Torsdag den 23. februar 2017 kl 16:30 til fredag den 24. februar 2017 kl 16:29

18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad. Vi er meget trætte, som altid efter en ”dansk” dag, hvor vi i morges ryddede op i huset, og i eftermiddags styrede vores danske gruppes regelmæssige møde, det hele meget trættende. Du godeste,  vi bliver gamle – ingen tvivl om det!!!!

Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. E4-kanalen har endelig aftalt at afslutte pausen i Big Bang Theorys seneste (10.) sæson. Vi så sæsonens 11. afsnit tilbage i december og siden da har de vist kun gamle afsnit. Det gør kanalen hvert år af én eller anden grund. I aften gensender de den 11. afsnit og derefter sender de den 12. afsnit, som vi i Storbritannien ikke har set før. Disse afsnit handler om fødslen af Bernadettes baby.

Det er rart at se Sheldon og hans omgangskreds igen, selvom de afsnit, hvor livets store begivenheder bliver skildret, for det meste ikke er til min smag. USA er et anderledes samfund end vores, og sitcomforfattere bliver tvunget (ved lov?) til at fremvise livets store begivenheder (fødsler, bryllupper, skilsmisser, dødsfald osv), i alle sitcoms og skabe i en vis grad en stemning karakteriseret af ægte menneskelige følelser – du godeste!  Jeg har bemærket, at engelske sitcomforfattere har tendens til at undgå livets store begivenheder, og med rette!!!

Jeg glæder mig meget til Big Bang Theorys næste (13.) afsnit, hvor situationen forhåbentlig vil være vendt tilbage til det normale – uha!!!

I aften bemærker jeg igen, at når en amerikanske kvinde føder, plejer hendes omgangskreds at være med til begivenheden på hospitalet, så derfor ser vi ikke bare Bernadette og Howard, Bernadettes ægtemand, skynde sig på hospitalet (to gange, fordi det den første gang kun var en falsk alarm), men også deres venner, Leonard og Penny, Raj, og Sheldon-og-Amy, selvom ”Shamy”  på begge gange var ved at have ”coitus”. Du godeste! Det var det samme i 1990’erne, da serien Friends var populær, og Rachel fødte – alle hendes venner var på hospitalet.

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dramadokumentarfilm, der handler om Madame Tussaud, en fransk kvinde, der slog sig ned i England først i 1800-tallet og udviklede en succesfuld forretning baseret på voksfigurer, en forretning der stadig i dag blomstrer midt i London, på den berømte Bagergade.

Tussaud var en meget succesfuld og indsigtsfuld kvinde, og jeg føler, at hun var en sandelig moderne kvinde. Jeg har konstateret før, at den industrielle revolution fuldstændigt forandrede det britiske samfund, således at folk derefter for første gang ”pludselig” blev til sandelig moderne og genkendelige mennesker, som vi i dag nemt kan relatere til.

Voksfigurer var allerede en tradition i England, før hun bosatte sig her, men for de meste var de kun uhyggelige eller frække elementer i rejsende shows og cirkusser, der tiltalte de uuddannede. Madame Tussaud forsøgte at ”hæve standarderne” (og billettpriserne!), for at tiltrække  den nye middelklassen.

Men hun sænkede billettpriserne 45 minutter før hendes udstillingers slutningen, så kunder ”af arbejderklassen” kunne komme billigere ind – du godeste! Man kunne sige, at vi siden da har gjort fremskridt i at skabe et klasseløst samfund, men jeg mindes, at Basil Fawlty, den hidsige hotelejer, indsatte en ”rakkerpak, hold jer væk” klausul i sin reklame for hotellets gourmet-aften. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Madame Tussaud plejede at sænke billettpriserne

sidst på dagen, så kunder ”af arbejderklassen”

kunne komme billigere ind – sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!

Basil Fawlty, den hidsige hotelejer, indsatte en ”rakkerpak, hold jer væk” klausul 

i sin reklame for hotellets gourmet-aften. 

Jeg besøgte Madame Tussauds for første gang i april 1957, sammen med min søster, Kathy, min mormor, mine fætre Richard, Roger, Philip og Peter, og min tante Ruth.

Tilbageblik til april 1957: jeg besøgte Madame Tussauds for første gang.

(fra venstre til højre: Richard, Philip, mig, Peter, min søster Kathy,

min mormor, Roger, tante Ruth)

Jeg besøgte museet igen i 2008, sammen med min ungarske veninde, Tünde.

Jennifer Aniston og mig

Tünde og Sir Isaac Newton

mig sammen med nogle af mine

personlige helte og skurke,

men hvilken er hvilken??!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!

03:45 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtest. Jeg kigger lidt på nettet.

07:30 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver to kopper te. Jeg tager dem med op i soveværelset og hopper op i sengen til Lois. Vi drikker teen og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad.

09:30 Vi skal ud. Vi kører over til Bishops Cleeve, en lille landsby, der ligger 3 miles nord for Cheltenham, for at købe ind. Vi kigger ind i landsbyens delicatesseforretning for at købe brød, ost og 2 scotch-ægg.

vi køber ost i landsbyens

delikatesseforretning – nam nam!

Vi går ind hos landsbyens grøntsaghandler og køber en masse frugt og grøntsager (overraskelse, overraskelse). Regeringen råder os nu til at spise 10 portioner frugt eller grøntsager om dagen – du godeste! Sikke et vanvid!!!!

Bagefter smutter vi ind i det lokale Tesco-supermarked for at købe nogle ting, og kigger så ind  i Lowrys-caféen for at drikke en kop te og spise et stykke kage.

Til sidst kører vi over til Stoke Orchard-genbrugscenter, og vi smider vores gamle vhs- videobåndmaskine væk, samt en gammel sengelampe og noget køkkenudstyr.Vi kører hjem.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

15:30 Jeg står op og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Jeg kigger lidt på internettet, og på den indflydelserige amerikanske nyhedswebsted, The Onion. Webstedet bringer en bekymrende historie: ifølge anonyme kilder på en restaurant har en mand siddende på et bord til 4 lige nu bestilt sig en appetitvækker, men desværre tror resten af selskabet af én eller anden grund, at manden havde bestilt retten til dem alle og mindst én af gæsterne er begyndt at smage på den. 

en lille appetitvækker - til én eller til fire?

Manden, der bestilte appetitvækkeren insisterer på, at han ikke har den fjerneste anelse, hvorfor hans fælles gæster fik dette forkerte indtryk, og efter min mening må vi tro ham – vi har ikke noget valg! Det er lidt deprimerende, for at sige mildt, at gæster stadig tager disse ganske grundlæggende fejl på trods af, at skolelærere, præster og politiker har lagt så store indsatser i at forfremme bedre restaurant-etikette. Jeg føler kun fortvivlelse og angst på vegne af denne stakkels mand! Hvad skal der blive af os efter dette???!!!!

English translation

18:00 Lois and I eat supper. We are very tired, as always after a "Danish" day, where we cleaned up the house in the morning, and in the afternoon presided over our Danish group's regular meeting, it's all very tiring. My God, we are getting old - no doubt about it !!!!

We spend the rest of the evening watching TV. The E4 channel has finally agreed to end the pause in the Big Bang Theory's latest (10th) season. We saw the season's 11th episode back in December and since then they have shown only old episodes. The channel does this every year for some reason. Tonight they repeat the 11th episode and then air the 12th episode that we in England have not seen before. These episodes are about the birth of Bernadette's baby.

It's nice to see Sheldon and the gang again, although the episodes where life's major events are portrayed are mostly not to my liking. The US is a different society than ours, and sitcom writers are forced (by law?) to showcase life's big events (births, weddings, divorces, deaths, etc.) in all sitcoms and to some degree create a mood characterized by genuine human emotions - My God! I have noticed that English sitcom writers tend to avoid life's big events, and rightly so !!!

I look forward to the Big Bang Theory's next (13th) episode where the situation will hopefully have returned to normal - oh dear !!!

Tonight I notice again that when an American woman gives birth all her friends are usually present at the hospital for the birth, so we see not just Bernadette and Howard, Bernadette's husband, hurrying to the hospital (twice, because the first time it was a false alarm), but also their friends, Leonard and Penny, Raj, and Sheldon-and-Amy go along, even though "Shamy" on both occasions were about to have "coitus". My God! It was the same in the 1990s when the series Friends was popular, and Rachel gave birth. All her friends were at the hospital.

21:00 We continue to watch TV. They show an interesting drama documentary about Madame Tussaud, a Frenchwoman, who settled in England in the early 1800s and developed a successful business based on waxworks, a business that still flourishes today in the center of London, on the famous Bagergade.

Tussaud was a very successful and insightful woman, and I feel that she was a truly modern person. I have noted before that the Industrial Revolution completely changed British society, so that for the first time folk "suddenly" became truly modern and recognizable people that we can easily relate to today.

Waxworks were already a tradition in England before she settled here, but for the most part they were just scary or sassy elements of travelling shows and circuses that appealed to the uneducated. Madame Tussaud tried to "raise standards" (and ticket prices!), to attract the new middle class.

But she lowered ticket prices 45 minutes before her exhibitions closed, so customers "of the working class" could get in more cheaply - my god! One could say that we have made progress since then in creating a classless society, but I do recall that Basil Fawlty, the hot-tempered hotelier, introduced a "no riff-raff" clause in his advertising for the hotel's gourmet evening. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Madame Tussaud used to lower ticket prices near the end of the day, so customers "of the working class" could get in more cheaply - what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

Basil Fawltys advertisement for the hotel's gourmet night

included a "no riff-raff" clause - oh dear!

I visited Madame Tussauds for the first time in April 1957, along with my sister Kathy, my grandmother, my cousins Richard, Roger, Philip and Peter, and my Aunt Ruth.

Flashback to April 1957: I visited Madame Tussauds for the first time.

(From left to right: Richard, Philip, me, Peter, my sister Kathy,

my grandmother, Roger, Aunt Ruth)

I visited the museum again in 2008 along with my Hungarian friend, Tünde.

Jennifer Aniston and me

Tünde and Sir Isaac Newton 

me with some of my personal heroes and villains,but which is which ?? !!!!

03:45 I get up early and do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests. I take a little look at the web.

07:30 I hurry into the kitchen and make two cups of tea. I take them up to the bedroom and hop into bed with Lois. We drink the tea and get up. We eat breakfast.

09:30 We have to go out. We drive over to Bishops Cleeve, a small village located 3 miles north of Cheltenham, to do the shopping. We look in at the village deli and buy bread, cheese and 2 scotch eggs.

we buy cheese in the village

deli -yum yum!

We go in the local fruit and vegetable shop and buy a lot of fruit and vegetables (surprise surprise). The government advises us now to eat 10 servings of fruits or vegetables a day - my god! What madness !!!!

Afterwards we pop into the local Tesco supermarket to buy some things, and then look into Lowry's café for a cup of tea and a piece of cake.

Finally we drive over to Stoke Orchard recycling center, and we throw our old vhs video tape machine away, as well as an old bedside lamp and some kitchenware. We drive home.

12:30 We eat lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap.

15:30 I get up and we relax with a cup of tea on the sofa. I take a little look at the internet, and at the influential US news website The Onion. The site reports a troubling news story: according to anonymous sources at a restaurant, a man seated at a table for 4 has just this moment ordered himself an appetizer, but unfortunately the rest of the company for some reason think that the man had ordered the dish for all of them and at least one of the guests has begun to sample it.

a small appetizer - for one or for four?

The man who ordered the appetizer insists that he has not the slightest idea why his fellow diners got this wrong impression, and in my opinion we have to believe him - we have no choice! It's a bit depressing, to say the least, that diners are still making these quite fundamental mistakes in spite of the great efforts that school teachers, priests and politicians have put into promoting better restaurant etiquette. I feel only despair and anxiety on behalf of this poor man! What will become of us after this ??? !!!!