Fredag den 29. september 2017

Efter morgemad, min kone, Lois, og mig "samles" i spisestuen for at diskutere vores ægteskabelige økonomi. Vi har blevet klar over, vi må være mere forsigtigere, hvis vi ønsker at besøge vores 2 døtre jævnligt, i betragtning at, den ene (Alison) bor i Danmark (og snart måske i Italien) og den anden (Sarah) bor i Australien, sammen med deres familier.

Hele problemet synes at være så kompliceret, at vi beslutter at sætter os et konkret mål, og se om vi kan nå det: at prøve at spare nok penge til side hver måned, så vi kan besøge Alison en gang om året, og Sarah hvert andet år.

Vi må få bedre styr på vores udgifter – det ved vi med sikkerhed. Vi beslutter at bruge Jennifer Schneider-metoden for at beregne månedlige indkomst og udgifter, en metode jeg læste om for et par år siden i den indflydelsesrige amerikanske nyhedskilde, theonion.com .

Jennifter bruger en simpel blok, for at spare tid. Jeg vil altid huske den eksempel blokside, nyhedskildens fotograf reproducerede på nyhedswebstedet.

Den berømte Jennifer Schneider-metode til at få styr på

huslige indkomst og udgifter

Jennifer bruger også simple gule seddler for at registrere ”nødudgifter”, eksempelvis for at forudbestille den kommende nye udgivelse af  Halo, et populært computerspil. Lois og jeg har besluttet at adoptere samme systemet.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og jeg går i seng for at tage min sædvanlige gigantiske eftermiddagslur. Mens jeg sover, går Lois hen rundt om hjørnet til det lokale bibliotek, for at hjælpe  bibliotekets personale med at organisere og lede eftermiddagens ugentlige ”Baby Bounce and Rhyme” session for unge mødre og deres små børn. Aktiviterne består af barnesange for babys og forældre (og bedsteforældre).

14:15 Lois’s Jehovas vidner venner ringer på døren. Jeg vågner vælter ud af sengen og smutter ind i det værelse, der har udsigt over forhaven og hoveddøren, for at tage et kig ud gennem gardinerne. Jeg beslutter ikke at besvare døren. Jeg vil hellere ikke komme indover en samtale med dem – også er jeg kun iført undertrøje og underbukser, hvilket ikke er så godt!

Nu hvor jeg er vågen beslutter jeg at hoppe op på min kondicykel. Jeg cykler 9 miles, i stedet af mine sædvanlige 6 miles. Jeg er blevet inspireret af den interessante dokumentarfilm, vi så i går aftes, hvor eksperterne sagde, at man har brug for 150 minutters aktiv motion om ugen, for at holde ens krop i form.

Mens jeg cykler tænder jeg for min smartphone. Jeg prøver at finde en video, der varer 30 minutter, men de er sjældne, viser det til. Til sidst finder jeg en 30-minutter biografi af Clark Gable, der ikke ville være mit første valg, men det springer jeg over.

16:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra biblioteket. Vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Vi hører et interessant program, ”Det sidste ord”. Lois og jeg har for vane at høre dette program hver uge, fordi vi ønsker at finde ud af, om nogen i de seneste 1-2 uger døde eller ej (jeg har bemærket, at der i de fleste uger sker nøjagtig 5 dødsfald). Programmets vært er den charmerend Matthew Bannister.

Hugh Hefner desværre døde. Matthew Bannister, programmets charmerende vært, snakker med mange af Hefners venner, og prøver at finde ud af, om Hefner var under overfladen en trist mand, men alle hans venner er faktisk enig i, at han var den lykkeligste mand, de nogensinde har mødt, hvilket siger noget vigtigt  og jeg har ikke den fjerneste anelse om hvad det er ha ha ha!!!

Liz Dawn også døde, der spillede Vera i 30 år i den langvarige soapopera, Coronation Street, som halvdelen af det berømte midaldrende ægtepar, Jack og Vera Duckworth.

Jack og Vera var ikke det konventionelle ægtepar, og begge to havde affærer jævnligt over årene. Jeg mindes, at Vera kom hjem engang kl 4 om morgenen, og forklarede til Jack, at hendes ven (faktisk elsker) havde været i gang med at give hende lambada-undervisning.

Jack og Vera Duckworh i deres storhedstid

Jack havde for vane at bruge dating-websteder, og aftalte at mødes med en online kontakt. Kontakten viste sig at være selve Vera i en paryk, og med en falsk accent.

Det er lidt uhyggeligt, men i går aftes i fjernsyn, midt i et gamle afsnit af Top of the Pops fra august  1984, så vi Liz Dawns navn på forsiden af The Sun-avisen under en præstation af sangen, der lå på nr. 1 i hitlisten, Two Tribes, fortolket af popgruppen Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Liz stod dengang overfor en stor krise i sit privatliv, da hun havde ægteskabelige problemer med sin mand i det virkelige liv, problemer, der truede med at ødelægge også hendes professionelle liv – uha!

Holly Johnson, Frankie Goes To Hollywoods forsanger, læser en avis fra 1984,

hvor overskrifterne synliggør skuespillerinden Liz Dawns ægteskabelige problemer -

uhyggeligt, i betragtning af, hun lige er død !!!

Sikke et vanvid!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad i stuen og ser 2 gamle afsnit af Big Bang Theory på E4-kanalen. Før programmet begynder, siger annoncøren, at den nye (11.) sæson starter den 11. oktober – hurra, den lange venten er næsten endt.

20:00 Vi ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser ”Lyt til Storbritannien”, en kort (20 minutter) dokumentarfilm, der blev skudt for nøjagtig 75 år siden, i 1942 – midtvejs gennem den 2. verdenskrig.

En meget rørende film, i sær på grund af fraværet af kommentarspor – en stribe af filmsekvenser, visende almindelige mennesker i gang med deres rutinaktiviter under krigens skygge.

Jeg får tårer i mine øjne, da jeg tænker på mine kære afdøde forældre, og hvad de var nødt til at udholde i 6 år. Jeg spekulerer nogle gange om, hvordan det var at leve igennem den krig (jeg indser, at det var meget værre i mange andre lande). Lois og jeg har været så heldige – krig har ikke haft en direkte indvirkning på vores liv.

min mor i 1943 (på 23 år)

min far i 1944 (på 30 år) i London

I filmen kigger vi på almindelige mennesker, og det er charmerende at se, når nogen i billedet indimellem pludselig få øje på kameraet.

Musik er specielt rørende under kriseår, stressende år, når man er langt hjemmefra osv. Det er rart at se mennesker i filmen slappe af til musik, sange, koncerter osv. Vi ser masser af meget rørende filmsekvenser, hvor folk nyder sange og musik. Og det er intet så rørende efter min mening, som at høre en stor mængde mennesker synge med på velelskede sange under koncerter osv.

en frokostpausekoncert i London (billetter 1 skilling) -

det Kongelige Luftvåbens orkester med Myra Hess som klaversolist:

dronning Elizabeth sidder i den førreste række.

unge mennesker danser og synger med

på orkesterens fortolkning af ”Roll Out The Barrel”

kvindelige fabrikarbejdere

synger med på ”Yes, My Darling Daughter” i radioen

en gruppe skotske soldater synger ”Home On The Range” 
i 3 stemme harmoni under en lang togtur hjem

tre frugtplukkere holder pause, når

en gruppe Spitfire kampfly flyver højt over deres hoveder.

Det er interessant, at ifølge den biografi af Clark Gable, som jeg hørte i eftermiddags, blev Gable skudt på af et spitfire kampfly mens han deltog i en bombeangreb over Tyskland. Friendly fire? Lidt af en fejltagelse! Det var selvfølgelig faktisk et tyske kampfly, der skød på ham ha ha ha!!! Ikke en filmfan – ingen tvivl om det!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!

English translation

After breakfast my wife, Lois, and I "gather" in the dining room to discuss our marital finances. We have become aware that we must be more careful if we want to visit our 2 daughters regularly, considering that one (Alison) lives in Denmark (and soon maybe in Italy) and the other (Sarah) lives in Australia, together with their families.

The whole problem seems to be so complicated that we decide to set ourselves a specific goal and see if we can achieve it: trying to put enough money aside every month so we can visit Alison once a year and Sarah once every two years.

We need to get better control of our expenses - we know that for sure. We decide to use the Jennifer Schneider method to calculate monthly income and expenses, a method I read about a couple of years ago in the influential US news source, theonion.com.

Jennifter uses a simple notepad to save time. I will always remember the example pad page that the news source's photographer reproduced on the news website.

The famous Jennifer Schneider method for getting control over

household income and expenses

Jennifer also uses simple yellow post-it notes to record "emergency expenses", for example pre-ordering of the upcoming new release of Halo, a popular computer game. Lois and I have decided to adopt the same system.

12:30 We have lunch and I go to bed and have my usual gigantic afternoon nap. While I'm sleeping, Lois walks around the corner to the local library to help library staff organize and lead this afternoon's weekly Baby Bounce and Rhyme session for young mothers and their little children. The activities consist of children's songs for babies and parents (and grandparents).

14:15 Lois's Jehovah's Witnesses friends ring at the door. I wake up, roll out of bed and pop into the bedroom that overlooks the front garden and the front door to take a look through the curtains. I decide not to answer the door. I'd rather not get into conversation with them - plus, I'm only wearing undervest and underpants, which isn't so good!

Now that I'm awake, I decide to hop on my exercise bike. I cycle 9 miles, instead of my usual 6 miles. I have been inspired by the interesting documentary we saw last night, where the experts said that you need 150 minutes of active exercise a week to keep your body fit.

While I'm cycling, I turn on my smartphone. I try to find a video that lasts about 30 minutes, but they're quite rare, it turns out. Eventually, I find a 30-minute biography of Clark Gable, which would not be my first choice, but I'll let that one slide.

16:00 Lois comes back from the library. We relax with a cup of tea on the sofa. We hear an interesting radio programme, "The Last Word". Lois and I have a habit of listening to this programme every week because we want to find out if anyone in the last 1-2 weeks has died or not (I notice that most weeks exactly 5 deaths occur). The host of the program is the charming Matthew Bannister.

Hugh Hefner has sadly died. Matthew Bannister, the charming host of the programme, talks to many of Hefner's friends, trying to find out if Hefner was under the surface a sad man, but all his friends actually agree that he was the happiest man they ever met, which says something important and I do not have the slightest idea of what that is ha ha ha !!!

Liz Dawn has also died - she played Vera for 30 years in the long-running soap opera, Coronation Street, as one half of the famous middle-aged married couple, Jack and Vera Duckworth.

Jack and Vera were not the conventional married couple, and both had affairs over the years. I remember that Vera once came home at 4 o'clock in the morning, explaining to Jack that her friend (actually her lover) had been giving her lambada lessons.

Jack and Vera Duckworth in their heyday

Jack had the habit of using dating sites, and once agreed to meet up with an online contact. The contact turned out to be Vera herself in a wig and with a fake accent.

It's a little creepy, but last night on television, in the middle of an old episode of Top of the Pops from August 1984, we saw Liz Dawn's name on the cover of The Sun newspaper during a performance of the song that was then ranked No. 1 in the charts, "Two Tribes", by the pop group Frankie Goes To Hollywood. 

Liz was then facing a major crisis in her private life when she had marital problems with her real-life husband, problems which were threatening to destroy her professional life too - oh dear!

Holly Johnson, Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Singer,

reads a newspaper from august 1984, where the headlines reveal

the actress Liz Dawn's marital problems - spooky,

in view of the fact that she has just died !!!

What madness!!!!!

18:00 We have dinner in the living room and see 2 old episodes of the Big Bang Theory on the E4 channel. Before the programme begins, the announcer says that the new (11th) season is starting on October 11th - hurray, the long wait is almost at an end.

20:00 We watch a little television. "Listen to Britain" is on, a short (20 minute) documentary shot just over 75 years ago, in 1942 - midway through World War II.

A very touching film, especially because of the absence of commentary track - a series of film sequences, showing ordinary people going about their routine activities under the shadow of the war.

I get tears in my eyes when I think of my dear late parents and what they had to endure for 6 years. I wonder sometimes what it was like to live through that war (I realise it was much worse in many other countries). Lois and I have been so lucky - war has not had any direct impact on our lives.

my mother in 1943, aged 23

My father in 1944 (aged 30) in London

In the film we are looking at ordinary people and it is charming to see it whenever someone in the picture sometimes suddenly catches sight of the camera.

Music is especially touching during crisis years, stressful years, when you are far away from home, etc. It's nice to see people in the film relaxing to music, songs, at concerts, etc. We see lots of very touching film sequences where people are enjoying songs and music. And there is nothing so touching in my opinion as hearing a large crowd of people singing along on well-loved songs during concerts, etc.

A lunchtime concert in London (tickets 1 shilling):

the Royal Air Force's orchestra with Myra Hess as piano soloist:

Queen Elizabeth is sitting in the front row.

young people dance and sing along

on the band's version of "Roll Out The Barrel"

women factory workers

sing along to "Yes, My Darling Daughter" on the radio

a group of Scottish soldiers sing "Home On The Range" 
in 3 part harmony on a long train ride home

three fruit pickers pause in their work 

as a group of Spitfires flies high up over their heads.

It is interesting that according to the biography of Clark Gable I heard this afternoon, Gable was shot at by a spitfire fighter plane while taking part in a bombing raid over Germany. Friendly fire? Bit of a mistake! Of course it was a German fighter who shot at him. Not a movie fan for sure ha ha ha !!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!!