17:00 Jeg går ud i baghaven og tage plæneklipperen frem fra skuret. Jeg går
i gang med at slå den fjerneste del af den græsplæne, der ligger bag huset. Den
er blevet overgroet under vores ferie i Danmark de seneste 2 uger, og der er
stadig tonsvis af mos, på trods af Vinces forsøg på at så nye græsfrø for nogle
uger siden – pokkers!
Mosset er let
og luftig - det fylder græsopsamleren op lynhurtigt, og man må tømme den hver
anden minut – det bliver til et sandt mareridt!!!
18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio
og se lidt fjernsyn.
Vi hører et interessant radioprogram, der handler om Fred Astaire, den
berømte filmstjerne og stepdanser.
Lois er vild med Astaires film, og vi ejede indtil for nylig flere på vhs.
Desværre gik vores vhs-båndoptagerer i stykker for nogle måneder siden, så skal
vi nu købe tonsvis af dvd’er i stedet. Heldigvis er gamle sorte-og-hvide
film-dvd’er ikke ret dyre, gudskelov. Men teknologisk fremskridt er ikke altid
godt, synes vi!
Jeg er selv lidt ligegladig med Astaires films. Jeg kan se, at sangene er
gode, men jeg er ikke tålmodig nok til at sidder i en time og en halv og se på
filmene. De har ikke desto mindre evnen til at trøste og opmuntre Lois, når hun
er syg eller i lidt lav humør for eksempel, så derfor er de en god investering –
ingen tvivl om det!!!
Filmene, Astaire optrådte i i 1930’erne udspillede sig alle i en glamorøs,
sofistikeret fantasiverden, og var en god form for eskapisme i besværlige
økonomiske tider, synes jeg. Det er interessant, at personen, der i programmet ”fremmer”
Astaire som ”kandidat for storhed”, er Michael O’Donnell, en (nu) 89-årig mand
med multiple talenter: læge, journalist, tv- og radiovært og romanforfatter.
Han voksede op i grevskabet Yorkshire i 1930’erne, et område hårdt ramt af
økonomisk recession. Hans forældre var vilde med Astaires film, og tog den unge
Michael ofte med i biografen for at se dem. Han siger, at han altid som dreng
troede, at Astaires glamorøse verden måtte eksistere et eller andet sted, som
han bare aldrig havde besøgt, sandsynligvis i det sydlige England – du godeste!
21:00 Vi tænder for fjernsynet og se et interessant afsnit af Michael
Parkinsons talkshow, der først blev sendt i 1970’erne. ”Parky”’s gæster var
John Betjeman, den berømte, (dengang) 71-årige, engelske digter, og Gracie
Fields, den berømte, (dengang) 79-årige sangerinde.
Ved første øjekast ser det ud til, at Parkys to gæster kom fra to
anderledes verdner, men faktisk var Betjeman siden sin barndom vild med
vaudeville-teater. Hans forældre tog ham ofte med i vaudeville-teatrer, og han
blive hurtigt klar over, at vaudeville performere vidste godt, hvordan man
kunne undgå at kede deres publikum, og at dette var deres vigtigste talent.
Senere, da Betjeman blev skolelærer, og til sidst, digter, glemte han aldrig
denne lektion – vær aldrig kedelig.
Det er sjældent, synes jeg, at man ser en digter, der skriver gode digte og
også er en rigtig sød og charmerende mand – jeg kan godt lide Larkins digte for
eksempel, men jeg tror ikke, han var en sød mand – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!!
Parky” interviewer John Betjeman – det er sjældent
at
se en god digter, der også er sød og charmerende – ingen tvivl om det!!!
Vi hører også meget om hvilke typer af kvinder havde tændt Betjeman på i
løbet af hans lange liv. Lyshårede eller
rødhårede, hellere med fregner, men også atletiske med store, stærke lår – du godeste!
Betjeman havde en svaghed for atletiske piger, hvilket er velkendt!
Betjeman arbejdede i en kort periode for en poesi magasin og han ville
ansætte en sekretær. En kvinde, ”Fregnede Jill”, dukkede op til jobsamtalen,
der var så smuk, at Betjeman var bange for, at han ikke ville kunne modstå at
være sin kone utro, hvis han ansatte kvinden.
Fregnede Jill” ansøgte om et job som Betjemans sekretær
men
han modstod fristelsen til at gå i seng med hende, gudskelov!!!!
Men Betjemans (kvindelige) chef rådte ham altid til at ”vælge den smukke”, sigende,
at ”smukke kvinder er sødere, fordi andre altid har været søde over for dem”. Så
derfor endte Betjeman med at ansætte ”fregnede Jill”, alt gik godt, og han
nåede at modstå fristelsen til at gå i seng med hende.
22:00 Lois og jeg debatterer dette sidste emne, mens vi ligger i sengen
efter programmet. Vi er ikke enige med Betjemans chef i, at smukke kvinder
altid er søde: de kan være overlegne eller hørøvede, synes vi – vi er så kloge!
Jeg læser 9 sider af min sengetidbog om James, hertugen af Monmouth, før
jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzz!!!!!
04:45 Jeg står tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet.
Jeg ser, at jeg har fået endnu en god kritik af min seneste YouTube-video
om vores ferie i Danmark, denne gang kommer kritikken fra ”Rewind Remix NCS” – ”hey,
nice vid!”.
Tak skal du have, Rewind Remix NSC, selvom jeg ikke har den fjerneste idé,
hvem du er. Det kunne være starten af min karriere som moderigtig
video-instruktør – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om !!! Og jeg kan helt sikkert
beskrive videoen som ”kritisk rost”, synes jeg.
08:00 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker dagens første
kop sort te. Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.
10:00 Vi går ud i baghaven igen. Jeg fortsætter med at arbejde på ”projekt
græsklipning” – du godeste! Alison, vores datter i København, besøger os først
i juli sammen med sin familie, og både vores hus og vores baghave er et stort
rod – hjælp!!!!! Vores haveaffaldspand er allerede propfyldt af ukrudt, slået
græs, og klippede hækkegrene, og den næste affaldsindsamlingsdag er stadig 12
dage væk - yikes!!!!!!
11:00 Jeg dropper ”projekt græsklipning” og genoptager ”projekt
hækkeklipning. Da jeg er færdig med det, føler jeg min alder – det ved jeg med
sikkerhed.
13:00 Efter frokost går jeg i seng for at tage mig min sædvanlige
gigantiske eftermiddagslur –zzzzz!!!!!
13:45 Lois skal hen til det lokale bibliotek for at hjælpe bibliotekets
personale med at organisere og lede den ugentlige ”Baby Bounce and Rhyme”
session for unge mødre og deres små børn. Aktiviterne består af barnesange for
babys og forældre (og bedsteforældre). Da vores anden datter, Sarah, stadigvæk
boede og arbejdede i England (indtil december 2015), plejede Lois og jeg at
tage Sarahs tvillinger med til sessioner – lykkelige dage!
15:00 Jeg står op og går i gang med at rydde op på græsplænen.
Haveaffaldspanden er allerede propfyldt med ukrudt, klippet græs osv, så samler
jeg alle de klippede hækkegrene og putte dem i sorte sække.
15:45 Lois kommer hjem og vi slapper af med en kop te og et stykke kage på
terrassen.
16:00 Vi kommer tilbage ind i huset og putter os ind til hinanden i sofaen.
Vi forbereder os at tænde for radioen og høre et interessant program, ”Den
sidste ord”. Lois og jeg har for vane at
høre dette program hver uge, fordi vi ønsker at finde ud af, om nogen i de
seneste 1-2 uger døde eller ej (jeg har bemærket, at der i de fleste uger sker
nøjagtig 5 dødsfald).
Vi ved, at vores yndlingsskuespiller, Adam West (TVs Batman) for nogle dage
siden desværre døde – og vi glæder os til at høre lidt om hans liv og grine af
nogle af hans mest berømte linjer, for eksempel hans berømte ”Overgiv den der
gigantiske pie”, som vi nyder så meget. Hil dig, Adam, du holdt os ud af krig!
Vi kommer til at savne dig – det har vi ikke nogen tvivl om !!!!
Batman – ”Overgiv den der gigantiske pie!”
English translation
17:00 I go out into the back
garden and take the lawnmower out of the shed. I set about mowing the furthest
part of the lawn behind the house. It has become overgrown during our holiday
in Denmark in the last 2 weeks, and there are still tons of moss, despite Vince's
attempt to sew new grass seeds a few weeks ago - damn!
The moss is light and airy - it
fills the grass collector super fast and you have to empty it every other
minute - it is becoming a real nightmare !!!
18:00 We eat dinner and spend the
rest of the evening listening to the radio and watching some television.We
hear an interesting radio program about Fred Astaire, the famous movie star and tap dancer.
Lois is crazy about Astaire's
films, and until recently we owned several on vhs. Unfortunately, our vhs tape
recorder broke down a few months ago, so we're going to have to buy tons of
DVDs instead. Fortunately, old black and white movie DVDs are not that
expensive, thank goodness. But technological progress is not always good, we
think!
I myself am rather indifferent to
Astaire's films. I can see that the songs are good, but I'm not patient enough
to sit for an hour and a half watching the movies. Nevertheless, they have the
ability to comfort and cheer Lois when she is sick or low in spirits for
example, so they are a good investment, no doubt about that!
The films that Astaire appeared
in in the 1930s were all set in a glamorous, sophisticated fantasy world, and
were a good form of escapism in difficult economic times, I think. It is
interesting that the person who in the programme is "promoting"
Astaire as a "candidate for greatness" is Michael O'Donnell, a (now)
89-year-old man with multiple talents: doctor, journalist, television and radio
teacher and novelist.
He grew up in the county of
Yorkshire in the 1930s, an area hard hit by economic recession. His parents
were crazy about Astaire's films, and often took the young Michael along to the
cinema to see them. He says that he always believed, as a boy, that Astaire's
glamorous world must exist somewhere he had just never visited, probably in the
south of England - my goodness!
21:00 We turn on the television
and see an interesting episode of Michael Parkinson's talk show, which was
first broadcast in the 1970s. "Parky"'s guests were John Betjeman,
the famous, (then) 71-year-old, English poet, and Gracie Fields, the famous,
(then) 79-year-old singer.
At first sight, it looks like
Parky's two guests came from two different worlds, but actually Betjeman was
crazy about vaudeville theatre since childhood. His parents often took him to
vaudeville theatres, and he quickly became aware that vaudeville performers
knew how to avoid boring the audience, and that this was their most important
talent. Later, when Betjeman became a school teacher and finally a poet, he
never forgot this lesson - never to be boring.
It's rare, I think, that you see
a poet who writes good poetry and is also a really sweet and charming man - I
like Larkin's poems, for example, but I do not think he was a nice man - I know
that for certain !!!
"Parky" interviews John
Betjeman - it's rare
to see a good poet who is also sweet and
charming - no doubt about it !!!
We also hear a lot about what
types of women had turned Betjeman on during his long life. Fair-haired or
red-haired, preferably with freckles, but also athletic with big, strong thighs
- my god!
Betjeman had a weakness for athletic
girls, as is well known
Betjeman worked for a short
period for a poetry magazine and he wanted to hire a secretary. A woman,
"Freckly Jill", turned up for the job interview, and she was so beautiful
that Betjeman was afraid he would not resist being unfaithful to his wife if he
employed the woman.
"Freckly Jill" applied for
a job as Betjeman's secretary
but he resisted the temptation of going to
bed with her, thank goodness !!!!
But Betjeman's (female) boss
advised him always to "choose the beautiful one" saying, "beautiful women are nicer
because other people have always been nice to them". So Betjeman ended up hiring
"freckly Jill," everything went well and he managed to resist the
temptation of going to bed with her.
22:00 Lois and I debate this last
topic while we lie in bed after the programme. We do not agree with Betjeman's
boss that beautiful women are always nice: they can be superior or
toffee-nosed, we think - we are so wise!
I read 9 pages of my bedtime book about
James, Duke of Monmouth, before I drift off to sleep - zzzzzz !!!!!
04:45 I get up early and take a
little look online.
I see that I have got another good review of my
latest YouTube video about our vacation in Denmark, this time, the review comes
from "Rewind Remix NCS" - "Hey, nice vid!"
Thank you, Rewind Remix NSC, even
though I do not have the faintest idea who you are. This could be the start of
my career as a fashionable video director - I have no doubts about that !!! And
I can definitely describe the video as "critically acclaimed", I
think.
10:00 We go out to the backyard.
I continue to work on "project grass-cutting" - good grief! Alison,
our daughter in Copenhagen, is going to visit us early in July with her family,
and both our house and our back garden are one big mess - help !!!!! Our garden
waste bin is already stuffed with weeds, mown grass, and hedge branches, and
the next waste collection day is still 12 days away - yikes !!!!!!
11:00 I drop "project grass-cutting"
and resume "project hedge-trimming”. When I'm done with all that, I feel
my age - I know that for sure.
13:00 After lunch I go to bed and
take my usual gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzz !!!!!
13:45 Lois goes along to the
local library to help library staff organise and run the weekly Baby Bounce and
Rhyme session for young mothers and their young children. The activities
consist of children's songs for babies and parents (and grandparents). When our
second daughter, Sarah, still lived and worked in England (until December
2015), Lois and I used to take Sarah's twins along to the sessions - happy
days!
15:00 I get up and make a start
on clearing up the lawn. The garden waste bin is already jam-packed with weeds,
cut grass etc., so I collect all the cut hedge branches and put them in black
sacks.
15:45 Lois comes home and we
relax with a cup of tea and a piece of cake on the terrace.
16:00 We come back into the house
and snuggle up on the couch. We are preparing to turn on the radio and hear an
interesting program, "The Last Word". Lois and I make a habit of
listening to this program every week because we want to find out if anyone has
died or not in the last 1-2 weeks (I notice that most weeks exactly 5 deaths
occur).
We know that our favourite actor,
Adam West (TV's Batman) unfortunately died a few days ago - and we look forward
to hearing a little about his life and laughing at some of his most celebrated lines, such as his famous "Surrender that gigantic pie " which we
enjoy so much. Hail to thee, Adam, you kept us out of war! We are going to miss
you - that's something we have no doubts about !!!!
Batman - "Surrender that gigantic pie!"
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