16:45 Jeg parkerer bilen i en stor parkeringsplads i byen Tewkesbury, og
venter på at Lois dukker op. Hun har brugt eftermiddagen på at hjælpe med at
bemande sin kirkes pop-up shop midt i byen. Hun kommer i bilen og vi kører
hjem.
Hun er udmattet, men eftermiddagen har været meget vellykket, siger hun,
med masser af ”kunder”, der kom ind i shoppen og snakkede om biblen med kirkens
indvillige ”ekspeditører”.
En af kunderne startede en livlig diskussion om evolutionsteorien, men han
var lidt aggressiv, siger hun, selvom han endelig stak af, da ekspeditørerne
afviste at blive provokeret. Lois synes, at teoriens tilhængere er langt mere bigotte,
end de mest ekstreme kreationister – du godeste!
Jeg synes selv, at det er lidt af en skam, at shoppen fremviser kirkens
kreationisme på en så fremtrædende måde i butiksvinduet – det er så nemt, at
kritisere den filosofi!!! Det ville være bedre, at ramme kunder med
kreationisme lidt senere, efter de er blevet interesseret i andre aspekter,
synes jeg!!! Men det springer jeg over!!!!
det er måske lidt af en skam, at shoppen fremviser
kirkens
kreationisme på en så fremtrædende måde!!!!
18:00 Vi kommer hjem og spiser aftensmad. Lois er træt på grund af
eftermiddagens uafbrudt snik-snak, og jeg er også lidt træt. Jeg er nu til dags
ikke vant til at bruge næsten 2 timer om dagen på at køre bil – stakkels
mig!!!!
19:30 Lois sætter sig foran computeren for at læse mails osv. Og hun har
stadig nogle administrative opgaver i forhold til pop-up shoppen. Ingen har
indvilliget i at bemande shoppen på fredag eller på lørdag formiddag næste uge.
uddrag fra pop-up shoppens websted – det kan være,
at
shoppen må holde lukket på fredag og på lørdag formiddag næste uge – uha!!!
Der er stadig et problem med kirkens mange medlemmer, der bor i selve byen.
Det lader til, at disse mennesker tøver med at indvillige i at hjælpe til, af
en eller anden grund. Dette betyder, at shoppen afhænger af en forholdsvis
lille antal af medlemmer (som Lois), der ikke bor i byen, og skal rejse dertil
med bil eller bus, i nogle tilfælde over lange afstande (for eksempel fra
Birmingham). Det virker ikke retfærdigt, ingen tvivl om det. Lois har besluttet
sig for at tale om dette problem med kirkens ledelse, når hun i morgen ser dem
ved kirkens to gudsbetjenester.
20:00 Jeg sætter
mig til rette i sofaen og lytter til radio, en dejlig koncert i BBC Proms
koncertsæson, sendt direkte fra Albert Hall i London.
Orkestret spiller i aften fra hukommelsen. Dette er en radioudsendelse, så
derfor er jeg ikke helt sikker på, om orkestrets medlemmer er ældre folk, som
mig, eller ej. Jeg venter med tilbageholdt åndedræt på, at de har et
”senior-øjeblik”, men alt går godt – pokkers!
I pausen hører jeg begyndelsen af en interessant diskussion om Napoleon,
styret af Andrew Roberts, den berømte historiker. Desværre døser jeg hen af og
til under diskussionen, indtil Lois til sidst kommer ind i stuen og vækker mig,
da hun lukker døren - du godeste, hvor
er jeg dog ynkelig!
22:00 Vi går i seng. Vi ligger og snakker lidt. Vi er både trætte for
tiden, men næste uge holder vi en kort ferie, for at deltage i Julias bryllup
lige uden for byen Bournemouth – det vil være en forfriskende forandring. Godt
vejr og dejlige mennesker, håber vi på. Men for nu er det – zzzzzzz!!!!!
04:30 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtest.
08:15 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté.
Vi går i bad og bagefter spiser vi morgenmad.
10:00 Jeg går op på loftet og jeg får fat i de ekstra 100 børnebøger, jeg
fandt i går. Jeg beslutter at bære dem ned, så vi kan se på dem og forhåbentlig
tage nogle af dem med til i Røde Kors’ lokale genbrugsbutik. Jeg har fundet sammenlagt ca 100 børnebøger – sikke et
mareridt!!! Det er sandelig skræmmende syn at se loftet, der er propfyldt af
ting, som vi for det meste ikke længere har brug for.
10:45 Vi skal ud. Lois ønsker at deltage i to gudstjenester, der finder
sted i dag i byen Tewkesbury, og hun er ikke tilladt at køre bil for tiden på
grund af grå stær. Jeg sætte hende af overfor kirken og kører hjem.
Jeg graver strygejernen frem og går i gang med at stryger mine skjorter,
t-shirts og undertøj. Lois har fortalt mig, at hun er glad for, at stryge alt
mit tøj, men jeg kan se klart, at hun ikke kan klare min strygning udover sin
egen. Jeg har næsten ikke noget undertøj tilbage – uha!
13:00 Jeg spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en kort
eftermiddagslur – zzzzz!!!! Det er lidt af en skam, at min alenetid om søndagen
er blevet reduceret med 50% - i de dage, når Lois var tilladt at køre bil,
havde jeg 5 timer hver søndag for at klare opgaver på min gøremålsliste, men nu
har jeg kun 2,5 timer. Jeg vil rigtig gerne blive liggende lidt længere i
sengen, men jeg må står op efter kun 30 minutter – stakkels mig!!!!!
14:30 Jeg kører over til Tewkesbury for at hente Lois efter hendes kirkes
2. gudstjeneste. Jeg parkerer bilen i en nærliggende parkeringsplads og venter
på, at hun viser sig. Vi kører hjem og slapper af med en kop te.
Hun taler lidt om den unge mand, som Hilary, en af kirkens medlemmer, er
venner (ikke kæreste) med. Hilary har før i tiden fortalt Lois i smug, at
manden lider af ”hallucinationer”. Han bor i et telt, lader det til.
Alarmklokker begynder at ringe igen i mit hoved, da jeg igen hører om denne
mand, der i dag deltog i kirkens to gudstjenester. Kirker har desværre tendens
til at tiltrække nu og da mennesker med psykiske problemer – det er både
sikkert og vist! Lois siger, at hun i dag overvejede at tilbyde at gøre mandens
vasketøj – yikes!!! Heldigvis tilbød Hilary at gøre det, før Lois kunne lave
tilbuddet, gudskelov. Desværre er jeg ikke så menneskekærlig, som Lois og
hendes venner - uha!!!
Jeg er glad for, at høre, at kirkens ledelse er i gang med at prøve at finde
en billig lejlighed, hvor manden kan bo.
English translation
16:45 I park the car in a big car
park in the town of Tewkesbury, waiting for Lois to turn up. She has spent the
afternoon helping to staff her church's pop-up shop in the middle of town. She
gets in the car and we drive home.
She is exhausted, but the
afternoon has been very successful, she says, with a lot of
"customers" who came into the shop and talked about the Bible with
the church's volunteer "assistants".
One of the customers started a
lively discussion about the theory of evolution, but he was a bit aggressive,
she says, although he finally cleared off when the volunteers refused to be
provoked. Lois thinks that the supporters of the theory are far more bigoted
than the most extreme creationists - my goodness!
I think it's a bit of shame that
the shop showcases the church's creationism in such a prominent way in the shop
window - it's so easy to criticise that philosophy !!! It would be better to
hit customers with creationism a little later after they have become interested
in other aspects, I think. But I'll let
that one slide !!!!
It is perhaps a shame that the
shop showcases
the church's creationism in such a prominent
way !!!!
18:00 We come home and have
dinner. Lois is tired because of the afternoon's non-stop chit-chat, and I'm
also a little tired. Nowadays I am not used to spending almost 2 hours a day
driving a car - poor me !!!!
19:30 Lois sits down in front of
the computer to read mails, etc. And she still has some administrative tasks in
relation to the pop-up shop. Nobody has volunteered to staff the shop on Friday
or on Saturday morning next week.
excerpt from the pop-up shop
website - it may be that the shop
will have to stay closed on Friday and on Saturday
morning next week - oh dear !!!
There is still a problem with the
church's many members who live in the town itself. It seems that these people
are reluctant to volunteer to help out for some reason. This means that the
shop depends on a relatively small number of members (like Lois) who do not
live in the town, and have to travel by car or bus, in some cases over long
distances (for example, from Birmingham). It does not seem fair, no doubt about
it. Lois has decided to talk about this problem with the church's leadership
when she sees them in the morning at the church's two worship services.
20:00 I settle down on the couch
and listen to the radio, a nice concert in the BBC Proms concert season,
broadcast live from the Albert Hall in London.
The orchestra is playing tonight
from memory. This is a radio broadcast, so I'm not entirely sure if the
orchestra members are older people like me, or not. I wait with bated breath
for them to have a "senior moment" but everything goes well - damn
it!
During the break I hear the
beginning of an interesting discussion about Napoleon, led by Andrew Roberts,
the famous historian. Unfortunately, I doze off now and then during the discussion,
until Lois eventually comes in the living room and wakes me up when she closes
the door - good grief, how pathetic I am!
22:00 We go to bed. We lie there
and chat a little. We are both tired at the moment, but next week we will be
taking a short vacation to attend Julia's wedding just outside Bournemouth - it
will be a refreshing change. Good weather and lovely people, we hope. But for
now it’s - zzzzzzz !!!!!
04:30 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
08:15 I jump back into bed with
Lois and we drink our morning tea. We go in the shower and afterwards we eat
breakfast.
10:00 I go up to the attic and I
get hold of the extra 100 children's books I found yesterday. I decide to carry
them down so we can look at them and hopefully take some of them along to the
Red Cross's local recycling shop. I have found altogether about 200 children's
books - what a nightmare !!! It is a truly scary sight to see the attic, which
is packed with things that we mostly do not need anymore.
10:45 We have to go out. Lois
wants to attend two church services taking place today in Tewkesbury, and she is not allowed to drive a car at the moment due to cataracts. I drop her
off opposite the church and drive home.
I dig the iron out and start
ironing my shirts, t-shirts and underwear. Lois has told me she is happy to
iron all my clothes, but I can see that she cannot handle my ironing as well as
her own. I have almost no underwear left - oh dear!
13:00 I have lunch and afterwards
I go to bed to take a short afternoon nap - zzzzz !!!! It's a bit of a
shame that my Sunday alone-time has been reduced by 50% - in the days when Lois
was allowed to drive a car, I had 5 hours every Sunday to do tasks on my to-do
list, but now I only have 2 and a half hours. I really want to stay a little
longer in bed, but I have to get up after only 30 minutes - poor me !!!!!
14:30 I drive over to Tewkesbury
to pick Lois up after her church's second service. I park the car in a nearby
parking lot and wait for her to appear. We drive home and relax with a cup of
tea.
She talks a little about the
young man whom Hilary, one of the church members, is friends (not sweethearts)
with. Hilary has previously told Lois that the man suffers from
"hallucinations". He lives in a tent, it seems. Alarm bells begin to
ring again in my head when I hear again about this man who today attended the
church's two worship services. Churches unfortunately tend now and then to
attract people with mental problems – and that's a fact! Lois says that today
she considered offering to do the man's laundry - yikes !!! Fortunately, Hilary
offered to do it before Lois could make the offer, thank goodness.
Unfortunately, I'm not as charitable as Lois and her friends - oh dear !!!
I'm glad to hear that the Church's
leadership is currently trying to find a cheap apartment where the man can
live.
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