17:00 Det har været en kaotisk dag på pop-up shoppen, som Lois’s kirke for
tiden driver. Liz, der havde indvilliget i, at hjælpe med at bemande shoppen i
formiddags, dukkede ikke op. Heldigvis havde Geoff taget sin ven, Martin, med.
Vi fandt senere ud af, at Liz havde glemt det hele – du godeste, sikke et
vanvid! Der må være et minimum af 2 kirkemedlemmer på arbejde hele tiden i
shoppen for sundhed og sikkerheds skyld.
I eftermiddags, David og Veronica, der havde indvilliget i, at bemande
shoppen, blev forsinket af en trafikulykke på M5-motorvejen, og dukkede ikke op
indtil 14:30.
Det her er lidt bekymrende for Lois’s vedkommende, fordi hun er ansvarlig
for shoppens administrative side. Heldigvis kan hun spore udviklinger på
kirkens whatsapp samtalegruppe.
Lois i sin spritnye pop-up shop t-shirt
17:30 Jeg hælper Lois med at opdatere shoppens websted, så det ikke kun
viser ledige tidsrum, men også navne af dem, der har indvilliget i, at dække
hver uges 12 tidsrum (6 dage om ugen, både formiddag og eftermiddag).
18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad. Vi snakker lidt om pop-up shoppen. Jeg
kan se, at der på nuværende tidspunkt udvikler sig lidt af et problem. Andy,
den mest aktive medlem af kirkens ledelse, er meget frisk på, at holde shoppen
åbent efter slutningen af august. Men de kirkenmedlemmer, der faktisk indvilliger
i, at hjælpe med at bemande shoppen, (et lille mindretal) har hele tiden
sværere og sværere ved at hjælpe til.
Men alle de, der har været villige til at hjælpe, er bange for at fortælle
Andy, at der er et problem. De ønsker ikke at virke uvillige, uentusiastiske
osv. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!
Lois siger, at den ”original”, der havde for vane at tilbringe størstedelen
af hver dag i shoppen, ikke er blevet set i 3 dage. Det er kirkemedlemmerne lidt bekymret over,
fordi manden er en eks-alkoholiker. Han har i flere uger/måneder boet i et telt
bag byens metodistiske kirke, men Lois tror, at den lokale prædikant endelig
har bedt ham om at flytte ud.
Alarmklokker begynder at ringe i mit hoved, hver gang jeg hører om denne
mand, der tilsyneladende lider af ”hallucinationer”. Hvad slags mand bor i et
telt i 50’erne, i det britiske klima? Jeg er desværre ikke så menneskekærlig,
som Lois og hendes venner. Hvad har manden gjort, som har fået de sociale
myndigheder til at stoppe hans dagpenge? Hvorfor bor han ikke hos sin mor, der
engang imellem giver ham penge, lader det til?
20:00 Vi smækker benene op foran fjernsyn. Vi ser Only Connect, en tv-quiz,
og et af de få tv-programmer, der ikke er egnede til meget dumme mennesker ha
ha ha. Programmets vært er den charmerende Victoria Coren Mitchell.
Vi får lidt af et chok i Victorias indledende monolog – hun har før i tiden
altid taget kampen op imod begrebet om overtroiske overbevisninger. Hun sagde
for nylig kategorisk, at hun ikke troede på hjemsøgte huse.
Det lyder som om, noget er sket, der har fået hende til at skifte mening om
det her. Quizzens tidligere spørgsmålschef havde forladt BBC-kanalt for at
arbejde for den rivale ITV-kanal, men han fortsætter med at hjemsøge quizzens
studie, hvilket er lidt foruroligende. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi
lever i !!!!
det lader til, at quizzens tidligere spørgsmålschef
fortsætter
med at hjemsøge quizzens studie –
du
godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
22:00 Vi går i seng - zzzzz!!!!! Jeg håber på, at vi ikke får mareridt!!!
04:15 Jeg står tidligt op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtest.
09:00 Jeg hopper op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté. Jeg har
ladt hende sove over sig i dag – i torsdags og i fredags skulle hun stå tidligt
op af forskellige grunde, og hun er blevet meget træt. Vi beslutter at dele
sengen i nat for første gang i ca 10
dage. Vi er begge forkølede, men vi har det lidt bedre nu. Vi er godt på vej
til bedring.
Vi går i bad og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad.
11:00 Lois går hen ind i landsbyen. Hun smutter ind i det lokale posthus
for at afsende en fødselsdagspakke til Iris, sin kusine i badebyen Southport.
Jeg går ud i baghaven og klippe endnu en af baghavens mest overgroede buske
– Lois kender ikke buskens navn. Jeg vinder kampen med Colin 1, Uidentificerede busk 0.
Colin
1 Uidentificerede busk 0
Det meste af busken er nu på græsplænen, og det vil nu blive endnu sværtere
at identificere, fordi hovedparten af den er beskåret – jeg skal rydde de
klippede grene op i morgen, når jeg har mere tid (og energi). Resultat! Bolden
er i nettet!!!! Hævn er sød.
12:00 Jeg kommer tilbage ind i huset, og jeg læser de næste 15 sider af ”Forbandet”
af Gittemie Eriksen, en kriminovelle, som er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende
projekt. Jeg udfærdiger en ordforrådsliste
i bunden af hver side, for at spare gruppens medlemmer for at slå de sværere
ord op i ordbøgerne. Jeg er så varmhjertet ha ha ha!
Novellens helt, landbetjent
Jansson, er i gang med at undersøge en flok mord i en rolig dansk landsby. I
dag læser jeg om en overraskende udvikling i historien. Jansson og hans kone
bliver inviteret til middag i en nærliggende palads, hvor en berømt Hollywood-stjerne
bor. Af en eller anden grund ser stjernen ud til, at være meget interesseret i
sagen, også meget interesseret i selve betjenten. Hun benytter lejligheden til
at stå helt tæt på Jansson, så han kan kigger ned i hendes bluse og se hendes
kavalergang. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
13:30 Vi spiser frokost, lidt senere, end normalt, og bagefter gå jeg i
seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.
15:30 Jeg står op. Jeg kigger lidt på nettet. Det lader til, at den
”original” der indtil for nylig havde for vane at tilbringe størstedelen af
hver dag i kirken’s pop-up shop, er dukket op igen efter 3-4 dages fravær. Han
så lidt deprimeret ud i begyndelse, ifølge kirkemedlemmer, men han er nu blevet
lidt mere munter. Han har sagt at mandag er årsdagen for sin fars død.
Jeg mindes, at Francis, vores svigersøn i Australien, også bliver lidt
deprimeret, når det er årsdagen for sin fars død. Dette fænomen virker lidt
underligt set ud fra min synspunkt. Dagene, hvor mennesker dør er helt
tilfældige, og jeg tænker ikke hverken mere eller mindre på mine afdøde forældre
på deres dødsdage, end på andre dage. Måske bor jeg blive mere følelsemæssig
over sådanne ting, men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på.
English translation
17:00 It's been a chaotic day at
the pop-up shop which Lois's church is currently running. Liz, who had
volunteered to help with manning the shop this morning did not show up.
Fortunately, Geoff had brought his friend, Martin, along with him. We later
found out that Liz had forgotten the whole thing - good grief, what madness!
There must be a minimum of 2 church members at work all the time in the shop
for health and safety.
In the afternoon, David and
Veronica, who had volunteered to man the shop, were delayed by a traffic
accident on the M5 motorway, and did not show up until 2:30pm.
All this is a little worrying for
Lois because she is in charge of the administrative side of the shop.
Fortunately, she can track developments on the church's whatsapp conversation
group.
Lois in her shiny new pop-up
shop t-shirt
17:30 I help her update the
shop's website so that it not only shows vacant time-slots but also names of
those who have agreed to cover each week's 12 time-slots (6 days a week,
both morning and afternoon).
18:00 Lois and I have dinner. We
talk a little about the pop-up shop. I can see that there is currently a bit of
a problem developing. Andy, the most active member of the Church's leadership,
is very keen on keeping the shop open after the end of August. But those church
members who actually volunteer to help man the shop (a small minority) are all
the time finding it more and more difficult to help out.
But all these volunteers who have so far been
willing to help are afraid to tell Andy that there is a problem. They do not
want to seem unwilling, unenthusiastic etc. Good grief, what madness !!!!
Lois says that the
"weirdo" who has usually been spending most of the day in the shop has not been
seen for 3 days. The church members are a little worried because the man is a
recovering alcoholic. He has been living in a tent behind the town's methodist
church for several weeks / months, but Lois believes that the local preacher
has finally asked him to move out.
Alarm bells begin to ring in my
head every time I hear about this man, who apparently suffers from
"hallucinations". What kind of man lives in a tent in his 50s, in the
British climate? Unfortunately, I'm not as charitable as Lois and her friends. What
has the man done, that has led the social services to stop his unemployment
benefit? Why does he not live with his mother, who sometimes gives him money,
seemingly?
20:00 After dinner Lois and I
stick our feet up in front of the television. We watch Only Connect, a TV quiz,
and one of the few TV shows that are not suitable for very stupid people ha ha
ha. The host of the program is the charming Victoria Coren Mitchell.
We get a bit of a shock in
Victoria's introductory monologue - she has always taken a stand against the
notion of superstitious beliefs. She recently said categorically that she did
not believe in haunted houses, for example.
It seems as if something has
happened that has made her change her mind. The quiz's former questions editor
has left the BBC to work for the rival ITV channel, but he continues to haunt
his old quiz's studio, which is a little disturbing. Good grief, what a crazy world
we live in !!!!
it seems that the quiz's former
questions editor
continues to haunt the quiz's studio -
Good grief, what a crazy world we live in
!!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzz !!!!!
I hope we don’t get nightmares after all that!!!
04:15 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
09:00 I hop into bed with Lois and
we drink our morning tea. I have let her sleep in a bit today - on Thursday and
Friday she had to get up early for various reasons and she has become very
tired. We decide to share a bed tonight for the first time in about 10 days. We
both have colds, but we are feeling a little bit better now. We are well on our
way to recovery.
We go in the shower and get up.
We eat breakfast.
11:00 Lois walks into the
village. She pops into the local post office to send a birthday package to
Iris, her cousin in the seaside town of Southport.
I go out into the back garden and
cut back one of the most overgrown shrubs of the garden - Lois does not know
the name of the shrub. I win the fight with final score Colin 1, Unidentified shrub 0.
Colin 1 Unidentified shrub 0
Most of the shrub is now on the
lawn, and it will now be even harder to identify because the majority of it has
been cut down - I will have to clear away the cut branches tomorrow when I have
more time (and energy). Result! Back of the net !!!! Revenge is sweet.
12:00 I come back into the house
and I read the next 15 pages of "Accursed" by Gittemie Eriksen, a
crime novella which is our U3A Danish group's current project. I draw
up a vocabulary list at the bottom of each page to save the members of the
group having to look up the more difficult words in dictionaries. I'm so
warm-hearted ha ha ha!
The novella's hero, local Police
Constable Jansson, is investigating a bunch of murders in a quiet Danish
village. Today I read about a surprising development in the story. Jansson and
his wife are invited to dinner in a nearby mansion where a famous Hollywood
star lives. For some reason, the star appears to be very interested in the
case, also very interested in the police officer himself. She takes the
opportunity to stand close to Jansson so he can look down her blouse and see
her cleavage. Good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!
13:30 We have lunch a little
later than usual, and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap.
15:30 I get up. I take a little
look online. It seems that the "weirdo" who until recently had the
habit of spending most of the day in the church's pop-up shop has re-appeared
after 3-4 days' absence. He looked a little depressed at first, according to
church members, but he has now become a little more cheerful. He has explained that
Monday will be the anniversary of his father's death.
I remember that Francis, our
son-in-law in Australia, also gets a little depressed when it is the
anniversary of his father's death. This phenomenon seems a little strange in my
view. The days when people die are completely random, and I do not think either
any more or any less about my late parents on the days they died, than on other
days. Maybe I should be more emotional about such things, but that's something
I'm not entirely sure about.
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