18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad og bagefter går vi ud i baghaven for at
vande blomsterbedene og grøntsagerne
både i drivhuset og i grøntsagshave.
Da vi i eftermiddags lå i sengen, formodede vi, at der på ét eller andet
tidspunkt havde været en meget let og kort byge. Vi så små regndråber på
vinduet, men vi havde ikke hørt noget.
Vi prøver at uddanne os til at huske at samle vand i køkkenet i stedet af
at spilde det, for eksempel når vi kører vandhanen, mens vi venter på at vandet
bliver koldt eller varmt. Men det er det så nemt at glemme – du godeste!!
20:00 Vi kommer tilbage ind i huset. Vi er i et utrolig rastløst humør for
tiden. Vi ved ikke, hvor Alison, vores datter i København, ved slutningen af
året vil flytte til sammen med sin familie. Hun sagde, hun ville skype med os i
løbet af ugen, men vi har ikke hørt noget. Sarah, vores datter i Australien,
sagde også, at hun vil tale med os, men vi formoder hun har haft for travlt.
Vi er kun blevet til endnu to gamle krager, der sidder og fokuserer på
vores børn og børnebørn, der har meget travlt og ikke altid har tiden til at tale
med os. Jeg formoder, at mine egne forældrer engang imellem må have følt det
samme – du godeste!
Lois sagde til mig, da vi i eftermiddags lå og snakkede i sengen, at vi
ikke længere tage på ferie, undtagen for at se slægtninge (hvilket er fint nok)
– aldrig for at slappe af og hygge os lidt. Du godeste, det må jeg give hende
ret i !!!! Jeg er selv ikke så
interesseret nu i at tage på ferie – jeg ligner mere og mere min far, der var
glad for at blive hjemme og læse aviserne, selvom det i mit tilfælde snarere er
at surfe på nettet.
Lois er også lidt rastløs for tiden på grund af ”pop-up” shoppen, hendes
kirke har til hensigt at åbne i midten af byen Tewkesbury i løbet af sommeren,
for at publicere kirkens tro og aktiviter i byen. Jeg troede i begyndelsen, at
shoppen kun ville holde åbent om lørdagen, men faktisk vil det være 6 dage om
ugen. Lois har indvilligt i at hjælpe til med at bemande shoppen, men jeg
mærker, hun er lidt nervøs om det – jeg bebrejder hende ikke!!!
Jeg ville selv aldrig i en million år indvillige i at gøre sådan noget –
det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!! Jeg var heldig i min (lange) karriere, at jeg ikke
behøvede at omgås offentligheden, gudskelov. Jeg kan ikke virkelig lide
offentligheden – det må jeg indrømme!!!!
Men Lois er meget modig. De modige er ikke de, der ikke frygter noget, men
de, der frygter, men går ikke desto mindre i gang med at gøre de, de frygter
for at gøre.
20:30 Vi smækker benene op foran fjernsynet. For mit vedkommende viser de ikke
noget interessant i aften – der er flere dokumentfilm , men de er alle genudsendelser
– pokkers, BBC prøver at spare penge igen!
Lois vælger programmerne hun vil gerne se, for det første en sitcom, ”Grev
Arthur Strong”.
Lois elsker denne serie, men jeg finder den kun mildt morsom. Jeg griner af
kun ca 10% af jokes (det har jeg ikke beregnet helt præcist), selvom en af de
to forfattere er Graham Lineham, der skrev den (efter min mening) meget
morsommere sitcom ”Fader Ted”.
”Fader Ted” – de laver dem ikke sådan mere, ingen tvivl om det!!!
21:00 Vi ser en dokumentumfilm ”Den 15 milliarder £ jernbane”, som jeg for
nogle uger siden optog på vores PlusnetTV-enhed, som ønsket af Lois. Programmet
handler om byen Londons enorme Crossrail-projekt, en ny øst-vest jernebane, der
faktisk åbnede delvis tidligere om ugen.
For mit vedkommende finder jeg det meget interessant, at dette slags
program fascinerer Lois. Hun elsker de sædvanlige slags film, som kvinder
elsker, romantiske komedier osv, men hun interesserer sig også for mere
”mandlige” programmer, der handler om enorme ingeniørprojekter, som Crossrail.
Hun krydser nu og da frem og tilbage over kønsgrænserne i dette område, ingen
tvivl om det. Hvor er hun dog alsidig!!!!
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz!!!!!!
05:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtest.
08:00 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté.
Vi går i bad, klæder os på og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad.
10:00 Jeg maler for anden gang det tidligere problem-område under vinduet i
Alisons gamle værelse – malingen har anti-fugt egenskaber, som vil være
nyttige, hvis vi har samme problem i fremtiden. Jeg skal overlade malingen til
at tørre i nat, og så må vi købe en lysrosaemulsionmaling, der passer så nært
som muligt til den oprindelige farve. Alle disse små opgaver tager så meget tid
– det er skræmmende!!!
I mellemtiden går Lois ud i forhaven for at plante nogle af sine nye
blomster ud.
Lois planter sine nye blomster ud i forhaven.
11:00 Vi taler lidt på Skype med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien.
Hun skal ikke på arbejde i nogle dage, fordi Francis, hendes mand, er i England
– han besøger sin mor i Devon, der er alvorligt syg, selvom Sarah tror, at hun
er kommet sig lidt siden hendes seneste slagtilfælde, gudskelov.
vi taler lidt på Skype med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien
Sarah synes, det er rart at kunne tilbringe mere tid med tvillingerne (Lily
og Jessica) hele dagen i stedet for at være på arbejde, selvom hendes selskab
stadig kan kontakte hende i telefon eller via email, så skal hun stadig også
arbejde udover at passe på børnene.
Hun siger, det ikke desto mindre er lidt underligt at være i udlandet uden
sin ægtefælle, og hun føler sig lidt isoleret. Lois mindes, at hun havde
lignende følelser i USA, når jeg var på forretningsrejser da vi boede i USA (3
gange til Princeton mellem 1982 og 1985) og igen, da jeg fløj tilbage til
England for at deltage i min søsters bryllup (1985). Men Lois følte sig mindre
isoleret – hun arbejdede ikke, så hun havde haft tiden til at danne venskaber
med naboerne i gaden og i sin kirke.
Tilbagelig til maj 1985: mig ved siden af min fars
gamle
Mini foran deres hus i Oxford. Jeg fløj derover
fra
USA for at deltage i min søsters bryllup.
Sarah har fået en sms fra Alison, vores ældste datter, der bor i København.
Alison sagde, at hun og Ed, hendes mand, ventede stadig på at høre fra Eds
potentielle nye arbejdsplads i Hong Kong. Vi formoder, at forhandlinger stadig
fortsætter angående, hvad selskabet vil betale for, hvad angår
leveomkostninger, herunder skolegebyrer, boligleje, årlige flyveture til
England osv, men det er vi ikke helt sikre på.
I løbet af Skype-opkaldet, prøver vi at tale også via Whatsapp, som jeg forleden installerede på min smartphone, men det
virker ikke. Appen påstår, at det ikke har adgang til smartphonens mikrofon –
sikke et vanvid!!!! Efter Skype-opkaldet
er slut, bruger jeg næsten en time for at finde ud af, hvordan jeg kan give
appen adgang – sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
13:00 Vi spiser frokost på terrassen og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage
mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden går Lois ud i baghaven og luger
lidt i grøntsagshaven.
15:30 Jeg står op og vi slapper af med en is og en kop te.
English translation
18:00 Lois and I have dinner and
afterwards we go out into the back garden to water the flower beds and the
vegetables in the greenhouse and in the vegetable garden.
When we were lying in bed this
afternoon, we assumed that at one point or another there had been a very light,
short shower. We saw little rain drops on the window, but we had not heard
anything.
We are trying to train ourselves
to remember to collect water in the kitchen rather than waste it, for example,
when we run the tap waiting for the water to get cold or hot. But that's
something so easy to forget - my god!
20:00 We come back into the
house. We are in an incredibly restless mood at the moment. We do not know
where Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen, will move to, with her family, at the end of the year. She said she would skype with us during the week, but
we have not heard anything. Sarah, our daughter in Australia, also said she
wants to talk to us, but we imagine she has been too busy.
We have turned into just two more
old crows sitting and focusing on our children and grandchildren, who are very
busy and do not always have the time to talk with us. I suppose my parents must have
felt the same thing at times, my god!
Lois told me when we lay talking
in bed this afternoon that we no longer go on holiday except to see relatives
(which is nice enough in itself) - never to relax and enjoy ourselves. My god,
I have to give her that one !!!! I myself am not so interested now in going on
vacation - I'm more and more like my father, who was happy to stay home and
read the newspapers, although in my case it's more about surfing the web.
Lois is also a little restless at
the moment because of the pop-up shop her church intends to open in the centre of Tewkesbury during the summer to publicise the church’s beliefs and
activities in the town. I initially thought that the shop would only be open on
Saturdays, but actually it will be 6 days a week. Lois has volunteered to help
man the shop, but I sense she is a little nervous about it - I do not blame her
!!!
I would never in a million years
volunteer to do something like that - I know that for sure !!! I was lucky in
my (long) career that I did not have to deal with the public, thank goodness. I
do not really like the public - that's something I have to admit !!!!
But Lois is very brave. The brave
are not those who fear nothing but those who fear, but nevertheless knuckle
down and do the things they fear to do.
20:30 We stick our feet up in
front of the television. For my part, there isn't anything interesting on
tonight - there are several documentaries, but they are all repeats - damn, BBC
trying to save money again!
Lois selects the programs she
wants to see, first, a sitcom, "Count Arthur Strong".
Lois loves this series, but I
find it only mildly amusing. I laugh at only about 10% of the jokes (I have not
calculated this exactly), even though one of the two writers is Graham Lineham,
who wrote the (in my opinion) much more amusing sitcom "Father Ted".
"Father Ted" - they do not
make them like that any more, no doubt about that !!!
21:00 We watch a documentary film
"The 15 Billion Pound Railway", which I recorded a few weeks ago on
our PlusnetTV device, as requested by Lois. The programme is about the city of
London's huge Crossrail project, a new east-west railway, which actually opened
partially earlier in the week.
For my part, I find it very interesting
that this kind of program fascinates Lois. She loves the usual kind of movies
that women love, romantic comedies, etc., but she is also interested in more
"manly" programs that are about huge engineering projects, such as
Crossrail. She sometimes crosses back and forth over the gender boundaries in
this area, no doubt about it. How versatile she is !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz
!!!!!!
05:00 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
08:00 I hop back into bed with
Lois and we drink our morning tea. We go in the shower, dress and get up. We
eat breakfast.
10:00 For the second time, I paint the former
problem area under the window in Alison's old room - the paint has anti-damp properties that will be useful if we have the same problem in the future. I
have to leave the paint to dry tonight and then we have to buy a light pink
emulsion that matches the original colour as closely as possible. All these
little tasks take so much time - it's scary !!!
Meanwhile, Lois goes out into the
front garden to plant some of her new flowers.
Lois plants her new flowers in
the front garden.
11:00 We talk a little on Skype
with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia. She does not have to go to work for a
few days because Francis, her husband, is in England - he is visiting his
mother in Devon, who is seriously ill, even though Sarah believes she has
recovered a bit since the latest strokes, thank goodness.
We talk a little on Skype with
Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia
Sarah thinks it's nice to be able
to spend more time with the twins (Lily and Jessica) all day instead of being
at work, even though her company can still contact her by phone or by email, so
she still has to work in addition to taking care of the kids
She says, nevertheless, it is a
little strange to be abroad without her spouse, and she feels a bit isolated.
Lois recalled that she had similar feelings in the United States when I was away on
business trips when we lived in the USA (3 times to Princeton between 1982 and
1985) and again when I flew back to England to attend my sister's wedding
(1985). But Lois felt less isolated - she did not work so she had the time to
form friendships with her neighbours in the street and in her church.
Flashback to May 1985: me next to my
father's
old Mini in front of their house in Oxford.
I flew over to England
from the USA to attend my sister's wedding.
Sarah has received a text from
Alison, our oldest daughter, who lives in Copenhagen. Alison said that she and
Ed her husband were still waiting to hear from Ed's potential new workplace in
Hong Kong. We assume that negotiations are still ongoing regarding what the
company will pay for as regards living costs, including school fees, housing
rent, annual flights to England, etc., but we are not entirely sure.
During the Skype call, we try to
talk also via whatsapp, which I installed on my smartphone the other day,
but it does not work. The app claims that it does not have access to the
smartphone's microphone - what madness !!!! After the Skype call is over, I
spend almost an hour finding out how to give the app access - what a crazy
world we live in !!!!
13:00 We have lunch on the
terrace and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap.
Meanwhile, Lois goes out into the back yard and does a little weeding in the
vegetable garden.
15:30 I get up and we relax with
an ice cream and a cup of tea.
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