17:00 Det har hidtil i år været en meget tørt forår og en meget tør sommer.
Lois og jeg er overrasket over, at Severn-Trent vandselskabet endnu ikke har
annonceret et forbud mod at bruge haveslanger osv.
Heldigvis har vejrpigen sagt, at det kommer til at regne i morgen
(tirsdag), så vi beslutter at tage en risiko og springe over vores
rutinemæssige havevandning i aften. Hun vil have rodet sig ind i noget, hvis
hun er forkert – det ved vi med sikkerhed!!!!
18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad i stuen for første gang i en uge – det er lidt
koldt udenfor. Vi smækker benene op foran fjernsyn. De viser en interessant
dokumentarfilm om en jernbanerejse i det østlige England. Programmets vært er Michael
Portillo, én af Maggie Thatchers tidligere ministere, der altid går med lyst og
ekstremt farveligt tøj, hvilket er lidt irriterende, for at sige mildt – du
godeste!
Vi ønsker at se dette program, fordi Portillo ser sig om lidt i byen
Stamford, som Lois og jeg besøgte i marts 2016 på en ferie, vi tog for at fejre
min 70. fødselsdag. Men det viser sig, at Portillo kun interesserer sig for
byens 18. og 19. århundrede arkitektur osv, mens vi sidste år interesserede os
mere for byens danske fortid. I det 10. århundrede var Stamford en af Englands
5 største danske ”borge”.
Tilbageblik til marts 2016: Lois står på broen midt i byen Stamford.
I
det 10. århundrede, boede den dominerende danske koloni i byens nordlige distrikter,
mens den angelsaksiske koloni boede i byens sydlige distrikter (til højre).
en local pub fejrer de historiske danske invasioner af området
Byen bliver imidlertid ofte brugt i dag af filmselskaber (for eksempel i
tilfældet af Stolthed og Fordom), på grund af byens mange velbevarede viktorianske
gader og bygninger. De lokale landejerne nægtede i 1800-tallet at lade de store
jernbaneselskaber bygge her, så blev byen efterhånden mindre og mindre vigtig i
sammenligning med den nærliggende by Peterborough, der accepterede
jernbaneselskabernes penge og udviklede sig som et moderne industrielt center
(i sær berømt for produktion af mursten). Du godeste – sikke et vanvid!!!!
Programmets mest interessante dele handler om Cambridge, hvor Charles
Darwin var studerende. Lois og jeg vidste ikke, at han faktisk læste humaniora,
selvom hans lidenskab allerede var entomologi. Portillo viser os den unge (og
skægløse) Darwins utrolig stor billesamling – du godeste, hvor uhyggeligt!
21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en fængslende
dokumentarfilm, der handler om et sandfærdigt historie – et mord, der fandt
sted i april sidste år, da Lois og jeg
forberedede os på at rejse til Australien for at se vores anden datter, Sarah,
og hendes familie.
Lois og jeg har aldrig set sådan en dokumentarfilm, og vi bliver
fascineret. Vi fortsætter med at se den færdigt, selvom vi oprindeligt havde
besluttet at gå i seng tidligere end normalt, fordi vi begge to må stå op
mega-tidligt i morgen. Kameraerne følger de lokale detektiver og
politimænd/kvinder, mens de undersøger sagen – og vi ser detaljerne af
processen op til domfældelsen af gerningsmanden – juryen tog kun 2 timer at
beslutte, hvilket nu til dags er meget hurtigt! Vi ser selve interviews med ofrets kæreste og med
gerningsmandens familie, hvilket ifølge vores erfaring er meget sjældent i
fjernsyn.
Ofret var en antikvarisk boghandler, Adrian Greenwood, der boede på Iffleyvej
i Oxford, en vej, som Lois og jeg godt kender.
Gerningsmanden angreb og dræbte ham brutalt lige uden for hans hoveddør
og så kørte hjem til byen Peterborough.
Lois og jeg er overrasket over, at se, at politiet havde adgang til
hundredsvis af officielle og private cctv-kameraer, udover mobiltelefon
opkaldsdata, og dermed kunne identificere på et par timer byen, hvor
gerningsmanden boede, hans bils registreringsnummer og hans navn, hvilket er betryggende, men også samtidig bekymrende – du godeste!
Vi er også overrasket over at se tonsvis af detektiver på skærmen. Vi havde
troet, at politiet havde tendens til at skjule detektivers ansigter og præcise
identitet for offentligheden. Det er også overraskende at se gerningsmandens familie (hans eks-kone,
og hans to unge sønner) tale om sagen og afsløre deres personlige reaktioner osv.
Hvorfor ville de indvillige i at gøre det foran kameraerne???? Sikke en skør
verden vi lever i !!!!!
22:30 Vi går i seng, lidt senere, end normalt, hvilket er lidt af en skam,
fordi vi begge to må forlade huset kl 7 i morgen for at køre til Gloucester.
Pokkers!!!! Vi er i dobbeltsengen i Sarahs
gamle værelse igen – vi er forelskede i værelsets stille og rolig stemning: det
har udsigt over baghaven. Siden i går er vi blevet klar over hvor virkelig lydt
vores normale soveværelse er, på grund af trafiklarm og de lejlighedsvise
skrigende teenagere – du godeste!
04:00 Jeg står tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet.
06:00 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker morgenté. Vi
står op og spiser en hurtig morgenmad.
07:00 Vi kører over til byen Gloucesters autoriserede Honda-forhandler
(Blade Honda), så de kan installere nye airbags, som del af et enormt projekt
involverende en masse Honda-modeller, inklusive min Honda Jazz. Vi taler et par
ord til receptionisten på skranken, giver hende bilnøglen og sætter os i
forhandlerens kunde-område og drikker en
kop kaffe. Jeg læser de næste 10 sider af den danske kriminovelle, ”Forbandet”,
som er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt. Gruppens næste møde finder
sted hos os på torsdag.
Blade
Honda kunde-område: i baggrunden ser vi
receptionisten ved skranken tale med en ung kunde
09:00 Arbejdet på bilen er færdig og receptionisten giver os bilnøglen
tilbage, og vi kører ud. Vi synes, at det er lykkedes Honda at optimisere deres
kundeservice - det er udmærket. Kunden
interagerer kun med receptionisten, og receptionisten interagerer med
bilmekanikerne på vores vegne, hvilket efter min mening er den perfekte løsning
– processen er utroligt effektiv og sømløs. Hurra!
Vi føler os lidt ”granatchokerede”, fordi vi har været på pension i 11 år,
og vi ikke er vant til at forlade huset så tidligt. Vi er også lidt sultne. Vi
beslutter at forkæle os selv og smutter ind på Ben & Jerry’s-restauranten
for at spise en stor morgenmad. Vi vælger deres ”bacon og pandekager” option –
nam nam!
vi spiser en stor morgenmad på byen Gloucesters
”Ben
& Jerry’s” restaurant
Vi snakker lidt i restauranten om vores svigersøn, Ed. Hans job i København
ophører ved slutningen af året, og vi er meget nysgerrige om, hvor familien derefter
vil flytte til. For tiden er familien på ferien i England, men Ed har sagt, at
de vil tilbringe en uge i Holland, i nærheden af Utrecht, på vej hjem til
Danmark. Vi spekulerer om, om han overvejer at acceptere et job i Utrecht omegn,
han har udtrykket interesse for.
Lois er bange for at flyve, så hun ville være meget glad for, at kunne
besøge dem med tog (Eurostar fra London til Amsterdam og forbindende tog til
Utrecht).
en typisk togrejse fra Amsterdam til Utrecht:
selve borde er så magelige!!!
Men vi spekulerer også om, at det kunne være en option for Ed og Alison, at
de flytter tilbage ind i deres hus i England, så børnene kan gå i almindelige
engelske skoler. Han kunne selv bo i Holland fra mandag til fredag, og flyve
tilbage til England hver weekend.
Vi er blevet til to geskæftige, gamle krager – ingen tvivl om det!!!!
10:30 Vi kører hjem.
12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en
gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzzzz!!!!
15:00 Jeg står op og vi slapper af med en kop te.
English translation
17:00 So far this year has been a
very dry spring and a very dry summer. Lois and I are surprised that the
Severn-Trent water company has not yet announced a ban on using garden hoses
etc.
Fortunately, the weather girl has
said it's going to rain tomorrow (Tuesday) so we decide to take a risk and skip
our routine garden watering tonight. She is going to be in trouble if she's
wrong - we know that for sure !!!!
18:00 We have dinner in the living
room for the first time in a week - it's a little cold outside. We stick our
feet up in front of the television. An interesting documentary is on, all about
a train journey in eastern England. The host of the program is Michael
Portillo, one of Maggie Thatcher's former ministers, who always wears
light-coloured and extremely bright clothes, which is a bit annoying, to say
the least - my goodness!
We want to see this program
because Portillo is looking around in Stamford, which Lois and I visited in
March 2016 on a vacation we took to celebrate my 70th birthday. But it turns
out that Portillo is only interested in the town's 18th and 19th century
architecture, etc., whereas we were interested last year in the town's Danish
past. In the 10th century, Stamford was one of England's 5 largest Danish
"burghs".
Flashback to March 2016: Lois
stands on the bridge in the middle of
Stamford town. In the 10th century, the
dominant Danish community
lived
in the northern districts of the town, while the Anglo-Saxon
community lived in the southern districts of
the town (to the right).
a local pub's name celebrates
the historic Danish invasions of the area
However, the town is often used
today by film companies (for example, in the case of Pride and Prejudice),
because of the city's many well-preserved Victorian streets and buildings. In
the 19th century the local landowners refused to let the major railway
companies build here, so the town gradually became less and less important
compared to the nearby city of Peterborough, which accepted the railway
companies' money and developed as a modern industrial centre (especially famous
for production of bricks). Good
grief - what madness !!!!
The most interesting parts of the
program are about Cambridge, where Charles Darwin was a student. Lois and I did
not know that he actually studied the humanities, even though his passion was
already entomology. Portillo shows us the young (and beardless) Darwin's
incredibly large collection of beetles - my goodness, how creepy!
21:00 We carry on watching television.
A riveting documentary is on, all about a true story - a murder that took place
in April last year when Lois and I were preparing to travel to Australia to see
our second daughter, Sarah, and her family.
Lois and I have never seen a
documentary film like this before, and we get fascinated. We continue to see it to the
end even though we had originally decided to go to bed earlier than usual
because we both have to get up early tomorrow.
The cameras follow the local
detectives and policemen and women as they investigate the case - and we see
the details of the process right up to the conviction of the perpetrator - the
jury only took 2 hours to decide, which nowadays is very fast! We see
interviews with the victim's girlfriend and the perpetrator's family, which in
our experience is very rare on television.
The victim was an antiquarian
bookseller, Adrian Greenwood, who lived on the Iffley Road in Oxford, a road
that Lois and I know well. The perpetrator attacked and killed him brutally
right outside his front door and then drove home to the town of Peterborough.
Lois and I are surprised to see
that the police had access to hundreds of official and private cctv cameras, in
addition to cell phone call data, thus identifying in a few hours the city
where the perpetrator lived, his car's registration number and his name, which is reassuring but worrying at the same time - my
goodness!
We are also surprised to see tons
of detectives on the screen. We had thought that the police tended to conceal
detectives' faces and precise identity from the public. It's also surprising to
see the perpetrator's family (his ex-wife and his two young sons) talking about
the case and revealing their personal reactions, etc. Why would they agree to
do that in front of the cameras ???? What a crazy world we live in !!!!!
22:30 We go to bed a little later
than usual, which is a bit of a shame because we both have to leave the house
at 7 am tomorrow to drive to Gloucester. Damn !!!! We are in the double bed in
Sarah's old room again - we are in love with the quiet and calm atmosphere of
the room: it overlooks the back garden. Since yesterday we have realised how
noisy our normal bedroom is, due to traffic noise and the occasional screaming
teenagers - my goodness!
04:00 I get up early and take a
little look online.
06:00 I jump back into bed with
Lois and we drink morning tea. We get up and have a quick breakfast.
07:00 We drive to Gloucester's
authorised Honda dealer (Blade Honda) so they can install new airbags as part
of a huge project involving a lot of Honda models, including my Honda Jazz. We
say a few words to the receptionist on the desk, give her the car key and sit
down in the dealer's customer area and have a cup of coffee. I read the next 10
pages of the Danish crime short story, "Accursed", which is our U3A
Danish group's current project. The group's next meeting will take place at our
house on Thursday.
Blade Honda customer area: in the background we see
the receptionist at the desk talking to a young customer
09:00 The work on the car is done
and the receptionist gives us back the car key and we drive off. We think Honda
has been very successful in optimising their customer service - it is excellent. The
customer interacts with the receptionist only, and the receptionist interacts
with the car mechanics on our behalf, which in my opinion is the perfect
solution - the process is incredibly efficient and seamless. Hurrah!
We feel a bit
"shell-shocked" because we have been retired for 11 years and we are
not used to leaving the house so early. We are also a little hungry. We decide
to indulge ourselves and sneak into the Ben & Jerry's restaurant to eat a
big breakfast. We choose their "bacon and pancakes" option - yum yum!
We eat a big breakfast at Gloucester's
"Ben & Jerry's" restaurant
We chat a little in the
restaurant about our son-in-law, Ed. His job in Copenhagen ends at the end of
the year, and we are very curious about where the family will then move to.
Currently, the family is on holiday in England, but Ed has said that they will
spend a week in Holland, near Utrecht, on their way home to Denmark. We wonder if
he is considering accepting the job in the Utrecht area that he has expressed
interest in.
Lois is afraid of flying so she
would be very happy to be able to visit them by train (Eurostar from London to
Amsterdam and then connecting train to Utrecht).
A typical train journey from Amsterdam to Utrecht -
even the tables are comfy !!!!!
But we also wonder whether it
might be an option for Ed and Alison that they move back into their house in
England so that the children can go to ordinary English schools. Ed could himself
live in Holland from Monday to Friday, and fly back to England every weekend.
We have turned into two
interfering, old busybodies - no doubt about that !!!!
10:30 We drive home.
12:30 We have lunch and afterwards
I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzzz !!!!
15:00 I get up and we relax with
a cup of tea.
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