04:00 Jeg står
tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet. I går aftes, lige før Lois og jeg gik i
seng, sendte jeg en sms på whatsapp til Sarah, vores datter i Australien, for
at udtrykke vores bedste ønsker til hende og til Francis, hendes mand, fordi
Francis i dag skal gennemgå en operation på byen Perths hovedhospital: lægerne
skal fjerne hele hans skjoldbruskkirtel, fordi der er knuder på begge sider.
Det er kun ved at fjerne den, at de kan finde ud af med sikkerhed, om knuderne er
kræftagtige, eller ej.
Jeg fortæller Sarah, at jeg i dag skal sende hende 300 australske
dollars (180£), som vores julegave til Sarahs 4-årige tvillinger, Lily og
Jessica, så de kan blive ved med at deltage i en ugentlig balletklasse.
09:00 Lois og
jeg går i bad og klæder os på. Vores U3A danske gruppe holdt i går
sit sidste møde i 2017. Vi har bestemt
vores næste gruppemøde til torsdag den 11. januar, så jeg sætter mig foran
computeren og udfærdiger det danske ordforrådliste, jeg vil have gruppens medlemmer
om at lære udenad julen og nytåret over – jeg er så krævende ha ha ha!
11:45 Sarah sender os en
sms på whatsapp. Francis har haft sin operation. Han er lige kommet ud af operationstuen (kl 19 Perth tid) og har ikke
set lægen endnu. Han har en dejlig stille rum at overnatte i, og Sarah håber,
han kommer til at sove tungt.
12:00 Vi spiser frokost og
bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Mens jeg sover, går Lois hen rundt om hjørnet til det
lokale bibliotek for at
hjælpe personalet med at organisere og lede eftermiddagens ugentlige ”Baby
Bounce and Rhyme” session for unge mødre og deres små børn. Hun glæder sig
meget til at deltage i disse sessioner, fordi hun ofte får lejligheden til at
vugge et eller andet lille barn eller baby på skødet, hvilket er meget
nostalgisk – desværre bor alle vores 5 børnebørn i udlandet og vi har siden
mindst 2 år haft ”tomme rede” syndrom og mere til: det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl
om.
15:30 Lois
kommer tilbage fra biblioteket. Vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen og hun
fortæller mig lidt om eftermiddagens session, der var den sidste i 2017. Der
var en feststemning, men desværre var det kun Lois, der havde lagt en indsats
for at klæde sig ud med et juletema, hvilket var lidt af en skam, men som
sædvanligt var det Lois, der reddede dagen med sin festlige hat, og en kvist
hellige, som hun plukkede i vores baghave – hyl dig, Lois! Sådan en kvinde, jeg
giftede mig med!!!
Lois
i sin festlige kostume
18:30 Vi
spiser aftensmad og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser et gamle afsnit af ”Top of the
Pops” fra juledag 1984.
Lois og jeg så
ikke dette afsnit, da det først blev sendt af BBC-kanalen, fordi vi mellem 1982
og 1985 boede i USA. Den 25. december 1984 var vores sidste juledag i USA – vi flyttede
tilbage til England 8 måneder senere.
Tilbageblik
til juledag 1984: Lois (på 38 år)
med
Alison (9) på vores spisebordet
Mig
(på 38 år) med Alison, der lige har fundet
sin
seneste Cabbage Patch-dukke, samt ”fødselsattestet”
Sarah
(til venstre, på 7 år) og Alison (9) sammen med
sine
spritnye Cabbage-Patch-dukker. Lykkelige tider!!!!
Det er meget
nostalgisk at se dette juleafsnit af Top of the Pops. Det er altid meget
rørende at høre mennesker glæde sig til nytåret, 1985 i dette tilfælde. Vi ved
i dag, hvad der skete i 1985, men det vidste de selvfølgelig ikke på det
tidspunkt – men de håbede på det bedste, som vi altid gør. Hvor rørende!!!!!
det er altid rørende, at se folk glæde sig til nytåret,
og
håbe på det bedste! I, der var ved at dø, der var I uheldige ha ha ha!
Ikke mere
champagne og fyrværkeriet er overstået. Her er vi, både du og jeg. Det er slut
på festen og morgenen synes grå. Så nu er det tid til at sige Godt Nyt År. Må
vi alle have en vision for en verden hvor enhver nabo er en ven. Må vi alle
have vores håb og vilje til at forsøge: hvis vi ikke forsøger kan vi lige så
godt ligge os ned og dø”. Hulk, hulk!!!!
Showets
klimaks er Band Aids ”Do They Know It’s
Christmas, en stortsælgende vedgørenhedssingle.
Geldof ser udkørt ud, ingen tvivl om det !!!!
Stakkels
Geldof !!!!!!
21:30 Vi
fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser tv-quizzen Only Connect, et af de
få tv-programmer, der ikke er egnede til meget dumme mennesker ha ha ha.
Programmets vært er den charmerende Victoria Coren-Mitchell.
Lois og jeg
plejer at prøve at besvare spørgsmålene, før de 6 ”hjerner” gør det, for at
beviser, at vi ikke endnu lider af demens. Men for nylig har vi ikke haft en
masse succes, det må jeg indrømme. I aften er jeg meget glad for, at jeg kan
besvare et spørgsmål, der besejrede alle 6 hjerner, 7 hjerner, hvis jeg
inkluderer Lois. De to 3-persons hold blev bedt om at sige, hvad var det fjerde
element i en sekvens af 4 ord/navne:
Jeg ved,
svaret er ”Brown”, fordi jeg kender godt teksten af den gamle sang ”Mack the
Knife”.
Vi hører et
interessant spørgsmål, der handler om festivaler og deres mulige vifter af
datoer: hvidetirsdag, påskedag, pinsedag og Thanksgiving.
Sjovt faktum:
den sidste gang påskedag var på den 22 marts var i 1818, og den næste gang vil
være i 2285. Jeg forslår til Lois, at vi sætter kryds i kalenderen ha ha ha!
22:00 Jeg
kigger lidt på min smartphone. Alison, vores datter i København har lagt et
charmerende billede op på Instagram, som
blev taget i morges, da hun mødtes med nogle af sine veninder – skolen varede
kun 2,5 timer i dag, fordi dens juleferien starter, så mødrene kun havde kort
tid til at snakke over en kop kaffe.
Vores
datter, Alison, nr 2 fra venstre, på en café i København
sammen
med en gruppe andre mødre –
i
dag er skolens sidste dag inden jul
Lois og jeg kan
ikke undgå at bekymre os lidt i aften for vores anden datter, Sarah, i Perth,
Australien og Francis, Sarahs mand. Francis, har gennemgået en operation i dag,
da lægerne fjernede hele hans skjoldbruskkirtel. Desværre drejer det nu bare om
at vente, indtil vi hører, om knuderne på
skjoldbruskkirtlen var kræftagtige eller ej, og om der er noget, der har bredt
sig til andre dele af kroppen. Chancerne er, at knuderne ikke var kræftagtige,
men vi vil ikke kunne føle os glade indtil det bliver bekræftet. Kom så,
Francis!
Vi går i seng –
zzzzzzzzz!!!!!
English
translation
04:00 I get up early and take a little look online. Last
night, just before Lois and I went to bed, I sent an sms on whatsapp to Sarah,
our daughter in Australia, to express our best wishes to her and to Francis her
husband because Francis is is going to have surgery today at the city of
Perth's main hospital: the doctors are going to remove the whole of his thyroid
gland because there are nodules on both sides of it. It is only by removing it
that they can find out if the nodules are cancerous or not.
I tell Sarah that today I'm sending her 300 Australian
dollars (£180) as our Christmas gift to Sarah's 4-year-old twins, Lily and
Jessica, so they can continue to attend a weekly ballet class.
09:00 Lois and I go in the shower and get dressed.
Yesterday our U3A Danish group held its last meeting of 2017. We have fixed our
next meeting for Thursday, January 11th, so I sit in front of the computer and
prepare the Danish vocabulary list I want the members of the group to learn by
heart over Christmas and New Year - I'm so demanding ha ha ha!
11:45 Sarah sends us a text on whatsapp. Francis has had
his surgery. He just got out of the operating room (at 7pm Perth time) and has
not seen the doctor yet. He has a nice quiet room to spend the night in, and
Sarah hopes he will get a good night's sleep.
12:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a
huge afternoon nap. While I'm asleep, Lois walks around the corner to the local
library to help the staff organize and lead the afternoon's weekly Baby Bounce
and Rhyme session for young mothers and their little children.
She looks
forward to taking part in these sessions because she often gets the chance to cradle some little child or baby on her lap, which is very nostalgic -
unfortunately, all our 5 grandchildren live abroad and for at least 2 years we
have had "empty nest" syndrome in spades: that's something we have no
doubts about.
15:30 Lois comes back from the library. We relax with a
cup of tea on the couch and she tells me a little about the afternoon session,
the last one in 2017.
There was a party atmosphere, but unfortunately only Lois
had made an effort to dress up with a Christmas theme, which was a bit of a
shame, but as usual, it was Lois who saved the day with her festive hat and a
sprig of holy she picked in our back garden - hail to thee, Lois! What a woman
I married !!!
Lois in her festive costume
18:30 We have dinner and watch a bit of television. An
old episode of "Top of the Pops" is on, from Christmas Day 1984.
Lois and I did not see this episode when it was first
broadcast by the BBC because we were living in the US between
1982 and 1985.
December 25, 1984 was our last Christmas Day in the US - we
moved back to England 8 months later.
Flashback to Christmas Day 1984: Lois (38)
with Alison (9) at our dining table
Me (38 ) with Alison, who has just found
her latest Cabbage Patch doll, plus the
"birth certificate"
Sarah (left, 7 yrs) and Alison (9) along
with
their shiny new Cabbage-Patch dolls. Happy
times !!!!
It's very nostalgic to see this Christmas episode of Top
of the Pops. It is always very touching to hear people looking forward to the
new year, 1985 in this case. We know today what happened in 1985, but of course
they did not know at the time - but they hoped for the best like we always do.
How touching !!!!!
it's always touching, seeing people
looking forward to the new year,
and hoping for the best! You who were about
to die, bad luck! Ha ha ha!
No more champagne and the fireworks are through. Here we
are, me and you, feeling lost and feeling blue. It's the end of the party and
the morning seems so gray, so unlike yesterday, now's the time for us to say, Happy New Year. Happy New Year. May we all have a vision now and then for a
world where every neighbor is a friend. May we all have our hopes, our will to
try: if we don't, we might as well lay down and die. " Sob, sob !!!!
The show's climax is Band Aid's "Do They Know It's
Christmas, a big-selling charity single.
Geldof looks a bit jaded, no doubt about
that !!!!
Poor Geldof !!!!!
21:30 We carry on watching a bit of television. The Only
Connect tv quiz is on, one of the few TV shows that are not suitable for very
stupid people ha ha ha. The host of the program is the charming Victoria
Coren-Mitchell.
Lois and I usually try to answer the questions before the
6 "brains" do so, to prove that we are not suffering from dementia
yet. But recently we have not had a lot of success, I have to admit.
Tonight I
am very glad that I can answer a question that defeated all 6 brains, or 7 brains,
if I include Lois. The two 3-person teams were asked to say what was the fourth
element in a sequence of 4 words / names:
I know the answer is "Brown" because I know the
text of the old song "Mack the Knife".
We hear an interesting question about festivals and their
possible ranges of dates: Shrove Tuesday, Easter Sunday, Pentecost and
Thanksgiving.
Fun Fact: the last time Easter Day was on March 22, was
in 1818, and the next time will be in 2285. I suggest to Lois that we put a cross
on the calendar ha ha ha!
22:00 I take a little look at my smartphone. Alison, our
daughter in Copenhagen, has posted a charming picture up on Instagram, taken this morning when she met up with some of her girlfriends - school lasted only
2 and a half hours today because the Christmas holidays are starting, so the
mothers only had a short time to chat over a cup of coffee.
Our daughter, Alison, 2nd from left, at a cafe in
Copenhagen
together with a group of other mothers -
today is the school's last day before
Christmas
Lois and I cannot help worrying a little tonight over our
second daughter, Sarah, in Perth, Australia, and Francis, Sarah's husband.
Francis, has undergone an operation today when doctors removed his entire thyroid
gland. Unfortunately, it's just a matter of waiting now, until we hear whether the
nodules on the thyroid gland are cancerous or not and if there is anything that
has spread to other parts of the body. The chances are that the nodules are not
cancerous, but we will not feel happy until it is confirmed. Come on, Francis!
We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz !!!!!
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