Danskcolin: Lørdag den 14. oktober 2017

04:00 Jeg står tidligt op og kigger lidt på internettet. Jeg ser at Albert Einstein er begyndt at miste lidt af sit før i tiden gode navn. Steve, min svigerbror i Philadelphia, har sendt mig en mail, hvor det bliver afsløret, at Einsteins troværdighed som forsker og fysiker er begyndt at blive draget i tvivl.

I 1999 blev det afsløret, at det mislykkedes Einstein at opfinde et tilstrækkeligt tekstbehandlingssystem, og den store mand dermed blev tvunget til at opskrive sine notater om relativitet osv næsten ulæseligt med hånden.

Nu har journalister opdaget, at Einstein faktisk var en skovl til fransk i højskole, og det kan være, at denne ulempe var ansvarlig for, at han dumpede så mange gange i optagelsesprøver på universiteter.

I øvrigt ved få, at Einstein faktisk undslap fra nazi Tyskland samtidig med den berømte filosof, Sandor Needleman – de var på samme fly som hinanden, da de fløj til USA. Needleman, en arbejdsnarkoman, udgav tre bøger under sin flygt fra Tyskland til Prag: ”Tid, Essens og Virkelighed”, ”En systematisk revurdering af intethed”, og sin dejlige, lettere afhandling, ”Bedste steder at spise, når man er i skjul”.

Man kunne argumentere, at Needleman aldrig ville være nået i sikkerhed i USA, uden Einsteins hjælp. Needlemans bagage var overvægtig på lufthavnen og det var Einstein, der forslog ham, at hvis han fjernede sine sko fra sit skotræ, ville han kunne tage alting med. (Kilder: www.theonion.com (Tanya Mendel), New York Times, New Republic (Woody Allen))

08:00 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté. Efter morgenmad går vi ud i baghaven for at fortsætte med at ”lægge haven i sengen for vinteren”. Jeg luger lidt i den såkaldte ”kartofelhave”, mens Lois rydder op her og der.

vi fortsætter med at ”lægge haven i sengen til vinteren".

Jeg luger lidt i den såkaldte kartofelhave, mens Lois rydder op i her og der

13:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter går vi i seng. Jeg står op kl 15 - jeg efterlader Lois i sengen, så hun kan få mere søvn.

15:00 Et af mine (ubetalte) deltidsjobs er som financiel agent arbejdende på vegne af Francis, vores svigersøn i Australien. Francis, sammen med vores datter Sarah, og deres (nu) 4-årige tvillinger flyttede til Perth i december 2015, men hverken Sarah eller Francis fortalte deres banker eller andre institutioner og forretninger, forsikringsselkaber, pensionsselskaber osv, at de ikke længere boede hos os. Andre af deres kontakter tror, at familien stadig bor i huset i Leckhampton, de i marts 2015 solgte, lige før de midlertidigt flyttede ind hos os.

Det er svært at tro, men det lader til, at Francis’s hovedsagelige pensionsselkab har været ved at opgive håbet om at kunne kontakte ham igen. Jeg antager, at kvinden, der købte deres hus i Leckhampton, endelig blev godt træt af at skulle videresende brevene fra pensionsselkabet og besluttede at sende dem uåbnet tilbage til senderen i stedet for.

I dag får jeg et brev fra pensionsselskabet, hvor de siger, at dette er Francis’s sidste chance for at opdatere sin adres og andre detaljer.Det ville være lidt af en skam, hvis han mistede sin ret til at modtage sin pension, når tiden kommer. Jeg scanner brevet ind og sender Sarah en sms, hvor jeg beder hende om at få Francis til at besvare det.

Jeg er ikke klar over, om der er juridiske eller kontraktmæssige grunde til, at de må bruge en adres i Storbritannien – det jeg kan aldrig få et klart svar om. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

16:00 Lois står op og smutter ind hos naboerne (Bill og Mary). Mary lider af mild demens, og Lois har ondt af hende, så smutter hun ind engang imellem for at snakke med hende, hvilket Bill er meget glad for – samtaler med andre hjælper Mary med at kunne huske ting, tror han.

Jeg hopper op på min kondicykel og jeg cykler 9 miles (15km). Mens jeg cykler, tænder jeg for min smartphone og se en biologisk video på YouTube. Videoen handler om Ernest Hemingway, den berømte forfatter, men jeg ser kun videoens første 30 minutter – interessant, at hans dominerende mor klædte ham som en lille pige, indtil han fyldte 4-5 år.

Han var til ældre kvinder – han arbejdede som ambulancechauffør i Italien i den 1. verdenskrig, blev såret og blev forelsket i en ældre sygeplejerske i det lokale hospital. Han rejste tilbage til USA efter krigen, og løj for de lokale piger om sine heroiske gerninger. Han forelskede sig igen i en kvinde 8 år ældre end sig selv, Hadley, som han endeligt gifted sig med.

Med Ernests mor blev godt træt af hans dovenskab og smedt ham ud af huset. Han flyttede til Paris sammen med Hadley og begyndte at omgås det britiske-amerikanske kunstneriske koloni, og Gertrude Stein tog ham under sin ving.

Hemingway med Hadley, sin første kone, i Paris.

På dette tidspunkt skal jeg holde op med at se videoen, fordi jeg havde cyklet de obligatoriske 9 miles. Pokkers! Jeg vil prøve at huske at se resten, næste gang jeg hopper op.

17:00 Lois kommer tilbage og vi snakker lidt om Mary, vores nabo. Lois synes, at hendes tilstand er værre, end sidste gang. Mary startede at tale om sit liv i den 2. verdenskrig, og uanset hvad Lois sagde, kunne hun ikke få Mary til at skifte emne – yikes, det lyder ikke ret godt, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn.

Lois i gang med en krydsogtværs:

Minx, Alisons tidligere kat, sidder på hendes skød

Jeg kigger lidt på nettet, og jeg ser, at de to herreløse killinger, som vores datter Alison adopterede i torsdags, er blevet lidt dristigere, og er kommet ud fra under sengen. En af dem har besluttet at undersøge Josies bogreol. Josie, Alisons 11-årige datter, har lagt et charmerende foto op på ”Insta”.

de to herreløse, sorte killinger, som Alison, vores datter i København

for et par dage siden adopterede – hvor er de dog søde !!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!!

English translation

04:00 I get up early and take a little look at the internet. I see that Albert Einstein has begun to lose some of his former good reputation. Steve, my brother-in-law in Philadelphia, has sent me an email that reveals that Einstein's credibility as a researcher and physicist has begun to be questioned.

In 1999 it was revealed that Einstein failed to invent an adequate word processing system, and the big man was forced to write his notes on relativity, etc., almost illegibly by hand.

Now, journalists have discovered that Einstein was actually also rubbish at French in high school, and this disadvantage could have been responsible for him flunking so many admission tests at universities.

Incidentally not many people know that Einstein actually escaped from Nazi Germany at the same time as the famous philosopher Sandor Needleman - they were on the same plane as each other when they flew to the United States. Needleman, a workaholic, published three books during his escape from Germany to Prague: "Time, Essence and Reality", "A Systematic Reassessment of Nothingness", and his delightful, lighter treatise, "Best Places to Eat When in Hiding" .

One could argue that Needleman would never have been got to safety in the United States without Einstein's help. Needleman's luggage was overweight at the airport and it was Einstein who suggested that if he removed his shoes from his shoe-tree, he could take everything. (Sources: www.theonion.com (Tanya Mendel), New York Times, New Republic (Woody Allen)

08:00 I hop back into bed with Lois and we drink our morning tea. After breakfast we go out to the back yard to carry on "putting the garden to bed for the winter". I do a little weeding in the so-called "potato patch" while Lois clears up here and there.

We carry on "putting the garden to bed for the winter".

I do a little weeding in the so-called potato patch,

while Lois clears up here and there

13:00 We have dinner and afterwards we go to bed. I get up at 3pm - I leave Lois in the bed so she can get a bit more sleep.

15:00 One of my (unpaid) part-time jobs is as financial agent working on behalf of Francis, our son-in-law in Australia. Francis, together with our daughter Sarah, and their (now) 4-year-old twins moved to Perth in December 2015, but neither Sarah nor Francis told their banks or other institutions and businesses, insurance companies, pension companies, etc. that they no longer lived with us . Other contacts of theirs believe that the family still lives in the house in Leckhampton, which they sold in March 2015, just before they moved temporarily in with us.

It's hard to believe, but Francis's main pensions company seems to have been on the point of giving up hope of being able to contact him again. I suppose the woman who bought their house in Leckhampton finally became sick and tired of having to forward the letters from the pensions company and decided to send them back to sender unopened instead.

Today, I receive a letter from the pensions company where they say this is Francis's last chance to update his address and other details. It would be a shame if he lost his right to receive his pension when the time comes . I scan the letter in and send Sarah a text message asking her to get Francis to answer it.

I do not know if there are legal or contractual reasons why they have to use an address in the UK - I can never get a clear answer on that. Good grief, what madness !!!!

16:00 Lois gets up and pops into the neighbors (Bill and Mary). Mary suffers from mild dementia, and Lois feels sorry for her, so she looks in every so often to chat to her, which Bill is very happy about - conversations with others help Mary remember things, he believes. I sometimes think how terrible it would be if either Lois and me began to suffer from dementia - scary !!!!

I jump up on my bike and I cycle 9 miles (15km). While cycling, I turn on my smartphone and watch a biographical video on YouTube. The video is about Ernest Hemingway, the famous author, but I only see the first 30 minutes of the video - interesting that his domineering mother dressed him as a little girl until he reached 4-5 years.

He was into older women - he worked as an ambulance driver in Italy in the First World War, got injured and fell in love with an older nurse in the local hospital. He traveled back to the United States after the war and lied to the local girls about his heroic deeds, and again he fell in love with a woman 8 years older than himself, Hadley, whom he eventually married.

But Ernest’s mother became tired of his laziness and threw him out of the house. He moved to Paris with Hadley, and began to hobnob with the Anglo-American artistic community, and Gertrude Stein took him under her wing.

Hemingway with Hadley, his first wife, in Paris.

At this point, I have to stop watching the video because I have cycled the required 9 miles. Damn! I will try to remember to see the rest next time I jump up on the bike.

17:00 Lois comes back and we chat a little about Mary, our neighbor. Lois thinks her condition is worse than last time. Mary started talking about her life during World War II, and whatever Lois said, she could not get Mary to change topic - yikes, that does not sound very good, no doubt about that!!!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television.

Lois is working on a crossword, with Minx,

Alison's former cat, sitting on her lap

I take a little look online and I see that the two stray kittens that Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen, adopted on Thursday, have become a bit more daring and come out from under the bed - one of them decided to investigate Josie's bookshelf. Josie, Alison's 11-year-old daughter, has posted a charming photo up on "Insta".