Danskcolin: Fredag den 11. august 2017 kl 16:30 indtil lørdag den 12. august 2017 kl 16:29

18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad, med hjemmelavet laxton-tærte til dessert – nam nam! Bagefter smækker vi benene op foran fjernsynet. De viser et gamle afsnit af Top of the Pops fra maj 1984.

Musikken er desværre 99% snot igen, som danskerne siger. Jeg elsker dette udtryk – det rammer noget dybt i mig, også heroppe i næsen. Engelsk er et fattigt sprog i sammenligning med dansk – ingen tvivl om det!

Vi bemærker 1984s moderigtige kvindetøj. Vi har ikke den fjerneste anelse om, hvorfor kvinder dengang syntes at korte shorts med opslag var sexede. Sikke et vanvid!!!

Belle and the Devotions: Lois og jeg har ikke den fjerneste anelse om,

hvorfor kvinder dengang syntes, at korte shorts med opslag var sexede.

Sikke et vanvid !!!!!

Lois og jeg så ikke dette afsnit, da BBC-kanalen først sendte det, fordi vi boede i USA fra 1982 til 1985. Vores to døtre, Alison og Sarah gik i henholdsvis 3. og 1. klasse på den lokale skole, Dasher Green Elementary.

Alisons klasse – lærerinden var fru McRobie (til højre)

Alison, på 8 år

Sarahs classe: lærerinden var fru Issel (til venstre)

Sarah, på 6 år

Lykkelige dage! Og pludselig er man blevet gammel - hvor blev årene af?

20:00 Det er rart at kunne slukke for fjernsynet og tale lidt på Skype med Alison, nu ved at fylde 42 år, vores datter i København.

alle er trætte, men det er så rart at kunne tale på Skype

med Alison, vores datter i København

Lois og jeg føler os nogle gange lidt ensomme, fordi vores to kære døtre begge bor i udlandet, Alison i Danmark, og Sarah i Australien. Vi ved, at Ed, Alisons mand, kommer til at blive afskediget af sit firma enten ved slutningen af året eller først i 2018, så Lois og jeg er meget nysgerrige om, hvor familien vil flytte til. Han har allerede kigget på nogle potentielle næste jobs, men hans ulempe er, at hans firma endnu ikke har opgivet ham en specifik dato, når de vil give ham fri til at arbejde for et nyt selskab. Han ønsker ikke at sige selv op, fordi det der ville koste ham dyrt i kompensationsbeløb.

Det er stadig muligt, at familien vil flytte til Hong Kong, selvom denne option nu virker mindre sandsynlig, end før. Den amerikanske option (i byen Newport News) er desværre nu forsvundet. Et firma i Holland har tilbudt ham et job, men igen har Ed problemet, at han ikke har en afskedigelsesdato. Den option, der mest begejstrer ham er i Milano, Italien, og det ville passe Alison også, fordi hun erhvervede en bachelorsgrad i italiensk (for næsten 20 år siden), og hun boede i et år i byen Pisa.

21:00 Vi slukker for computeren og går tilbage ind i stuen for at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en BBC Proms concert, der har som hovedattraktion en forestilling af musicalen Oklahoma.

Det her er Lois’s valg. Musikalske teaterforestillinger er ikke min ting, selvom jeg medgiver, at sangene selvfølgelig er udmærkede – ingen overraskelse der, hvis man ved, at Rodgers og Hammerstein var komponisterne. Jeg formoder, at de mandlige hovedroller alle amerikanere, men de kvindelige er englændere, hvilket er lidt af en skam. Nogle af kvindernes elendige amerikanske accenter skurrer i ørerne på mig – hvorfor var der ikke nogen accent-ekspert, der kunne have hjulpet dem? For eksempel, den unge kvinde, der kalder sin far ”Parrrrr” – sikke et vanvid!!!!

Hvad virker bedst for mig er sangene og dansesekvenserne:

Hvad virker bedst er sangene (People Will Say We’re in Love)...

... og dansesekvenserne (good-time pigerne i Lauries drøm)

22:00 Vi går i seng – adskilte senge og værelser igen på grund af vores forkølelser, efter kun to natter sammen, da der var en masse store slag og spark, skubben og masen under dynen, ude af dommerens (og webcammets ha ha ha) synsfelt– uha!!! Zzzzzzzz!!! Zzzzzzzz !!!!

05:00 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtest.

07:45 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté. Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.

10:00 Jeg går i gang med at kompilere en fotobog fra 22 af de billeder, jeg tog i juli, da Lois og jeg deltog i Julias bryllup i nærheden af byen Bournemouth. Jeg bruger snapfish-webstedets software, som altid.

Det tager en masse tid, men fotoer er vigtigere, når man bliver gammel. Var der nogensinde klogere ord i en popsange, end i Paul Simons ”Bookends”?

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

15:00 Jeg står op og fortsætter med at kompilere min fotobog om Julias bryllup, en bryllupalbum, som jeg planlægger at forære Julia senere på året.

Det er blevet lidt af en kliché, men en morsom kliché, at inkludere altid mindst et foto, der helt sikkert vil forvirre bruden og brudgommen. Denne vane startede for et par år siden – jeg læste i den indflydelsesrige amerikanske nyhedswebsted, theonion.com, at et lokalt bryllupalbum havde startede på en bizar måde med at synliggøre et billede af to agern flydende i et glas vand.

et lokalt bryllupalbum startede på en bizar

måde på side 1 med to agern flydende i et glas vand, ifølge theonion.com

Jeg beslutter at følge denne moderne tradition, men jeg arrangerer min fotobog, så mit billede af en hveps, som jeg fangede og fængslede i et glas vin uder bryllupsfrokosten, ligger ikke på albummets 1. side, men på den 11. side – hvor effekten vil være mere chokerende forhåbentlig. Sider 10 og 12 fremviser konventionelle gruppefotos af bruden, brudgommen og deres nærmeste slægtinge, så hveps-billedet vil blive godt og grundigt camoufleret.

"overraskelse-fotoet” jeg har inkluderet

i det spritnye bryllupalbum, jeg vil gerne forære Julia,

som bryllupsgave senere på året

English translation

18:00 Lois and I eat dinner, with home-made laxton tart for dessert - yum yum! Afterwards we stick our feet up in front of the television. An old episode of Top of the Pops is on, from May 1984.

Unfortunately, the music is 99% snot again, as the Danes say. I love this expression - it touches something deep inside me, and also in my nose. English is a impoverished language compared to Danish - no doubt about that!

We notice 1984's fashionable womenswear. We do not have the faintest idea why women at that time thought that short shorts with turn-ups were sexy. What madness !!!

Belle and the Devotions: Lois and I do not have the slightest idea,

why women at that time thought that short shorts with turn-ups were sexy.

What madness !!!!!

Lois and I did not see this episode when the BBC channel first aired it because we lived in the United States from 1982 to 1985. Our two daughters, Alison and Sarah, were in 3rd and 1st grades, respectively, at the local school, Dasher Green Elementary .

Alison's class - the teacher was Mrs. McRobie (right)

Alison, at 8 years of age

Sarah's class: The teacher was Mrs. Issel (left)

Sarah, 6 years old

Happy days! And now suddenly we are old - where did the years go?

20:00 It's nice to be able to turn off the television and talk a little on Skype with Alison, now about to turn 42, our daughter in Copenhagen.

Everyone is tired, but it's so nice to be able to talk on Skype

with Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen.

Lois and I sometimes feel a little lonely because our two dear daughters both live abroad, Alison in Denmark, and Sarah in Australia. We know that Ed, Alison's husband is going to be let go by his company either at the end of the year or early in 2018, so Lois and I are very curious about where the family will move. He has already looked at some potential next jobs, but his disadvantage is that his company has not yet given him a specific date when they will allow him to work for a new company. He does not want to resign himself because it would cost him a lot in compensation payments.

It is still possible that the family will move to Hong Kong, although this option now seems less likely than before. The American option (in the city of Newport News) has unfortunately disappeared. A company in Holland has offered him a job, but again Ed has the problem that he does not have a redundancy date. The option that most excites him is in Milan, Italy, and that would suit Alison too because she got a bachelor's degree in Italian (almost 20 years ago) and lived for a year in the city of Pisa.

21:00 We turn off the computer and go back into the living room to watch some television. A BBC Proms concert is on, with the main feature a performance of the musical Oklahoma.

This is Lois's choice. Musical theatre performances are not my thing, although I agree that the songs are of course excellent - no surprise there if you know that Rodgers and Hammerstein were the composers. I am guessing that the male leads are all Americans, but the female leads are English, which is a bit of a shame. Some of the women's wretched American accents grate on my ears - why was there not an accent expert who could have helped them? For example, the young woman who calls her father "Parrrrr" - what madness !!!!

What works best for me are the songs and the dance sequences:

What works best are the songs (People Will Say We're In Love) ...

... and the dance sequences (the good-time girls in Laurie's dream)

22:00 We go to bed - separate beds and rooms again because of our colds, after only two nights together, when there was a lot of fighting and kicking, pushing and shoving, under the quilt, out of the referee's and the webcam's (ha ha ha) field of vision - oh dear !!! Zzzzzzzz !!! Zzzzzzzzz !!!!

05:00 I get up early and do one of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.

07:45 I hop back into bed with Lois and we drink our morning tea. We get up and have breakfast.

10:00 I begin compiling a photo book from 22 of the pictures I took in July when Lois and I attended Julia's wedding near the town of Bournemouth. As always I use the snapfish website's software.

It takes a lot of time, but photos are more important when you grow old. Were there ever smarter words in a pop song than in Paul Simon's "Bookends"?

12:30 We eat lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap.

15:00 I get up and carry on compiliing my photo book of Julia's wedding, a wedding album, which I plan to present Julia with later this year.

It's become a bit of a cliché, but an amusing cliché, to always include at least one photo that will definitely confuse the bride and groom. This custom started a couple of years ago - I read on the influential American news website, theonion.com, that a local wedding album had started in a bizarre way by highlighting a picture of two acorns floating in a glass of water.

A local wedding album started in a bizarre

way on page 1 with two acorns floating in a glass of water, according to theonion.com

I decide to follow this modern tradition, but I arrange my photo book so that my picture of a wasp that I caught and jailed in a glass of wine at the wedding breakfast is not on the first page of the album, but on the 11th page - where the effect will be more shocking hopefully. Pages 10 and 12 show conventional group photos of the bride, groom and their closest relatives, so the wasp picture will be well and truly camouflaged.