18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad, og bagefter skal vi af sted. Lois vil
gerne deltage i et bibelseminar, der finder sted i aften i Brockworth, og hun
må ikke køre bil om natten for tiden på grund af grå stær. Hun venter stadig på
at få en tid hos specialisten i Gloucester-hospitalet.
Jeg kører Lois over til Mari-Anns hus, og sætter hende af. Mari-Ann skal
køre hende over til Brockworth.
På vej hjem kan jeg igen ikke modstå fristelsen til at køre forbi Sarahs
gamle hus i Leckhampton og dagdrømme om de lykkelige dage, når Lois og jeg
passede på Sarahs små tvillingerne, vores yngste børnebørn, Lily og Jessica.
Sarahs familie bor nu i Perth i Australien, men Lois og jeg vil altid være
glad for, at have haft oplevelsen af at kende vores yngste børnebørn så godt.
Nogle dage tog vi næsten forældrenes rolle – vi plejede at passe på
tvillingerne i 10-12 timer hver mandag og fredag, herunder måltider, bleskift,
eftermiddags lure, alle de forskellige daglige opgaver – du godeste! Lykkelige
dage!
Tilbageblik til lykkeligere tider, for 3 år siden:
vi
passer på Sarahs tvillinger i familiens gamle hus i Leckhampton.
Lois
ser strålende ud, ikke?
Jeg går en tur i nabolaget sammen med Lily og Jessica i
deres
tvillingevogn
Vores yngste datter, Sarah, sammen med tvillingerne,
foran
familiens gamle hus i Leckhampton
Det er uundgåeligt, at vi fremover vil være nødt til at spille en meget
marginal rolle i deres liv, nu hvor de bor i Australien. Vi boede hos dem fra
april til juni, men det er desværre langt fra sikkert, at vi vil se dem igen
bortset fra på Skype, i betragtning af vores alder, og prisen af flybilletter
osv – uha!!!
19:00 Jeg kommer hjem og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn.
De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm (3. del af 6), der handler om britiske
familier, der i det sidste år er flyttet til Australien (40.000 briter flytter
derover hvert år).
Familien Lewis består af en far, James, en civilingeniør fra Brighton i
England, der går højt op i rugby, en mor, Claire, der elsker at gå på indkøb og
har hundreder af tøj i sit klædeskab, og deres 5 -årige søn, Layton. Vi ser
familien sige farvel til deres venner, men vi ser ikke parrets stakkels
forældre – Lois og jeg sympatiserer altid med bedsteforældrene af indlysende
grunde. James’s mor og Claires far er begge enker, stakkels mennesker. De
kommer til at savne deres søn, datter og barnebarn – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!
James og Claire er ikke intellektuelle mennesker. De kan godt lide sport,
svømning, solbadning osv. Derfor vil de bo til Australien. Men de er ikke
dumme, unødvendigt at sige. Det er interessant, at James, der er en meget
erfaren civilingeniør, har svært ved at finde et job i Melbourne, ligesom Sarahs
oplevelse. Kun efter 6 måneder finder han noget passende.
Han må nøjes med en lavere niveau job til at
begynde med, og prøve derefter at blive forfremmet, når han har lokal erfaring i Melbourne. Sarah, vores datter, der er en erfaren
statsautoriseret revisor, havde en lignende
oplevelse i Perth.
James hører, at situationen var anderledes for 5 år
siden, før den seneste globale recession.
Det er meget sjovt i aften at se byen Melbourne
igen. Lois og jeg besøgte byen i april 2016, og vi boede i en uge med Lois’s
kusine, Sylvia.
22:00 Lois kommer tilbage. Mari-Ann sætter hende af
foran huset og kører hjem.
Jeg går i seng, men Lois trænge til at slappe af og
geare ned efter aftenens stimulerende bibelseminar – stakkels Lois! Som altid
har jeg valgt et godt tv-program for hende, der handler om Donald Trump og hans
familie. Jeg håber, hun ikke får mareridt – det er jeg helt sikker på!!!!
05:00 Jeg står tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet.
08:00 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver to kopper
te. Jeg tager dem med op i soveværelset og kryber tilbage i sengen. Vi drikker
teen og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad.
10:00 Jeg går i gang med at udarbejde en liste over alle vores
computerproblemer. Min gamle ven, Mark, kommer i eftermiddag kl 14 for at
hjælpe mig med at løse dem, også med at koble min nye router og min nye
YouView+ tv-enhed osv.
12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en
gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzz!!!
14:00 Mark kommer og hjælper mig med at koble min nye router og min nye
YouView+ tv-enhed. Vi kan fremover optage programmer og trykke pause-knappen på
live tv – hurra! Vores gamle vhs videobåndmaskine gik i stykker lige før jul.
Vi kan nu benytte os af den nuværende guldalder af tv – hurra (igen)!!!
Vi opretter også min printer så den fremover virker trådløst.
15:30 Mark skal af sted og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.
English translation
18:00 Lois and I eat dinner, and
afterwards go out. Lois wants to participate in a Bible seminar taking place
tonight in Brockworth, and she is not allowed to drive at night at the moment
due to cataracts. She is still waiting to get an appointment with the
specialist in Gloucester Hospital.
I drive Lois over to Mari-Ann's
house and drop her off. Mari-Ann is to run her over to Brockworth.
On the way home, I again cannot
resist the temptation to drive past Sarah's old house in Leckhampton and
daydream about the happy days when Lois and I took care of Sarah's little
twins, our youngest grandchildren, Lily and Jessica.
Sarah's family now lives in
Perth, Australia, but Lois and I will always be glad to have had the experience
of knowing our youngest grandchildren so well. Some days we took almost a
parental role - we used to take care of the twins for 10-12 hours every Monday
and Friday, including meals, changing diapers, afternoon naps, all the
different daily tasks - my god! Happy days!
Flashback to happier times, 3 years ago:
looking after Sarah's twins in the
family's old house in Leckhampton.
Lois looks radiant doesn't she...
I go for a walk in the neighborhood with
Lily and Jessica in
their twin pram
Our youngest daughter, Sarah, along with
the twins,
in front of the family's old house in
Leckhampton
It is inevitable that in future
we will have to play a very marginal role in their lives, now that they live in
Australia. We stayed with them from April to June, but unfortunately it is far
from certain that we will see them again except on Skype, considering our age
and the price of airline tickets, etc. - oh dear !!!
19:00 I come home and spend the
rest of the evening watching TV. They show an interesting documentary (part 3
of 6), about British families who have moved in the last year to Australia
(40,000 Britons move over there each year).
The Lewis family is made up of a
father, James, a civil engineer from Brighton in England who is very into
rugby, a mother, Claire, who loves to go shopping and has hundreds of clothes
in her wardrobe, and their 5-year-old son, Layton. We see the family say
goodbye to their friends, but we do not see the couple's poor parents - Lois
and I always sympathize with the grandparents for obvious reasons. James's
mother and Claire's father are both widowed, poor people – they are going to
miss their son, daughter and grandson, I know that for sure.
James and Claire are not
intellectual people. They like sports, swimming, sunbathing, etc. That's why
they want to live in Australia. But they are not stupid, needless to say. It is
interesting that James, who is a very experienced civil engineer, has
difficulty finding a job in Melbourne, just like Sarah's experience. Only after
six months does he find something suitable.
He has to make do with a lower
level job to begin with, and then try to get promoted, when he has local
experience in Melbourne. Sarah, our daughter, who is an experienced chartered
accountant, had a similar experience in Perth.
James hears that the situation
was different 5 years ago, before the recent global recession.
It's a lot of fun tonight to see
the city of Melbourne again. Lois and I visited the city in April 2016 and we
stayed for a week with Lois's cousin, Sylvia.
22:00 Lois comes back. Mari-Ann
drops her off in front of the house and drives home.
I go to bed, but Lois needs to
relax and unwind after the evening's stimulating Bible seminar - poor Lois! As
always, I have chosen a good television program for her, about Donald Trump and
his family. I hope she does not get nightmares - I'm quite sure of that !!!!
05:00 I get up early and take a
look at the web.
08:00 I hurry into the kitchen
and make two cups of tea. I bring them up to the bedroom and crawl back into
bed. We drink the tea and get up. We eat breakfast.
10:00 I begin to compile a list
of all our computer problems. My old friend, Mark, is coming this afternoon at
2pm to help me solve them, as well as connect my new router and my new YouView
+ TV unit etc.
12:30 We eat lunch and afterwards
I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzz !!!
14:00 Mark comes and helps me to
connect my new router and my new YouView + TV device. We can now record
programs and press the pause button on live TV - hurrah! Our old VHS video tape
machine broke down just before Christmas.
We can now take advantage of the
current golden age of television - hurrah (again) !!!
We also set up my printer so that
it now works wirelessly.
15:30 Mark has to leave, and Lois
and I relax with a cup of tea on the sofa.
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