17:00 Lois og jeg er trætte igen – dagens havearbejde, samt min eftermiddag
i byens bibliotek, brugt på at kæmpe med en 1000-årig islandsk saga (Gunnlaugs
saga) – det hele har slået os begge ud. Vi taler om muligheden for at holde en
kort ferie et eller andet sted ikke ret langt herfra, så vi kan genoplade vores
batterier. Vi må komme tilbage før den 15. september, når Lois’s øjenoperation
forhåbentlig finder sted (hvis hospitalet ikke udskyder den).
18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter skal vi ud. Lois ønsker at deltage i
aften i sin kirkes månedlige forretningsmøde, hvor kirkemedlemmerne vil
diskutere et forslag til, at holde kirkens pop-up shop åbent lidt længere.
Oprindeligt var planen kun at holde den åbent i to måneder (juli og august),
men lokalets ejer har ikke fandt en ny permanent lejer til ejendommen endnu, og
har tilbudt kirkemedlemmerne muligheden for at fortsætte med at drive den som
pop-up shop lidt længere, hvis de gerne vil det.
Lois har brugt nogen tid på at samle sine tanker om emnet. Jeg tror, hun
vil sige på mødet, at at drive shoppen begynder at overanstrenger medlemmernes
ressourcer – desværre kun et mindretal af medlemmerne indvilliger i at hjælpe
med at bemande shoppen. Hun kan selv være i flere uger ikke i stand til at
hjælpe efter sin øjenoperation (hun bemander ofte shoppen, også er ansvarlig
for shoppens administrative side), og Mari-Ann og Alf vil være væk fra området
i flere uger i september og oktober.
De medlemmer, der mest er friske på at holde shoppen længere åbent, er ikke
nødvendigvis de, der mest bidrager med at arbejde i shoppen – det ved jeg med
sikkerhed!
Jeg kører Lois over til byen Tewkesbury og sætter hende af foran
biblioteket.
20:30 Jeg kommer hjem. Jeg har lidt alenetid, men jeg er meget træt, så
lægger jeg mig ned på sengen for en stund.
21:30 Jeg ser lidt fjernsyn, en ny sitcom (en lægekomedie), som jeg
forleden optog på vores spritnye YouView tv-enhed, ”Kvaksalvere”, der handler
om en trio af viktorianske ”medicineksperter”, en kirurg, en narkoselæger, og
en psykiater, i en æra, hvor viden om sådanne ekspertfelter var ganske knap,
for at sige mildt!
Lidt af et mærkeligt og oprindeligt emne, når det kommer til
tv-sitcomverden – det må jeg rose sitcommens skaber, James Wood, for. Jeg
tænkte, programmagerne ville kvie sig ved at vise nærbilleder af fysiske sår og
af operationerne, men nej! Vi ser en masse blod, sårede ben, skamferede
ansigter osv. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!
Sitcommens plot har også en masse sex for at lette spændingen af, at se alt
det blod, alle de alvorlige sår og primitiv kirurgi osv. De tre ”eksperter”,
efter dagens banebrydende arbejde og forskning, slapper af om aftenen på et
lokalt værtshus sammen med nogle af deres groupies og de lokale ludere.
En prostitueret, ”Maggie”, skylder narkoselægeren penge (for behandling),
og narkoselægeren skylder sin kemileverandør penge (for kemikaler), så de tre
indgår en aftale, hvor Maggie giver kemileverandøren et gratis knald, ude af
syne gudskelov. Og på trods af sit adstadige udseende synes kirurgens kone,
Caroline, at være lidt af en nymfoman, der begærer psykiateren – du
godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
Caroline, kirurgens kone, synes at være lidt af en nymfoman
på
trods af sit adstadige udseende – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!
Det hele er ganske morsomt, situationerne er sandelig oprindelige og
opfindsomme, selvom jeg hellere vil høre flere gammeldags jokes. Amerikanske sitcoms er meget
morsommere, fordi tv-kanalerne hyrer en masse forfattere, der maksimerer j/m
(jokes i minuttet).
22:00 Lois er ikke dukket op endnu, og jeg går i seng.
22:30 Jeg hører hende komme ind i huset og gå i stuen for at se lidt
fjernsyn, før jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzz!!!
04:00 Jeg står tidligt op og lave en af mine rutinemæssige danske
ordforrådtest.
08:00 Jeg hopper op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté. Lois
taler lidt om gårsdagens forretningsmøde på kirken. Andy, den mest aktive
medlem af kirkens ledelse, er meget frisk på at holde kirkens pop-up shop åbent
efter slutningen af august. Lois siger, at han afviste modargumenter. Efter min
mening er det en no-brainer, at shoppen begynder at overanstrenge ressourcerne af mindretallet af medlemmer,
der hjælper til med shoppen.
Gillian, en klavertuner, siger, at
det koster hende 200£ om måneden i tabt indtjening. Mari-Ann og Alf har begge
to nul-time-kontrakter, og de har samme problemer, som Gillian, men for dem er
det endnu mere seriøst. Janet sidder hele dagen i kørestol, og kan ikke gå på
toilet i shoppen: det er for smalt. Hun må sidde med benene over kors – du godeste!!
Der var ikke ret meget sympati for Lois, da hun sagde, hun ville måtte holde op med at klare shoppens administrative
side næste måned, når hun får sin øjenoperation, og ingen indvilligede i at
vikariere for hende – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!! Til sidst tilbød Andy at
påtage sig jobbet – han sagde, det var trivielt, hvilket var lidt af en
fornærmelse mod Lois. Og Andys kone var ikke glad for, at høre, at han aftalte
at påtage sig endnu et job. Jeg synes, hun ved, jobbet ikke er så trivielt.
Beslutningen er for øjeblikket blevet udskudt. Mange medlemmer talte om den
lokale original, der tilbringer hovedparten af hver dag i shoppen. Han bor i et
telt bag den lokale metodistiske kirke, men kirkens ledelse har bedt ham om at
flytte ud – de siger, synet af hans telt generer kirkens besøgende.
Af en eller anden grund har de sociale myndigheder stoppet hans dagpenge.
Ingen vil sige hvorfor, men jeg formoder, at han er ikke villig til at
acceptere betalt arbejde. Han besøgte sin mor forleden, og kirkemedlemmer er
bange for, at hun gav ham penge, og at han brugte dem på alkohol – han er en
eks-alkoholiker. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!
08:30 Vi står op og spiser en hurtig morgenmad, og bagefter skal vi ud.
Lois har indvilliget i at hjælpe med at bemande sin kirkes pop-up shop i
formiddag, og shoppen åbner hver dag kl 9:30. Jeg sætter hende af overfor byens
bibliotek og kører hjem.
10:00 Jeg kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe på terrassen. Bagefter
går jeg i gang med at rydde op de berberis-grene jeg i går afskar. Jeg skærer
dem op i mindre stykker og putte dem i vores brune haveaffaldsspand. Nu er den
fyldt til bristepunktet – hurra! Jeg vil
gerne putte hele busken derind, hvis jeg kunne – det er naturens mest uvenlige
busk: grenene er aktivt ondsindet, og prøver at stikke mig så meget som muligt.
Gårsdagens klippede grene stak mig flere gange, selvom der ikke kommer noget
blod ud – hurra, resultat!! Bolden er i nettet (igen)!!!!!
tusindvis af berberis-grene er nu
fængslet
i vores haveaffaldsspand, og venter på deres skæbne.
Hurra! Resultat!!! Bolden er i nettet!!!!
11:30 Jeg kommer ind i huset og kigger lidt på nettet. Jeg var forleden
ikke glad for, hvad Trump sagde om neonazisterne i Charlottesville. Men jeg
indser i dag, at jeg er for første gang i en vis grad enig med Trump i noget,
da han indvendte mod fjernelsen af historiske statuer som for eksempel statuen
af Robert E Lee. George Washingtons tur kommer næste gang uden tvivl – han ejede slaver. De har samme problemet i Bristol, England,
hvor nogle af de mere politiske korrekte borgere er begyndt at fjerne navnet af
Edward Colston, der også ejede slaver, fra navnene af bygninger osv. Sikke et
vanvid!!!!
Historie er historie, synes jeg, og man må ikke ødelægge den for politisk
korrektheds skyld. Hvad ville Adam West (TVs Batman) sige om dette spørgsmål? Hvad
synes han om statuerne af Pingvinen eller Jokeren, der findes i Gotham City?
Det er det desværre for sent af finde ud
af !!!
Kom tilbage, Adam, alt er tilgivet ha ha ha
12:30 Jeg kører over til byen Tewkesbury for at hente Lois efter hendes
formiddag i hendes kirkes pop-up shop. Vi aftalte tidligere på dagen, at jeg
ville hente hende kl 13:00, men faktisk er hun 30 minutter sent, da hun dukker
op.
14:00 Vi kører hjem. Jeg bliver pludselig klar over, at jeg nu er blevet
oppe i 12 timer og kun har spist en skål Rice Krispies – snap, crackle og så
pop-up shop.
Vi spiser en hurtig frokost (røget makrel med salat fra vores egen
grøntsagshave og drivehus – nam nam!) og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage
mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.
16:00 Jeg står op. Sikke en dag!!!!
English translation
17:00 Lois and I are tired again
- today's gardening, as well as my afternoon in the town library struggling
with a 1000-year Icelandic saga (Gunnlaug's saga) - the whole thing has wiped
us both out. We talk about the possibility of having a short vacation somewhere
not far from here so that we can recharge our batteries. We must be back before
September 15th when Lois's eye surgery will hopefully be taking place (if the
hospital does not postpone it).
18:00 We have dinner and
afterwards we go out. Lois wants tonight to attend her church's monthly
business meeting, where church members will discuss a proposal to keep the
church's pop-up shop open a little longer. Originally, the plan was only to
keep it open for two months (July and August), but the owner of the premises
has not yet found a new permanent tenant for the property and has offered the
church members the opportunity of continuing to run it as a pop-up shop for a
little longer if they would like to.
Lois has spent some time
collecting her thoughts on the subject. I think she will say at the meeting
that running the shop is beginning to overstretch members' resources -
unfortunately only a minority of members volunteer to help manning the shop.
She may herself be unable to help for several weeks after her eye surgery (she
often mans the shop, and is also responsible for the administrative side of the
shop) and Mari-Ann and Alf will be away from the area for several weeks in
September and October.
The members who are most fond of
keeping the shop open longer are not necessarily the ones who contribute most
to the work at the shop - I am sure of that!
I drive Lois over to the town of
Tewkesbury and drop her off in front of the library.
20:30 I come home. I have a
little alone time, but I'm very tired, so I lie down on the bed for a while.
21:30 I watch a little
television, a new sitcom (a medical comedy) that I recorded on our shiny new
YouView TV unit, "Quacks", which is about a trio of Victorian
"medical experts", a surgeon, an anesthetist, and a psychiatrist, in
an era where knowledge of such expert fields was quite sparse, to put it
mildly!
A bit of a strange and original
subject when it comes to the television sitcom world - I have to give the
sitcom's creator, James Wood, credit for that. I thought the programme-makers
would shy away from showing close-ups of physical wounds and operations, but
no! We see a lot of blood, injured legs, disfigured faces, etc. Good grief,
what madness !!!
The sitcom's plot also has a lot
of sex to relieve the tension of seeing all that blood, all the serious wounds
and primitive surgery, etc. The three "experts" after each day's
groundbreaking work and research, relax in the evening at a local pub with some
of their groupies and the local hookers.
A prostitute, "Maggie,"
owes the anaesthetist money (for treatment), and the anaesthetist owes his
supplier money (for chemicals), so the three enter into an agreement whereby
Maggie gives the supplier a free "trick", out of shot, thank
goodness. And despite her demure appearance the surgeon's wife, Caroline, seems
to be a bit of a nymphomaniac who has a thing for the psychiatrist - good
grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!
Caroline, the surgeon's wife,
seems to be a bit of a nyphomaniac
despite her demure appearance - good grief,
what madness !!!
The whole thing is quite amusing,
and the situations are truly original and inventive, although I'd rather hear
more good old-fashioned jokes. American sitcoms are much more enjoyable because
the TV channels hire a lot of writers that maximise the gpm rate (gags per
minute).
22:00 Lois has not turned up yet,
and I go to bed.
22:30 I hear her coming into the
house and going into the living room to watch some television, before I drift
off to sleep - zzzzzz !!!
04:00 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
08:00 I hop into bed with Lois
and we drink our morning tea. Lois talks about yesterday's business meeting at
the church. Andy, the most active member of the Church's leadership, is very
keen on keeping the church's pop-up shop open after the end of August. Lois
says he brushed aside counter-arguments. In my opinion, it is a no-brainer that
the shop is beginning to overtax the resources of the minority of members that
help with the shop.
Gillian, a piano tuner, says it
is costing her £200 a month in lost earnings. Mari-Ann and Alf both have
zero-hours contracts, and they have the same problems as Gillian, but for them
it's even more serious. Janet has to sit all day in a wheelchair and cannot go
to the toilet in the shop: it's too narrow. She has to sit with her legs
crossed - good grief !!
There was not much sympathy for
Lois when she said she would have to stop managing the shop's administrative
side next month when she gets her eye surgery, and nobody agreed to deputise
for her - good grief, what madness !! ! Eventually, Andy offered to take on the
job - he said it was trivial, which was a bit of an insult to Lois. And Andy's
wife was not happy to hear that he was agreeing to take on another job. I think
she knows the job is not so trivial.
The decision has been postponed.
Many members talked about the
local weirdo that spends most of every day in the shop. He lives in a tent
behind the local methodist church, but the church's leadership has asked him to
move out - they say the sight of his tent bothers the church's visitors.
For some reason, the social
services have stopped his social security benefits. Nobody wants to say why,
but I suppose he is not willing to accept paid work. He visited his mother the
other day, and church members are afraid that she gave him money and that he
spent it on alcohol - he is a recovering alcoholic. Good grief, what madness !!
08:30 We get up and eat a quick
breakfast, and afterwards we go out. Lois has agreed to help with manning her
church's pop-up shop this morning and the shop opens every day at 9:30am. I
drop her off opposite the town's library and drive home.
10:00 I get home and relax with a
cup of coffee on the terrace. Afterwards, I get going with clearing away the
berberis shrub's branches that I cut off yesterday. I cut them into smaller pieces and put
them in our brown garden garbage-bin. It's now filled to bursting point -
hurrah! I would like to put the whole bush in there if I could - it's nature's
most unfriendly shrub: the branches are actively malicious and try to prick me
as much as possible. Yesterday's cut branches prick me several times, although
they do not draw blood - hurrah, result !! Back of the net (again) !!!!!
thousands of berberis
branches are now
imprisoned in our garden waste bin and
awaiting their fate.
Hoorah! Result!!! Back of the net !!!!
11:30 I get back in the house and
look a little online. I was not happy the other day about what Trump said about
the neonazis in Charlottesville. But I realize today that, for the first time,
I agree to some extent with Trump about something, when he objected to the
removal of historical statues such as the statue of Robert E Lee. George
Washington's turn will come next without a doubt - he was of course a slave-owner. They have
the same problem in Bristol, England, where some of the more politically
correct citizens have begun to remove the name of Edward Colston, who also
owned slaves, from the names of buildings, etc. What madness !!!!
History is history, I think, and
you should not destroy it for the sake of political correctness. What would
Adam West (TV's Batman) say about this question? What does he think about the
statues of the Penguin or the Joker such as are found in Gotham City?
Unfortunately, it's too late to find out !!!
Come back, Adam, all is forgiven
ha ha ha
12:30 I drive over to the town of
Tewkesbury to pick Lois up after her morning in her church's pop-up shop. We
agreed earlier that day that I would pick her up at 1pm, but actually she is
30 minutes late when she shows up.
14:00 We drive home. I suddenly
realise that I have now been up for 12 hours and have only eaten a bowl of Rice
Krispies - snap, crackle.. and then it was pop (-up shop).We eat a quick lunch
(smoked mackerel with salad from our own vegetable garden and greenhouse - yum
yum!) and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap.
16:00 I get up. What a day!!!!
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