16:45 Lois kommer tilbage fra Tewkesbury – Alf og Mari-Ann sætter hende af
foran huset. Hun har hele eftermiddagen hjulpet med at bemande sin kirkes
pop-up shop midt i Tewkesbury, der i dag for første gang åbnede til
offentligheden. Hun tager sin spritnye officielle t-shirt af og lægger den væk
– hendes næste tur på shoppen er et par uger væk, på grund af vores datter
Alisons besøg, der starter i morgen, når hendes familie ankommer fra København.
Lois i sin spritnye officielle t-shirt kommer tilbage fra ”arbejde”
hun skifter straks t-shirt og sætter sig på knæ i baghaven
for
at fjerne de roser, der er begyndt at falme – sikke en kvinde!!!!
baghaven ser ganske pæn ud i dag, selvom jeg ikke kan undgå
at
bemærke, hvor mange buske og hække, jeg endnu ikke har klippet – pokkers!
Vi snakker lidt om hendes oplevelserne i shoppen. Det lader til, at
shoppens første dag var meget vellykket. En masse mennesker smuttede ind og
talte om kirkens tro med de samlagt 5 kirkemedlemmer, der bemandede shoppen.
Nogle ”kunder” fik kirkens lille goodie-pose med hjem, og/eller indskrev sig
til kirkens næste seminarserie, der starter til efteråret.
Kunderne var alle søde – der var ikke nogle ”originaler”, gudskelov!!! Den
mærkeligste person, der smuttede ind i shoppen, var faktisk en ven (ikke
kæreste) af Hilary, en af de kirkemedlemmer, der i dag hjalp til i shoppen –
Hilary fortalte Lois i smug, at manden lider af ”hallucinationer”, selvom han
så ganske normal ud i Lois’s optik. Alarmklokker begyndte ikke desto mindre at
ringe i mit hoved, da jeg hørte dette – du godeste!!! Kirker tiltrækker
desværre nu og da mennesker med psykiske problemer – det ved jeg med
sikkerhed!!!! Desværre er jeg ikke så menneskekærlig som Lois og hendes venner
– uha!
18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad på vores spritnye terrassebord – skinke,
spejlæg, bagte bønner i tomatsovs, og ovnebagte pomfritter, en af mine
livsretter – nam nam!
Vi tænker om vores datter Alison og forestiller os, hvad hun og hendes
familie lige nu er i færd med. De tog af sted ved 4-tiden fra deres hjem i
København og tog fjærgen kl 6 til Tyskland (Rødbyhavn til Puttgarden). Midt på
dagen tog de en lille pause i Bevergern, en charmerende, historiske by i det
nordvestlige Tyskland. De undgik at køre forbi Wankum, en lille by, der er meget
populær som pausested ha ha ha hos engelske turister (også hos vores soldater
før i tiden i den tidligere ”britiske zone”) på grund af byens navn, der på
engelsk slang lyder lidt lummert – sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
Lois og jeg ved, at deres færge til England afgår kl 20 fra Hoek van
Holland, og man kan gå om bord på skibet startende fra kl 19. Vi er helt sikre
på, at Ali og Ed vil gå om bord så tidligt som muligt, for at finde deres
kabine, sætte sig til rette, berolige børnene osv.
21:00 Vi smækker benene op foran fjernsynet. De viser en dokumentumfilm,
der lyder interessant, og som handler om indflydelsen af fjernsyn over tiårene.
Programmets vært er den charmerende Melvyn Bragg, der på 77 år ud stadig ser
utrolig ung ud – det må jeg nok sige.
Programmet varer 2 timer, men Lois og jeg er ikke natteravne, så derfor slukker
vi kl 22 for fjernsynet – programmet bliver i hvert fald optaget på vores
PlusnetTV-enhed. Programmets sidste time
må blive en anden dag.
Radio Times-tidsskriftet roser denne dokumentarfilm meget, men vi er lidt
skuffede. Vi mener, programmagerne prøvede at dække for meget – fjernsyns
historie er i teorien et enormt emne. Vi ser en stribe af korte diskussioner i
studiet mellem Bragg og et par ”eksperter” om et eller andet aspekt af tvs
indflydelse, men der er ikke tid til mere, end soundbytes.
Jeg er imidlertid meget glad for, at se Ken Loach, den engelske
filminstruktør, én af de mennesker, jeg mest ”elsker at hade”, deltage i en
kort diskussion med Bragg og to andre eksperter – du godeste!! Det er godt for
min sundhed at blive gal i skralden engang imellem – det har jeg ikke nogen
tvivl om – tak, Ken !!! Stakkels Ken!!!! Men jeg er helt sikker på, at det
rager ham ikke, hvad jeg mener!!!!
Hans film er altid meget venstreorienterede, hvilket ikke er til min smag,
for at sige mildt! I Kens tilfælde er jeg også meget glad for, at der bare er
tid til et par soundbytes fra ham, idet han begynder på en skjalder mod de såkaldte "regerende klasser” – du godeste!
Jeg havde aldrig hørt om ham – jeg synes, at få englændere kender hans navn,
men for nogle år siden, da jeg interesserede mig meget for franske kultur,
læste jeg Kens navn meget ofte igen og igen på franske websteder osv, og jeg fandt ud af, at
han er forgudet i Frankrig, selvom sandsynligvis intet andetsteds. Sikke et
vanvid!!
Ken begynder på en skjalder – uh oh!!!!
Programmets vært, Melvyn Bragg, afkorter heldigvis Kens skjalder
midt
i strømmen – gudskelov!!!!
22:00 Vi går i seng. Jeg læser 9 sider af min sengetidbog om James,
hertugen af Monmouth, før jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzz!!!!! Som vi putter
os ind til hinanden, hører vi Cheltenhams store amerikanske koloni starte deres
fyrværkerishow for deres familier, arbejdskollegaer osv og den almindelige
offentlighed, for at fejre tirsdags afhængighedsdag (den 4. juli).
04:45 Jeg står tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet.
07:00 Alison sender mig en sms. Familien er ankommet i Harwich, Essex, og
rejser direkte til Cheltenham. De er ved 11-tiden hos os, hvis alt går godt.
English translation
16:45 Lois returns from
Tewkesbury - Alf and Mari-Ann drop her off in front of the house. She spent the
whole afternoon helping to man her church's pop-up shop in the middle of
Tewkesbury, which opened to the public for the first time today. She takes off
her brand new official t-shirt and puts it away - her next turn at the shop is
a couple of weeks away because of our daughter Alison's visit, that starts
tomorrow, when her family arrives from Copenhagen.
Lois, in her brand new official
t-shirt, comes back from “work”
She immediately changes t-shirt
and gets down on one knee in the back garden
to get rid of the roses that have started to
fade - what a woman !!!!
The back garden looks pretty nice
today, although I cannot
help noticing how many shrubs and hedges I have not
yet cut back - damn it!
We talk a little about her
experiences in the shop. It seems that the shop's first day was very
successful. A lot of people popped in and talked about the church's beliefs
with the 5 church members who were manning the shop. Some "customers"
took the church's little goodie-bag home with them and / or enrolled in the
church's next seminar series starting in the autumn.
The customers were all nice -
there were no "weirdos", thank goodness !!! The strangest person who
popped into the shop was actually a friend (not boyfriend) of Hilary, one of
the church members who was helping today in the shop - Hilary told Lois that
the man suffers from "hallucinations" even though he looked quite
normal in Lois's view. Alarm bells nevertheless began to ring in my head when I
heard this - my god !!! Churches, unfortunately, often attract people with
mental problems - I know that for sure !!!! Unfortunately, I'm not as
charitable as Lois and her friends - oh dear!
18:00 Lois and I have dinner on
our brand new patio table - ham, fried egg, baked beans in tomato sauce, and
oven chips, one of my favourite dishes - yum yum!
We think about our daughter
Alison and imagine what she and her family are doing right now. They set off at
4am from their home in Copenhagen and took the 6am ferry to Germany
(Rødbyhavn to Puttgarden). In the middle of the day they took a little break at Bevergern, a charming historic town in north-western Germany. They avoided
driving by Wankum, a small town that is very popular as a journey-break ha ha
ha with English tourists (also previously with our soldiers in the former
"British zone") because of the town's name, which sounds a bit
suggestive in English slang - what a crazy world we live in !!!!
Lois and I know that their ferry
to England leaves at 8pm from the Hook of Holland and people can board the ship
starting from 7pm. We are sure that Ali and Ed will want to board as early as
possible, to find their cabin, settle in, settle the children down, etc.
21:00 We stick our feet up in
front of the television. A documentary that sounds interesting is on, all about
the influence of television over the decades. The host of the programme is the
charming Melvyn Bragg, who at 77 years still looks incredibly young, I must
say.
The program lasts 2 hours, but
Lois and I are not night owls, so we turn off the tv at 10pm - the programme is
in any case being recorded on our PlusnetTV device. The last hour of the
program must wait for another day.
The Radio Times magazine praises
this documentary a lot, but we are a little disappointed. We think the
programmers tried to cover too much - television history is a huge topic in
theory. We see a series of short discussions in the studio between Bragg and a
few "experts" about some aspect or other of television's influence,
but there's no time for more than sound bytes.
However, I'm very pleased to see
Ken Loach, the English film director, one of the people I most "love to
hate", taking part in a short discussion with Bragg and two other experts
- my god !! It's good for my health to get hot under the collar once in a
while, I have no doubts about that - thanks, Ken !!! Poor Ken!!! But I’m
absolutely sure he doesn’t care what I think!!!!!
His films are always very
left-wing, which is not to my taste, to put it mildly! In Ken's case, I am also
very pleased that there is only time for a couple of sound bytes from him,
starting with a rant against so-called "ruling classes" - good grief!
I had never heard of him - I
think that few English people know his name, but some years ago, when I was
interested in French culture, I read Ken's name again and again on French
websites, etc., and I found out that he is idolised in France, though probably
nowhere else. What madness !!
Ken begins on a rant - uh oh !!!!
The host of the program, Melvyn Bragg,
luckily cuts short Ken's rant
in mid-flow - thank goodness !!!!
22:00 We go to bed. I read
9 pages of my bedtime book about James, Duke of Monmouth, before I drift off to
sleep - zzzzzz !!!!! As we snuggle up, we hear Cheltenham's large American community
launch their fireworks show for their families, work-colleagues, etc. and the
general public, to celebrate Tuesday's Independence Day (July 4th).
04:45 I get up early and look online.
07:00 Alison sends me a text
message. The family has arrived in Harwich, Essex, and is travelling directly
to Cheltenham. They will be with us at 11 o'clock if all goes well.
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