17:00 Vi er meget trætte, som altid efter en ”dansk” dag, men mere, end
normalt, fordi Lois i formiddags arbejdede i sin kirkes pop-up shop, snakkende
med kunder osv, mens jeg ryddede op i huset. I eftermiddags styrede vi vores
U3A danske gruppes regelmæssige møde.
Jeg går ind i spisestuen og sætter mig foran min bærebare, og 45 minutter
senere træder jeg tilbage i stuen og jeg opdager, at Lois er faldt i søvn i
sofaen med Minx, vores datter Alisons kat, på sit skød – du godeste, hun
trænger til en ferie, ingen tvivl om det.
18:30 Vi
spiser aftensmad og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser et afsnit af ”Come Dine With
Me”, hver uge en serie af 5 afsnit, bestående af en
konkurrence mellem 5 mennesker. Deltagerne skiftes til at blive vært for sin
egen middagsselskab, og hver gang tildeler de 4 gæster værten points, på linje
med, hvor godt smager maden, hvor svært det var at lave retten osv. Programmets
komiske off-screen ”kommentator” er Dave Lamb.
Programmet stjerner sædvanligt almindelige deltagere, der alle komme fra
samme byen, i dette tilfælde badebyen Hastings. Så derfor er det lidt af en
overraskelse i aften at se, at aftenens vært er den 74-årige tidligere ”pop-legende”,
Declan Cluskey, medlem af den engang berømte Bachelors-pop gruppe. Showets
andre 4 deltagere har selvfølgelig aldrig hørt om ham eller om hans popgruppe –
det er kun seere så gamle som Lois og mig, der ville kunne huske ham, selvom
gruppen var meget meget populær verden over, og solgte mange millioner
grammofonplader, som vi plejede at sige
i de gode gamle dage, (for eksempel ”Charmaine”, ”Diane” osv).
Declan Cluskey i dag i badebyen Hastings
”Bachelors” i lykkeligere tider, da de havde groupies, eller snarere
modeller
der blev betalt for at fjolle rundt med dem ha ha ha
Lois og jeg spekulerer om, hvorfor Cluskey nu bor i et helt almindeligt hus
i badebyen Hastings. Det kan være, at han spildte sin formue, sine
pop-millioner. Som den berømte fodboldspiller, George Best, sagde, ”Jeg brugte
en masse penge på alkohol, kvinder og hurtige biler. Resten, jeg bare spildte”.
desværre er Decs mad ikke til smagen af
showets
andre deltagere – du godeste, stakkels Dec!!!!
19:30 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser et gamle afsnit af
Top of the Pops fra maj 1984.
Musikken er 95% snot, som sædvanligt, men det er rart at se den amerikanske
sangerinde Deniece Williams i studien i London for en gangs skyld, så vi kan
høre ”Let’s Hear It For The Boy” uden at se det velkendt klip fra ”Footloose”
filmen, hvilket er lidt af en forfriskende forandring.
Lois og jeg så ikke dette afsnit, da BBC-kanalen først sendte det, fordi vi
mellem 1982 og 1985 boede i USA, sammen med vores 2 unge døtre Alison og Sarah,
der elskede meget ”Footloose” – vi så filmen mange gange derovre på kabel-tv.
Tilbageblik til maj 1984. Vores yngre datter, Sarah (på 6 år),
sammen
med sine amerikanske klassekammerater,
og
fru Issel, deres lærerinde
Lykkelige tider!!!!
21:30 Vi går tidligt i seng. Lois er
udmattet, og jeg foreslår, at hun sover i Sarahs gamle seng, så hun kan tænde
lyset og læse lidt, hvis hun har svært ved at sove.
04:45 Jeg står
tidligt op og laver en af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtest. Jeg designer
og udprinter mit bryllupsdagkort til Lois. Vi har vores 45 års bryllupsdag i
dag og vi planlægger at spise frokost på Buckland Manor hotel-restaurant for at
fejre dagen.
tilbageblik til
august 1972: vores bryllupskage
Vi havede dengang
ingen penge, og bryllupsdag var ”hjemmelavet” – Lois og hendes mor, nogle gange
sammen med deres venner, lavede kagen og resten af maden. Lois syede selv sin
bryllupskjole. Lykkelige dage (igen)!!!! Men Walter, fætteren, der indvilligede
i at tage fotos, rejste tilbage til Australien og vi fik aldrig nogle billeder
fra ham. Måske var der ingen film i hans kamera? Men det er vi ikke helt sikre
på. Så derfor har vi kun de billleder, som gæster tog.
08:30 Jeg hopper op
i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté. Vi udveksler bryllupsdagkort. Vi
går i bad og står op. Vi spiser morgenmad.
11:30 Vi kører over
til Buckland Manor hotel-restaurant, der ligger lidt syd for byen Broadway, og
spiser vores bryllupsdagsfrokost.
Vi vælger vores
retter i loungen over et glas gin og tonik og et glas ginger ale. Lois
bestiller ham hock ballatine til forretten og pandestegte kulmuler til
hovedretten. Jeg bestiller gulerød- og appelsinsuppe til forretten og lamfilet
til hovedretten, med et glas rosévin til maden. Nam nam!!! Senere drikker vi en
kop kaffe i hotellets lounge.
Under måltidet bliver
vi overrasket af ankomsten af to helikoptere på
hotellets græsplæne, den ene rød og den anden grå. Vi kigger, mens en
flok hotelgæster går fra borde – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i.
Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop
te på terrassen.
English translation
17:00 We are very tired, as always
after a "Danish" day, but more than usual, because Lois was this morning working in her
church's pop-up shop, talking with customers, etc. while I was cleaning up the
house. This afternoon we were leading our U3A Danish Group's regular meeting.
I go in the dining room and sit
down in front of my laptop and 45 minutes later I step back into the living
room. I discover that Lois has fallen asleep on the couch with Minx, our
daughter Alison's cat, on her lap. Lois needs a holiday, no doubt about that.
18:30 We have dinner and watch
television. An episode of "Come Dine With Me" is on - every week a
series of 5 episodes showing a cooking competition between 5 people.
Participants take turns to host their own dinner party and each time the 4
guests assign the host points, in line with how well the food tastes, how hard
it was to make the dishes etc. The comic off-screen commentary is by Dave Lamb
.
The programme usually stars
ordinary participants, all coming from the same town, in this case the seaside
resort of Hastings. So, it's a bit of a surprise tonight to see that this
evening's host is the 74-year-old "pop legend", Declan Cluskey,
member of the once-famous Bachelors pop group. Of course, the show's other 4
participants have never heard of him or his pop group - only viewers as old as
Lois and I would be able to remember him, even though the group was very
popular around the world and sold millions of gramophone records as we used to
say in the good old days, (for example, "Charmaine",
"Diane", etc.).
Declan Cluskey today in the seaside
resort of Hastings
"Bachelors" in
happier times when they had groupies,
or rather models that were paid for fooling
around with them ha ha ha
Lois and I speculate about why
Cluskey now lives in an ordinary house in the seaside resort of Hastings. It
may be that he wasted his fortune, his pop-millions. Like the famous football
player, George Best, said, "I spent a lot of money on booze, women and
fast cars. The rest I just squandered".
Unfortunately, Dec's food is not to the taste
of the show's other participants - my god,
poor dec !!!!
19:30 We carry on watching a bit
of television. An old episode of Top of the Pops is on, from May 1984.
The music is 95% snot, as usual,
but it's nice to see the American singer Deniece Williams in the studio in
London for once, so we can hear "Let's Hear It For The Boy" without
seeing the well-known clip from the "Footloose" movie, which is a bit
of a refreshing change.
Lois and I did not see this
episode when the BBC channel first aired it because we were living in the
United States between 1982 and 1985, together with our 2 young daughters Alison
and Sarah, who loved "Footloose" very much - we watched the movie
many times over there on cable TV.
Flashback to May 1984. Our younger
daughter, Sarah (at 6 years of age),
along with her American classmates,and Mrs
Issel, their Grade 1 teacher
Happy times !!!!
21:30 We go to bed early. Lois is
exhausted and I suggest she sleeps in Sarah's old bed so she can turn on the
light and read a little if she has trouble sleeping.
04:45 I get up early and do one
of my routine Danish vocabulary tests.
I design and print out my wedding
anniversary card for Lois. We have our 45th wedding anniversary today and we
plan to have lunch at the Buckland Manor hotel restaurant to celebrate the day.
Flashback to August 1972:
Our wedding cake
We had no money at that time and
the wedding day was "homemade" - Lois and her mother, sometimes with help
of their friends, made the cake and the rest of the food. Lois made her own
wedding dress. Happy days (again) !!!! But Walter, the cousin who agreed to
take photos, travelled back to Australia and we never got any pictures from him.
Maybe there was no film in his camera? But that's something we are not entirely
sure about. So we only have the pictures that guests took.
08:30 I hop into bed with Lois
and we drink our morning tea. We exchange anniversary cards. We go in the
shower and get up. We have breakfast.
11:30 We head over to Buckland
Manor hotel restaurant, located just south of the town of Broadway, to have our
wedding anniversary lunch.
We choose our dishes in the
lounge over a glass of gin and tonic and a glass of ginger ale. Lois orders ham
hock ballatine for starters and pan-fried hake for the main course. I order
carrot and orange soup for the appetizer and the lamb fillet for the main
course, with a glass of rosé wine with the food. Yum yum !!! Later we have a
cup of coffee in the hotel lounge.
During the meal we are surprised
by the arrival of two helicopters on the hotel's lawn, one red and the other
grey. We watch while a bunch of hotel guests disembark - my god, what a crazy
world we live in.
We come home and relax with a cup
of tea on the terrace.
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