Danskcolin: Fredag den 27. oktober 2017

09:00 Lois går hen til Billly Shears, den lokale frisørforretning, for at få håret klippet. Bagefter går vi udenfor, Lois ind i forhaven for at luge lidt mellem buskene og mig ind i baghaven for at luge lidt i grøntsagshaven.

Vi går i gang med at luge lidt i haven.

Lois går højt op i havearbejde, men det er ikke rigtigt mit nummer, må jeg indrømme. Men faktum er, at vi ejer dette enorme hus og have, og jeg har en synkende fornemmelse af, at Lois og jeg kommer til at dø her, fordi det er for vanskeligt at downsize, og det er for generende at gør det.

Jeg prøver at efterligne en anden lokal pensionist, Ned McDowell (67), der ifølge The Onion-nyhedswebsite har valgt havearbejde som den hobby, der vil holde ham gående til hans død. Han er for tiden heldig i, at han kun har et par pæoner og nogle russiske salvier, men han har planer om at udvide sine blomsterbede i løbet af de kommende år.

Ned McDowell (67), en lokal pensionist, der har

valgt havearbejde som den hobby, der vil holde ham gående til hans død

McDowell forudser, at denne aktivitet vil give ham lige nok tilfredsstillelse og følelse af formål til at få ham igennem de ca. 18 år, han har tilbage i sin resterende eksistens. "Det er faktisk ikke så nemt som nogle mennesker tænker”, siger han. ”Der er en masse at lære om jordens sammensætning, og man skal virkelig tjekke op på planterne hver dag. Men jeg nyder det virkelig, og forhåbentlig er det noget, jeg kan blive ved med i et stykke tid. "

Da nyhedshjemmesiden var ved at gå i trykket, var kilder i gang med at bekræfte, at en lokal blomsterhandler var ved at svare på McDowells spørgsmål om dette emne, der forhåbentlig vil holde ham beskæftiget, mens hans hjerte langsomt men sikkert nærmer sig mod en endeligt hjertestop.

Jeg er lidt misunderlig på McDowell over hans viden om planter – det må jeg indrømme. Jeg tror, jeg har hørt om pæoner, men jeg kunne ikke i en million år identificere dem, og jeg har aldrig hørt før om russiske salvier. Det bliver åbenlyst, at jeg må efterligne ham og gøre lidt forskning, måske på nettet.

Denne åbenbaring kunne blive livforandrende, en sandt vendepunkt i mit liv. Men først synes jeg, må jeg heller vaske håret (copyright PJ Proby).

11:00 Lois ringer til Interflora. Hun bestilte for et par dage siden en buket blomster til Sarah, vores datter i Australien, for at udtrykke vores sympati efter døden af familiens hund. Hun prøvede at betale først via Paypal, men det virkede ikke, troede vi, så hun ringede til dem og brugte kreditkort. i dag gik det op for os, at vi faktisk betalte to gange. Du godeste, det er dyrt nok engang at betale for at få blomster leveret til udlandet, endnu mindre to gange!!!!

11:30 Lois går hen ind i landsbyen for at afsende 3 børnemagasiner til vores børnebørn i København, og at købe endnu 2 børnemagasiner til vores børnebørn i Perth, Australien.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzzzz!!!! Jeg står op kl 15 og hopper op på min kondicykel. Jeg cykler 9 miles (15km), mens Lois går rundt i hjørnet til det lokale bibliotek for at genlåne sin nuværende sengetidbog, Gerald Durrells ”Gudernes Have”.

16:00 Vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen og lytter lidt til radio, 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 charmerende Matthew Bannister.

Rodney Bickerstaffe døde. Han var formand for en enorme britiske fagforening, de offentlige ansattes fagforening eller National Union of Public Employees (NUPE), og dens efterfølge, UNISON.

Han ledt et langt, travlt live, men desværre nåede han kun at gøre to ting, der vandt min godkendelse – han overtalte affaldsarbejdere og gravgravere i Liverpool til at gå i strejke i flere uger, hvilket førte direkte til Maggie Thatchers sejr i valget af 1979.

Den anden ting han gjorde, som vandt min godkendelse, var, at han var dygtig til at efterabe Daffy Duck.

Daffy Duck, som Bickerstaffe angiveligt

var dygtig til at efterabe

Hans største minus var det samme som med de fleste fagforeningsledere, dvs han troede, at forretninger og offentlige organisationer skulle drives til fordel for deres ansatte, og ikke for deres kunder. Også, at forretninger, industrier osv skulle alle blive holdt gående, uanset deres produkter var ønskede, eller ej. Så ingen overraskelse der!!!

17:00 Jeg kigger lidt på “Insta”, og jeg ser, at Alison, vores datter i København, har lagt et par charmerende fotos op af vores 3 børnebørn, Josie (11), Rosalind (9) og Isaac (7), som har været i gang med at forberede sig på deres skoles halloweenfest i aften.

vores 3 børnebørn i Danmark, Josie (11), Rosalind (9) og Isaac (7),

som i dag har været i gang med at forberede sig på deres skoles halloweenfest i aften.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser det første afsnit af Tracey Ullmans nye serie, ”Tracey bryder nyhederne”.

Meget underholdende, især skildringerne af vigtige tidspunkter i historien af franske politik. Vi ser for eksempel nogle meget rørende filmsekvenser, der skildrer historien af Emmanuel Macrons forelskelse i sin kone, Frankrigs første dame, Brigitte, da de begge var på højskole: ham som studerende og hende som dramalærer.

rørende scener, som Frankrigs første ægtepar

sidder i Elysee-paladset og blader igennem Emmanuels højskoleårbog

1994-højskoleårbogen, med de uhyggeligt akkurate

forudsigelse om Emmanuel: den mest sandsynligvise at blive præsident

før 40 års alder, og mest sandsynligvise at gifte sig med dramalæreren

en rørende scene – Emmanuel får øje på Brigitte,

mens han er ved at hente sine bøger og chartekker. Hvor romantisk!

det afgørende tidspunkt, som Brigitte springer på scenen

for at gratulere Emmanuel med hans præstation

da Brigitte sætter sig bevidst over for ham i skolecafeteriet, bliver

Emmanuel endeliig helt sikker på, at han har scoret hende

Lois og jeg er to gamle krager, og vi kender ikke den moderne verden ret godt, så derfor er det interessant at høre om nye versioner af gamle elektroniske ”stemmer”, som teenage-versionen af ”Alexis”, der lever og taler som en vranten teenager. Versionen er tilsyneladende meget populær hos forældre af børn, der lige er startet på universitet og gået hjemmefra.

Denne version of ”Alexis” er meget populær hos forældre,

der savner deres børn, efter de forladet hjemmet for at gå på universitet.

Alexis i seng med Siri

22:00 Vi går også i seng – zzzzzz!!!!!

English translation

09:00 Lois goes to Billly Shears, the local hairdresser, to get her hair cut. Afterwards, we go outside, Lois into the front yard to weed a little between the bushes and me into the backyard to do a little weeding in the vegetable garden.

We get going with a little weeding in the garden.

Lois is very into gardening, but it's not really my cup of tea, I have to admit. But the fact is that we own this huge house and garden and I have a sinking feeling that Lois and I will die here because it's too difficult to downsize and it's too annoying to do so. anyway

I try to emulate another local pensioner, Ned McDowell, 67, who according to The Onion News website has chosen gardening as the hobby that will keep him going till his death. He is currently lucky in so far as he only has a few peonies and some Russian sage, but he plans to expand his flower beds over the next few years.

Ned McDowell (67), a local pensioner who has chosen

gardening as the hobby that will keep him going until his death

McDowell predicts that this activity will give him just enough satisfaction and sense of purpose to get him through the approx. 18 years he has left in his remaining existence. "It's actually not as easy as some people think," he says. "There's a lot to learn about the composition of the soil, and you really have to check up on the plants every day. But I really enjoy it and hopefully it's something I can keep up for a while. "

At press time sources were in the process of confirming that a local florist was responding to McDowell's questions about this subject, which hopefully will keep him busy while his heart slowly but surely approaches a final cardiac arrest.

I envy McDowell his knowledge of plants a little, I have to admit.

I think I've heard of peonies, but I could never in a million years identify them , and I've never heard of Russian sage before. It is becoming obvious that I have to really take a leaf out of his book and do some research, maybe online.

This revelation could be life-changing, a true turning point in my life. But first I think I’d better wash my hair (copyright PJ Proby).

11:00 Lois calls Interflora. A few days ago she ordered a bouquet of flowers for Sarah, our daughter in Australia, to express our sympathy after the death of the family's dog. She tried to pay first through Paypal, but it did not work, we thought, so she called them and used credit card. Today we realized that we actually paid twice. Good grief, it's expensive enough to pay once to get flowers delivered abroad, let alone twice !!!!

11:30 Lois walks into the village to post 3 children's magazines to our grandchildren in Copenhagen and to buy another 2 children's magazines for our grandchildren in Perth, Australia.

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzzz !!!! I get up at 3 pm and jump on my exercise bike. I cycle 9 miles (15km) while Lois walks around the corner to the local library to renew her current bedtime book, Gerald Durrell's "Garden of the Gods" .

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

Rodney Bickerstaffe has died. He was chairman of a huge British trade union, the Public Employees Union or the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE), and its successor, UNISON.

He led a long, busy life, but unfortunately he only managed to do two things that won my approval - he persuaded garbage men and grave-diggers in Liverpool to go on strike for several weeks, which led directly to Maggie Thatcher's victory in the 1979 election.

The other thing he did which won my approval, was that he was good at impressions of Daffy Duck.

Daffy Duck, whom Bickerstaffe was allegedly good at

doing impressions of.

His biggest minus was the same as with most union leaders, ie he thought that businesses and government organizations should be run for the benefit of their employees and not for their customers. Also, that businesses, industries, etc. should all be kept going, regardless of whether their products were wanted or not. So no surprise there !!!

17:00 I take a little at look at "Insta" and I see that Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen, has added a couple of charming pictures of our 3 grandchildren, Josie (11), Rosalind (9) and Isaac (7), who have been getting ready for their school's Halloween party tonight.

our 3 grandchildren in Denmark, Josie (11), Rosalind (9) and Isaac (7),

who today have been getting ready for their school's Halloween party tonight.

18:00 We have dinner and watch a bit of television. The first episode of Tracey Ullman's new series, "Tracey Breaks The News" is on.

Very entertaining, especially the depictions of important moments in the history of French politics. For example, we see some very touching film sequences depicting the story of Emmanuel Macron's crush on his wife, France's first lady, Brigitte, when they both were at high school: him as a student and her as a drama teacher.

touching scenes, as France's first couple

sit in the Elysee Palace and leaf through Emmanuel's High School Yearbook

the 1994 High School Yearbook, with its scarily accurate

prediction about Emmanuel: the most likely to become President

before the age of 40, and most likely to marry the drama teacher

Touching Scene - Emmanuel catches sight of Brigitte,

while he is picking up his books and folders. How romantic!

The crucial moment, as Brigitte jumps on stage

to congratulate Emmanuel on his performance

when Brigitte deliberately sits down opposite him in the school cafeteria,

Emmanuel is finally sure that he has scored

Lois and I are two old crows and we do not know the modern world that well, so it's interesting to hear about new versions of old electronic "voices" like the teen version of "Alexis" who lives and talks like a sulky teenager. The version is apparently very popular with parents of children who have just started at university and have left home.