Tuesday 30 January 2018

08:30 I turn on my smartphone and I see Lois has a Facebook message from Sylvia, her cousin in Melbourne. Lois and I have been a little worried about Sylvia for a couple of months. For the first time in years she did not send us a Christmas card or calendar, and she has not posted anything up on  Facebook since mid-November, which was very puzzling. We had wondered if she was on a round-the-world cruise or something similar over Christmas and New Year . But now it seems she would like to get in touch again.

We stayed with Sylvia for a week in 2016 when we were on our way to Perth to visit Sarah, our daughter.

Flashback to April 2016: We spend a week

with Lois' cousin, Sylvia, in Melbourne

Lois and I have all agog since yesterday waiting to hear why Sylvia went "off-grid". She is a widow, and we suspect she has hooked up with a new boyfriend. 

Today she sends Lois a picture of her latest "squeeze", Rod, who looks like a tall, slim man the same age as her . We wonder if Sylvia and Rod went on a cruise together over Christmas and New Year, but we're not sure about that. If it's true, then hurrah for her. You are never too old to have fun.

09:30 I call the Thomas Cook Travel Agency in the local Waitrose supermarket, to order Australian cash for our upcoming vacation.

10:30 We drive into town to buy a few things. I park in Portland street car park and pay via smartphone, so I can feel like a modern person.

We pop into the bank and I ask them to order me a non-contactless credit card instead of the contactless card they recently sent me in the mail. I'm a bit suspicious about whether the contactless ones are as secure as the old cards. Afterwards Lois pops into Specsavers Optics to get her new glasses adjusted. Busy, busy, busy! How on earth did we ever find the time to go to work ha ha ha.

We swing by the Boots pharmacy and buy a few things for the holiday. I buy a couple of bottles of antiseptic mouthwash because I'm afraid my teeth will soon start getting sensitive again - and I'm thinking the pain has already begun - yikes!

We have a cup of coffee and a piece of cake in the M & S cafe and afterwards we drive home.

13:00 We eat lunch and afterwards I go to bed and have a huge afternoon nap.

15:00 I get up and start reading a few pages of John Trevisa's "Dialogue between a lord and a clerk". Lynda's U3A "Making of English" group has its next monthly meeting on Friday, and this Middle English dialogue is the group's current project. Tomorrow there is a meeting of Scilla's U3A Old Icelandic Group, and it is very important that I do not mix up the Middle English and Old Icelandic languages in my head: sometimes the two languages are very similar - help!

I come across a couple of interesting words in the dialogue. The English word "cunning" simply meant knowledge in those days: it was not until the 16th century that the word began to mean craftiness, which sometimes carries a bit of a negative subtext.

I'm starting to feel a little coldy and at the same time very tired. Damn! So far through the winter, I have kept myself clear of illness and I had started to get a little too cocky - just my luck !!!

17:30 We have dinner a little earlier than usual and afterwards Lois has to go out. She wants to attend a Bible seminar taking place this evening in Brockworth library. The seminar is all about the minor prophets. She drives over to Mari-Ann and Alf's house in Hatherley and they will drive her over to Brockworth.

18:30 I have a little alone-time and look at my smartphone. I read an interesting article about Trump and his long-time friend, Suzann Pettersen, the Norwegian golf-darling. According to the article, Suzann says that Trump cheats a lot during golf matches. He is not specially good at playing golf, and he usually claims he has had better scores than he really did. And he tends to persuade his opponents to concede him puts ("gimmes"), even if they're not particularly short ones - good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!

To me it is very nostalgic to read about Suzann again. I remember that 2-3 years ago I got megacrushes on a bunch of Scandinavian sports-darlings, including Caroline Wozniacki, the Danish tennis-darling who by coincidence on Saturday won the Australian Open grand slam tennis tournament, the season's first tournament, and Caroline's first grand slam win.

Suzann Pettersen, the Norwegian golf-darling was another of my megacrushes. On September 20, 2015, I wrote in my blog about a rather unpleasant fight between Suzann and Alison Lee.

Suzann Pettersen, the Norwegian golf-darling

I wrote in my blog 2 years ago that Suzann Pettersen, the Norwegian golf-darling, and Alison Lee, the American golf-darling, had a fight on the Solheim Cup's last day and many players from both the American and European teams were in tears. 

Alison believed that Suzann had conceded the 17th hole. As a result Alison picked up her ball, which was only 15 inches (37.5cm) from the hole, instead of playing it. But Suzann immediately insisted that she had not in fact conceded - oh dear! So Suzann won the hole after all.

Flashback to September 2015: a fight between Suzann Petterson

and Alison Lee leaves many players in tears

I had thought golfers never had fights! But Lois tells me that golf is a merciless sport - oh dear! I wrote in the blog at the time, that Suzann takes no prisoners! Perhaps she is as merciless as Trump. What madness !!!!

Flashback to September 2015 -

Suzann Pettersen, the Norwegian golf darling hit the headlines

in my then blog - shock horror !!!!

19:30 I look at my smartphone. Lois has received another Facebook message from Sylvia, her cousin in Melbourne. She says that Rod is in fact her partner and that she has sent Lois an email to explain the situation. I look at Lois' mailbox and I see that the email unfortunately has not arrived - damn it!

Rod: Sylvia's latest "squeeze"

20:00 I listen a bit to the radio, an interesting program all about ways people like to end letters and emails. The host of the program is the charming Michael Rosen.

An interesting program - it's a bit of a shame that I drift off to sleep in the middle of it. And Lois is not here to pinch me in the arm. Damn!

Before I fall asleep, I hear some abrupt expressions one can end an email with: for example, "Thanks." (The stop is the brutal part).

Also, the editor who replied to all her staff's suggestions for articles with just one word: "yep" or "nope".

Also Hillary Clinton's 2-3 word phrases: "Is this done?" Or "Update me".

Expressions that appear to be friendly, but aren’t really: "Thanks in advance" or "Just a friendly reminder".

People did it differently in the 15th century. One family's letters and correspondence were subpoenaed by a judge and you can still read them in official archives.

William Paston ended a letter with "I submit me in all this matter to your good discretion, and ever gramercy God and you who have you and me in his gracious governance. Your man. Wm Paston. "

Very historic, although "Your man" sounds a little bit "urban slang" to my ears.

William's wife, Margaret ended a letter to her husband as follows: "The blessed trinity have you in his keeping, by your groaning wife. M. P. ". I like that too, even though the word "groaning" is a bit ambiguous, I think. Was it a compliment to her husband or a complaint? The jury is still out on that one (after 600 years ha ha ha).

22:00 Lois comes back. I go to bed, but Lois needs to wind down after the evening's stimulating Bible seminar about the minor prophets. Poor Lois !!!!! She starts to watch a bit of television. She does not wake me up when she hops into bed with me an hour later.

Danish translation

08:30 Jeg tænder for min smartphone og jeg ser, Lois har en Facebook-besked fra Sylvia, sin kusine i Melbourne. Lois og jeg har været lidt bekymret over Sylvia i et par måneder. For første gang i årevis sendte hun os ikke noget julekort eller kalender, og hun ikke lagde noget op på Facebook siden midten af november, hvilket var meget gådefuldt. Vi havde spekuleret på, om hun julen og nytåret over var på et verdensomspædende krydstogt eller noget lignende. Men nu ser det ud som om, hun gerne ville få i kontakten igen.

Vi boede hos Sylvia i en uge i 2016, da vi var på vej til Perth, for at besøge Sarah, vores datter.

Tilbageblik til april 2016: vi tilbringer en uge

hos Lois’ kusine, Sylvia, i Melbourne

Vi har siden i går været lutter øren efter at høre, hvorfor hun gik off-grid. Hun er enke, men vi mistænker, at hun har fandt sammen med en ny kæreste, og i dag sender hun Lois et billede af sin seneste ”squeeze”, Rod, der ser ud som en høj, mager mand i samme alderen, som hende. Vi spekulerer over, om Sylvia og Rod gik på krydstogt sammen julen og nytåret over, men det er vi ikke helt sikre på. Hvis det er sandt, så hurra for hende. Man er aldrig for gammel til at få det sjovt.

09:30 Jeg ringer til Thomas Cook-rejsebureauet, der har til huse i det lokale Waitrose-supermarked, for at bestille australske kontant til vores kommende ferie.

10:30 Vi kører ind i byen for at købe et par ting. Jeg parkerer i Portlandgade-parkeringspladsen og betale via smartphone, så jeg kan føle mig som et modern menneske.

Vi smutter ind i banken og jeg beder dem om, at bestille mig et ukontaktløst kreditkort i stedet for det kontaktløse kort, de for nylig sendte mig med post. Jeg er lidt mistænksom over, om de kontaktløse er så sikre som de gamle kort. Bagefter smutter Lois ind i Specsavers Optik, for at få sine nye brille justeret. Travlt, travlt, travlt! Hvordan for fanden fandt vi tiden til at gå på arbejde ha ha ha. 

Vi kigger ind i Boots-apoteket og køber et par ting til ferien. Jeg køber et par flasker antiseptisk mundskyldning, fordi jeg er bange for, at mine bagtænder snart bliver følsomme igen – jeg synes, smerten er begyndt allerede – yikes!

Vi drikker en kop kaffe og spiser et stykke kage i M&S-caféen og bagefter kører vi hjem.

13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

15:00 Jeg står op og går i gang med at læse et par sider af John Trevisas ”Dialog mellem en herre og en ekspedient”. Lyndas U3A ”Making  of English”-gruppe har sit næste månedlige møde på fredag, og denne middelengelske dialog er gruppens nuværende projekt. I morgen er der et møde af Scillas U3A oldislandske gruppe, og det er meget vigtigt at jeg ikke blander det middelengelske og det oldislandske sprog sammen i mit hoved: nogle gange er de to sprog meget lignende – hjælp!

Jeg falder over et par interessante ord i dialogen. Det engelske ord ”cunning” betød dengang simpelthen kendskab: det var ikke indtil det 16. århundrede, at ordet begyndte at betyde listighed, som nogle gange bærer lidt af en negativ undertekst.

Jeg begynder at føle mig lidt forkølet og samtidig meget træt. Pokkers! Hidtil gennem vinteren har jeg holdt mig væk fra sygdom, og jeg var begyndt at blive lidt for selvtilfreds – bare mit held!!!

17:30 Vi spiser aftensmad lidt tidligere, end normalt og bagefter skal Lois ud. Hun ønsker at deltage i et bibelseminar, der finder sted i aften i byen Brockworths bibliotek. Seminaret kredser om de mindre profeter. Hun kører over til Mari-Ann og Alfs hus i Hatherley og de vil køre hende over til Brockworth.

18:30 Jeg har lidt alenetid og kigger på min smartphone. Jeg læser en interessant artikel om Trump og hans langvarige ven, Suzann Pettersen, den norske golf-darling. Ifølge artiklen siger Suzann, at Trump snyder meget under golfkampe. Han er ikke ret dygtig til at spille golf, og han plejer at sige, at han har haft bedre resultater, end han virkellig har haft. Og han har tendens til at overtale sine modstandere til at medgive ham puts, endda hvis de er ikke ret korte – du  godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!

For mig er det meget nostalgisk at læse igen om Suzann. Jeg mindes, at for 2-3 år siden, jeg fik  megacrushes på en flok af skandinavske sport-darlings, herunder Caroline Wozniacki, den danske tennis-darling, der i lørdags vandt Australian Open grand-slam tennisturneringen, sæsonens første turnering, og Carolines første grand-slam-gevinst.

Suzann Pettersen, den norske golf-darling var en anden af mine megacrushes. Den 20. september 2015 skrev jeg i min blog om en lidt ubehagelige skænderi mellem Suzann og Alison Lee, den amerikanske golf-darling.

Suzann Pettersen, den norske golf-darling

Jeg skrev, at Suzann Pettersen, den norske golf-darling, og Alison Lee, den amerikanske golf-darling, havde en skænderi i løbet af Solheim Cups sidste dag, og mange spillerinder fra både det amerikanske og det europæiske hold var i tårer. Alison troede, at Suzann havde erkendt sig slået på 17. hul. Derfor opsamlede Alison sin bold, der lå kun 15” (37.5cm) fra hullet, i stedet for at spille den. Umiddelbart insisterede Suzann på, at hun faktisk ikke har erkendt sig slået – uha! Derfor vandt Suzann hullet efter alt.

Tilbageblik til september 2015: et skænderi mellem Suzann Pettersen

og Alison Lee resulterer i, at mange spillere er i tårer

Jeg havde troet, at golfspillere aldrig skændes! Men Lois fortæller mig, at golf er en nådesløs sport – uha! Jeg skrev i bloggen, at Suzann , tager ingen fanger! Det kan være, at hun er lige så nådesløs som Trump. Sikke et vanvid!!!!

tilbageblik til september 2015 –

Suzann Pettersen, den norske golf-darling ramte overskrifterne

i min daværende blog – chok rædsel !!!!

19:30 Jeg kigger på min smartphone. Lois har modtaget endnu en Facebook-besked fra Sylvia, sin kusine i Melbourne. Hun siger, at Rod faktisk nu er hendes partner, og at hun har sendt Lois en email for at forklare situationen. Jeg kigger på Lois’ mailboks, og jeg ser at emailen desværre ikke er ankommet – pokkers!

Rod: Sylvias seneste ”squeeze”

20:00 Jeg lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program, der handler om måder, folk kan lide at ende  breve og emails på. Programmets vært er den charmerende Michael Rosen.

Et interessant program – det er lidt af en skam, at jeg glider over i søvnen midt i programmet. Og Lois er ikke her for at knibe mig i armen. Pokkers!

Før jeg falder i søvn, hører jeg nogle uhøflige udtryk, man kan ende en email med: for eksempel ”Thanks.” (punktummet er den brutale del).

Også redaktøren, der besvarede alle hendes personalets forslag på artikler mellem kun 1 ord: ”yep” eller ”nope”.

Også Hillary Clintons 2-3 ords udtryk: ”Is this done?” eller “Update me”.

Udtryk, der ser ud som om de er venlige, men er ikke det virkelig: “Thanks in advance” eller “Just a friendly reminder”.

Folk gjorde det anderledes i det 15. århundrede. En families breve og korrespondance blev indstævnet af en dommer og man kan stadig læse dem i officielle arkiver.

William Paston endte et brev med ”I submit me in all this matter to your good discretion, and ever gramercy God and ye whoever have you and me in his gracious governance. Your man. Wm Paston.”

Meget historisk, selvom “Your man” lyder lidt “urban slang” i mine ører.

Williams kone, Margaret endte et brev til sin mand som følger: ”The blessed trinity have you in his keeping, by your groaning wife. M.P.”.  Det kan jeg godt lide også, selvom ordet “groaning” er lidt tvetydigt, synes jeg. Var det et kompliment til hendes mand, eller en klage? Det er juryen stadig ude om (efter 600 år ha ha ha).

22:00 Lois kommer tilbage. Jeg går i seng, men Lois trænger til at geare ned efter aftenens stimulerende bibelseminar om de mindre profeter. Stakkels Lois !!!!! Hun går i gang med at se lidt fjernsyn. Hun vækker mig ikke, da hun en time senere hopper op i sengen til mig.

Monday 29 January 2018

10:00 We drive Minx, Alison's cat, over to the veterinary clinic at the entrance to the local racecourse, to get her claws clipped again. Alison left Minx with us when her little family moved to Denmark 5 years ago.

Minx's claws grow very quickly and tend to get trapped in Lois's sweaters or dresses when she sits on Lois's lap.

11:00 We come home. I get going with reading more sentences in Chapter 4 of Njáls saga, an Icelandic saga, written approx. 1280 AD. The saga's story plays out in Rangárvellir in southern Iceland approx. 950-1015 AD, and this chapter is about 2 brothers, Höskuldr and Hrut.

Hrut, a shy young man, has with difficulty managed to get engaged to Unnar, a nice Icelandic girl, and the wedding has been fixed for 2 weeks after midsummer. Then suddenly an unforeseen problem arises - Hrut's brother Eyvind dies unexpectedly in Norway, and Eyvind has bequeathed all his worldly goods to Hrut. The problem is that Hrut's enemies in Norway are trying to make a grab for the legacy.

Hrut, a shy young Icelander, chooses Unnar

from a bunch of Icelandic girls to be his future wife.

The result is that Hrut must sail to Norway to claim his inheritance, leaving Unnar, his fiancee, in Iceland, and thus postponing the wedding. I managed to read a little further yesterday, and I found out that when Hrut arrives in Norway, he becomes Queen Gunnhild's sex-slave for two weeks - yikes, poor Hrut !!!!

when Hrut arrives in Norway, he becomes

Queen Gunnhild's sex-slave for 2 weeks - poor Hrut !!!!

It is a little worrying that Hrut, an Icelander, had enemies in Norway for some reason. Lois and I have visited Norway twice, in 1970 (Hardangerfjord) after we first hooked up, and in 1972 (Sognefjord) when we traveled over there on our honeymoon. However we do not have any Norwegian enemies as far as I know. In 45 years, we haven't even received any hate mail, although I'm still expecting it on a daily basis ha ha ha.

Flashback to September: me standing in front of our guest-house

Lois and I vacationed in Norway after we first hooked up.

Happy days !!!!!

12:30 We eat lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap. I get up at 2:30pm and drive over to the local dental clinic. I have an appointment with Josh, at 3:15pm, not for treatment but for a review of my top back teeth on the right hand side - there are 3 that have a problem - yikes! Josh investigates them, but he is not entirely sure whether treatment is advisable or not. He will get me an appointment with a local endodontist, ie a dentist who specializes in problems inside the teeth - yikes (again) !!!!! It does not sound very good, I have to admit.

I have never seen an endodontist, and frankly I'm a little scared of them. They are a little too outspoken in my opinion - they are always the first to comment on articles on The Onion,'s influential news website, and sometimes I wish they would not hurry to publicise their opinions quite so readily, especially the loud-mouthed Carmen Kahn and Dick McQuarrie: they are the worst ones, no doubt about that !!!!

16:00 I come home and we relax with a cup of tea on the couch. We chat about how much local cash we need to take on the journey next time we travel to Australia to see our daughter Sarah and her family. I do some research - last time we actually took 550 Australian dollars (300 pounds) and 300 UAE-dirhams (about 60 pounds), which is the currency in the United Arab Emirates. Last time we stayed overnight in Dubai, but next time we will only see the inside of the airport's transit hall. The whole journey is going to be one long, total nightmare, we have no doubts about that - oh dear!

Lois met Barbara, her former pedicurist, the other day on the street. She said she had recently moved into a house in the village, on the Burgage. She offered to paint Lois' toes before we fly off to Australia.

Barbara, Lois’s former pedicurist

Tomorrow we will be in town. Our bank has issued me a new contactless credit card and I'm a little suspicious about whether they are as safe as the old cards, so I want to ask them to issue me an old-fashioned instead. And Lois has to slip into Specsavers Optics to get her new glasses adjusted. Busy, busy, busy! However did we find the time to go to work ha ha ha.

18:00 We have dinner and stick our feet up in front of the television. There are a lot of interesting programs on the BBC2 channel this evening and we recall the term "televisual feast", one of our favourite quotations from an episode of the old sitcom Fawlty Towers. The quote stems from a dialogue between the hotel owner, Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) and an annoying guest, Mr. Hutchinson (Bernard Cribbins) who wants to book the BBC2 channel on the hotel's lounge TV so he can watch a documentary about the Blackfoot Indians in the 1860s.

The BBC2 channel offers a real "televisual feast" tonight (in our opinion), but everyone to their own taste and what cures a smith kills a tailor as the Danes say.

tonight's "televisual feast" from the BBC2 channel

Only Connect is on. We like this quiz. We usually try to answer the questions before the 8 "brains" do, as always, to prove that we are not yet suffering from dementia.

Our chance to shine comes with a question where the 6 "brains" are asked to complete this sequence of 4 expressions: "light" (1st clue), "gleaming" (2nd clue), "fight" (3rd clue).

The question defeats all 6 "brains", but Lois and I recognize the 3 words as the last words in the first 4 lines of the American national anthem:

Oh say, can you see by the dawn's early light

What we proudly so hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.

Dementia, where is thy sting, dementia, where is thy victory?

22:00 We go happily to bed. We read about 10 pages of our respective bedtime books, "Side Effects May Vary" and "The Quantum Astrologers Handbook" before we drift off to sleep - zzzzzzzz !!!!! - zzzzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

10:00 Vi kører Minx, Alisons kat over til dyrlægeklinikken ved indgangen til den lokale væddeløbsbane, for at få hendes kløer klippet igen. Alison efterlod Minx hos os, da hendes lille familie for 5 år siden flyttede til Danmark.

Minx’ kløer vokser rigtig hurtigt og har tendens til at blive viklet ind i Lois’s sweatere eller kjoler, når hun sætter sig på Lois’s skød. Vi kommer hjem.

11:00 Jeg går i gang med at læse flere sætninger i kapitel 4 af Njáls saga, en islændingesaga, skrevet ca. 1280. Sagas historie foregår i Rangárvellir på det sydlige Island ca. år 950-1015, og denne kapitel handler om 2 brødre, Höskuldr og Hrut.

Hrut, en genert ung mand, er med besvær blevet forlovet med Unnar, en pæn islandsk pige, og bryllupet er blevet bestemt til 2 uger efter midsommer. Så pludselig opstår et uforudset problem – Hruts bror, Eyvind, dør uforventet i Norge, og Eyvind har testamenteret al sit jordiske gods til Hrut. Problemet er, at Hruts fjender i Norge prøver at nappe arven.

Hrut, en genert ung islænding, vælger Unnar

fra en flok af islandske piger som sin kommende kone.

Resultatet er, at Hrut må sejle til Norge for at fordre sin arv, efterlade Unnar, sin forlovede, i Island, og udskyde brylluppet. Jeg læste lidt videre i går, og jeg fandt ud af, at når Hrut ankommer til Norge, bliver han dronning Gunnhilds sex-slave i to uger – yikes, stakkels Hrut!!!!

da Hrut ankommer til Norge, bliver han

dronning Gunnhilds sex-slave i 2 uger – stakkels Hrut!!!!

Det er lidt bekymrende, at Hrut, der er islænding, havde fjender i Norge, af en eller anden grund. Lois og jeg har besøgt Norge to gange, i 1970 (Hardangerfjord), efter vi først fandt sammen, og i 1972 (Sognefjord), da vi rejste derover på bryllupsrejse. Men vi har ikke nogle norske fjender, så vidt jeg ved. I 45 år har vi engang ikke modtaget noget hademail, selvom jeg stadig forventer det til daglig. 

Tilbageblik til september 1970: Lois og jeg

holder ferie i Norge efter vi først fandt sammen

- lykkelige dage !!!!

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en kort eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 14:30 og kører over til den lokale tandlægeklinik. Jeg har en aftale kl 15:15 hos Josh, ikke for at gennemgå behandling, men for at få undersøgt de øverste bagtænder på højre side – der er 3, der har et problem -  yikes! Josh undersøger dem, men han er ikke helt sikker på, om behandlingen er tilrådelig, eller ej. Han vil få mig en aftale hos en lokale endodontist, dvs en tandlæge, der har specialiseret sig i problemer inde tanden – yikes (igen) !!!!! Det lyder ikke ret godt, det må jeg indrømme.

Jeg har aldrig set en endodontist, og ærligt talt er jeg lidt bange for dem. De er lidt for frimodige efter min mening – de er altid de første til at kommentere artikler på The Onion, den indflydelsesrige nyhedswebsted, og nogle gange ønsker jeg, at de ikke ville skynde sig så ivrigt at publisere deres meninger, især de højrøstede Carmen Kahn og Dick McQuarrie: de er de værste, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

16:00 Jeg kommer hjem og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Vi snakker om hvor meget lokal kontant vi behøver at tage med på rejse, den næste gang vi rejser til Australien for at se vores datter Sarah og hendes familie. Jeg gør lidt forskning – sidste gang tog vi faktisk 550 australske dollars (ca. 300£) og 300 uae-dirhams (ca. 60£), som er valutaen i de Forenede Arabiske Emirater. Sidste gang overnattede vi i Dubai, men næste gang vil vi kun se indret af lufthavnens transithalle. Hele rejsen kommer til at blive ét langt, totalt mareridt, det har vi ikke nogen tvivl om – uha!

Lois mødte Barbara, sin tidligere fodplejer, forleden på gaden. Hun sagde, hun for nylig var flyttet ind i et hus i landsbyen på Borgergade. Hun tilbød at male Lois’ tæer, før vi flyver af sted til Australien.

Barbara, Lois’ tidligere fodplejer

I morgen skal vi i byen. Vores bank har udstedt mig et nyt kontaktløst kreditkort, og jeg er lidt mistænksom over, om de er så sikre som de gamle kort, så ønsker jeg at bede dem om at udstede mig et gammel-stil i stedet for. Og Lois skal smutte ind i Specsavers Optik, for at få sine nye brille justeret. Travlt, travlt, travlt! Hvordan for fanden fandt vi tiden til at gå på arbejde ha ha ha.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og smækker benene op foran fjernsynet. Der er en masse interessante programmer på BBC2-kanalen i aften, og vi mindes om udtrykket ”televisual feast”, fra en af vores citationer fra et afsnit af den gamle sitcom Fawlty Towers. Citationen stammer  fra en dialog mellem hotellets ejer, Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), og en irriterende kunde, hr Hutchinson (Bernard Cribbins), der vil gerne booke BBC2-kanalen på hotellets lounge-tv, så han kan se en dokumentarfilm om de sortfod indianer i 1860’erne.

BBC2-kanalen tilbyder en rigtig “televisual feast” i aften (efter vores mening), men alle har deres smag, og hvad der kurerer en smed slår en skrædder ihjel, som danskerne siger.

aftenens ”televisual feast” fra BBC2-kanalen

De viser Only Connect. Vi kan godt lide denne quiz. Vi plejer at prøve at besvare spørgsmålene, før de 8 ”hjerner” gør det, som altid, for at bevise, at vi ikke endnu lider af demens.

Min chance for at udmærke mig kommer med et spørgsmål, hvor de 6 ”hjerner” blive bedt om at fuldende denne sekvens af 4 udtryk: ”light” (1. spor), ”gleaming” (2. spor), ”fight” (3. spor).  

Spørgsmålet besejrer alle 6 ”hjerner”, men Lois og jeg genkender de 3 ord, som de sidste ord i de første 4 linjer af den amerikanske nationale hymne:

Oh say, can you see by the dawn’s early light

What we proudly so hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming.

Demens, hvor er din sejr, demens, hvor er din brod?

22:00 Vi går lykkeligt i seng. Vi læser ca 10 sider af vores henholdsvise sengetidbøger, ”Side Effects May Vary” og ”The Quantum Astrologers Handbook”, før vi glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzzz!!!!! – zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!