grækenland – du godeste, sikke en redelighed!). Mosley tror, at
grøntsager er meget mere sunde, end frugter, der for det meste bare indeholder en masse sukker.
Hans eneste regel er som følger: mindst 33% af maden på tallerkenen bør bestå
af grøntsager. Simpelt!
20:00 Vi bruger
resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjersyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm
(2. del af 3), om
arkæologiske opdagelser i øen Orkney, der ligger nord for Skotland.
Eksperterne tror nu, at kulturen, der for 5000 år siden skabte Stonehenge
og andre forhistoriske monumenter i Storbritannien, startede faktisk i øen Orkney, fordi Orkneys
monumenter og bygninger (stencirkler og stenhuse) er mindst 500 år ældre end de
store monumenter i nutidens England, som for eksempel Stonehenge.
I disse slags dokumentarfilm, kommenterer man altid, at vi på grund af nye
arkæologiske opdagelser bliver mere og
mere klar over forhistoriske samfund, religion osv. For mit vedkommende er det
modsatte sandt – forhistoriske folk bliver mere og mere mysteriøse samtidigt
med hver opdagelse. Uha!
For eksempel, hvorfor besluttede forhistoriske mennesker at flytte til
øerne Orkneys, da de kunne have boet i varmere lande sydpå? For at nå til øerne
måttede de krydse den europæiske kontinents farligste vandmasse (har
kontinentets fleste forlis) – Pentland Firth, der ligger mellem øerne Orkneys
og det britiske fastland. Og hvorfor var Orkneys indbyggere mere avancerede,
end Storbritanniens indbyggere – det er helt ulogisk!
Disse forhistoriske mennesker havde i hvert fald brug til at kunne krydse
det farlige Pentland Firth-sund. I aften ser vi en stribe arkæologer og lokale
roere prøve at bygge den slags båd, som de tror forhistoriske folk for 5000 år
siden ville have kunnet bygge: lavet af trægrene og kohud, og gjort vandtæt ved
hjælp af kofedt. Øv!
Vandmassens
farligste området er ”Swelkie”,
et oldnordisk navn,
der betyder noget, der svælger én – uha!
Pentland Firth-sundet er kun 6,5 miles bredt, men strømmen er så stærk (8
miles i timen), at rejsen tager sammenlagt 5 timer – du godeste! Hvem ville
have ønsket sig at lave sådan en rejse, hvis de kunne have undgået den?
Mere og mere mysteriøst, sagde Alice!
22:00 Vi går i seng
– zzzzz!!!!
04:00 Jeg står
tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet.
08:00 Jeg skynder
mig ind i køkkenet, laver to kopper te og tager dem med til soveværelsen. Vi
kryber sammen i sengen og drikker teen. Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.
11:00 Jeff ringer på døren. Han går i gang med at udføre
service på vores gaskedel i køkkenet og gaskaminen
i stuen.
12:00 Jeff er færdig med arbejdet. Han skal
af sted, og vi betaler ham (£78). Vi spiser frokost.
14:00 Vi kører over
til Bishops Cleeve. Lois har en tid hos sin fysioterapeut ved
Village-klinikken. Jeg smutter ind i Lowrys-caféen, der ligger ved siden af
klinikken. Jeg drikker en kop kaffe, spiser et stykke kage og kigger lidt på
nettet.
Sarah, vores datter
i Perth i Australien, har sendt os en email. Hun har nu arbejdet to dage efter
sin jule- og nytårspause. Jobbet har vist sig at være meget stressende, men hun
vil fortsætte på firmaet mindst i et år, og derefter søge et mindre stressende
stilling. Francis, sin mand, søger en deltidsjob for tiden. Tvillingerne er
lige begyndt at gå i børnehave to dage om ugen, så Francis kan have fritid til
at søge om noget passende.
Sarahs dag er meget
lang – befordringen er for trættende, så familien håber at flytte til en anden
forstad om lidt. Stakkels Sarah!!!!
15:00 Jeg afhenter
Lois ved klinikken og vi kører hjem. Vi slapper af med en kop te på sofaen.
English translation
18:00 We eat dinner. Lois talks
about a radio show she heard at midday, where Michael Mosley, the famous
"TV doctor", commented that people are living a more and more
sedentary life, despite all the health experts' advice over the past 20-30
years.
This touches a nerve in me
because it recently dawned on me how inactive I have become since we came back
from Australia in June. My muscles and joints seems to have become weaker - I'm
quite sure about that. I have a gut feeling that psychological morale is very
important when it comes to maintaining physical well-being.
Lois and I have lots of fun, we
sob with laughter sometimes when we are chatting about this and that in bed.
But it would be strange if we were not missing at least 1% of the previous
spark in our lives, since our two dear daughters and their families moved
abroad. It may be that we need to find something that sometimes gives us an
extra oomph. For our health's sake we need to maximize our oomph - that I know
for sure. More oomph means less sedentariness. Let's start today!
Sorry, that was a digression –
we’ll start on that tomorrow (or the next day)!
Mosley believes that the
Government's health advice is always given in the form of units of measurement
which people have trouble understanding or remembering. He believes that if
health experts' "rules" could be simplified, more people would follow
them. This is especially important for those who are getting on in years and
there is a risk of losing muscular power as a consequence of lack of exercise.
He suggests three simple rules: firstly, go in for "fast exercise" for 1-2 minutes whenever possible; secondly do push-ups and sit-ups, also squatting exercises each day to strengthen muscles;
thirdly, to sit for no longer than 20 minutes max. It dawns on me that I for
example could get up and walk up and down the stairs whenever they show TV
commercials, which would kill two birds with one stone - ha ha ha!
He believes that people do not
understand "alcohol units", and he prefers to talk about glasses of
alcohol instead. He also thinks that you hear a lot of misleading information
about fruits and vegetables and how much corresponds to one unit - and how many
units you should eat each day (5 in England, 7 in the United States, 9 in
Greece - oh my god!) . Mosley believe that vegetables are much healthier than
fruits, which mostly just contain a lot of sugar. His only rule is: at least 33% of the
food on the plate should consist of vegetables. Simples!
20:00 We spend the rest of the
evening watching TV. They show an interesting documentary (Part 2 of 3),
dealing with archaeological discoveries on the island of Orkney, north of
Scotland.
Experts now believe that the
culture that 5000 years ago created Stonehenge and other ancient monuments in
Britain, actually started on the islands of Orkney, because the Orkney
monuments and buildings (stone circles and stone houses) are at least 500 years
older than the great monuments of contemporary England, such as Stonehenge.
In these kinds of documentaries,
they are always commenting that because of new archaeological discoveries we
are becoming more knowledgeable about prehistoric societies, religion and so
on. For me, the opposite is true - prehistoric people become more and more
mysterious with each discovery. Oh dear!
For example, why did prehistoric
people decide to move to the islands of Orkney, when they could have lived in
warmer lands to the south? To reach the islands, they had to cross the European
continent's most dangerous body of water (scene of the most shipwrecks) -
Pentland Firth, situated between the islands of Orkney and the British
mainland. And why were Orkney's residents more advanced than Britain's
inhabitants? - it is quite illogical!
These prehistoric people in any
case needed to be able to cross the dangerous Pentland Firth sound. Tonight we
see a bunch of archaeologists and local oarsmen trying to build the kind of
boat that they believe ancient people 5,000 years ago would have been able to
build: made of tree branches and cowhide, and made waterproof by the use of cow fat.
Ugh!
the firth's most dangerous area, the
"Swelkie",
an Old Norse name meaning something that
swallows you up - oh dear!
The Pentland Firth is only 6.5
miles wide, but the current is so strong (8 miles per hour), that the journey
takes a total of 5 hours - my god! Who would have wanted to make such a
journey, if they could have avoided it?
Mysteriouser and mysteriouser, said
Alice.
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzz !!!!
04:00 I get up early and take a
look at the web.
08:00 I hurry into the kitchen,
make two cups of tea and take them to the bedroom. We creep into bed together
and drink the tea. We get up and eat breakfast.
11:00 Jeff rings at the doorbell.
He begins to service our gas boiler in the kitchen and gas fire in the living
room.
12:00 Jeff is finished and we pay
him (£78). We eat lunch.
14:00 We drive over to Bishops
Cleeve. Lois has an appointment with her physiotherapist at the Village Clinic.
I pop into Lowry's café, located next to the clinic. I drink a cup of coffee,
eat a piece of cake and take a look at the web.
Sarah, our daughter in Perth,
Australia, has sent us an email. She has been working for two days after her
Christmas and New Year break. The job has turned out to be very stressful, but
she wants to continue at the firm for at least one year, and then seek a less
stressful position. Francis, her husband, is seeking a part-time job at the
moment. The twins are just beginning to go to kindergarten two days a week, so
that Francis can have free time to search for something suitable.
Sarah's day is very long - the
commute is too tiring, so the family hopes to move to another suburb shortly.
Poor Sarah !!!!
15:00 I pick Lois up at the
clinic and we drive home. We relax with a cup of tea on the sofa.
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