Tuesday 16 January 2018

09:30 Lois puts the last piece in on our "impossible" 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. We started working on it on December 27th, so it took us (mainly Lois, I must admit) almost 3 weeks. It is a tribute to her endurance that she has finally completed it. Well done, Lois, and hail to thee - you kept us out of war!

Lois has put the last piece of the puzzle in, after 20 days - hurrah!

10:00 We drive over to the local Sainsburys supermarket to do the shopping. Not too many customers, which is great - we realize that Tuesday is the day when it's quietest there. The downside is that there are fewer checkouts open and some shelves are not as well-stocked as usual. To me, the lack of other customers is the biggest selling point. Other customers are just annoying in my opinion !!! Especially the elderly - not that I'm elderly myself, ha ha ha.

We drive home. The postman has delivered my shiny new portable DVD player. It is the kind of DVD player that parents buy for their children to use in their rooms. The screen is not very big, but I can watch DVDs on it when I hop up on my exercise bike. Also Lois and I can take it with us when we stay overnight in hotels, etc.

I call the Cotswold Dairies. David Attenborough, the famous television naturalist, has the idea that we should use less plastic. Plastic tends to end up in the ocean where fish eat it so it is also inside the fish we eat, he says - yuck! Lois suggests that we order milk in 1-pint glass bottles, like in the good old days, instead of the new-fangled 1-litre plastic cartons.

We ask the milkman to deliver 4 pints, on each of Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays. so all in all a little more (12 pints a week) than the 6 litres we currently get, which is nice.

If a beloved and respected celebrity, like David Attenborough or Jamie Oliver, starts some campaign on behalf of the environment, the whole country falls flat on its face - they listen to what these celebrities are saying and obey them without question. If politicians start campaigns, people tend to ignore them. Good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

11:00 I chat a little with Lois about our plans to help the environment. I remind her that the US, as often, is a few years ahead in environmentally friendly waste disposal in comparison to Britain. As early as 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency's officials had begun advising Americans to sort their plastic materials and glass materials into separate oceans (report, February 16, 2015, source: Onion News).

Officials reminded Americans that clear, brown and green glass should be thrown into the Atlantic Ocean, and plastics classified as 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 belonged to the Pacific. They added that lakes and rivers should be strictly limited to the disposal of paper products. They also stressed that Americans should throw out old computers, televisions, cell phones and other unwanted electronics in forests only on their assigned day of the week.

We talk a little about the UK's miserable history when it comes to the environment. Why are we always the last to take up new ideas? We are not entirely sure, however - the jury is still out on that.

13:00 Lunch and afterwards a giant afternoon nap.

16:00 I get up. Lois wants to take part in a Bible seminar this evening in Brockworth library. The first session of a new semester: the subject is the minor prophets. She intended to drive herself to Mari-Anne's house, so Mari-Ann and Alf could drive her the rest of the way.

However, I am a little nervous on her behalf. She has not driven a car in the dark since she had her eye surgery a couple of months back. And the weather girl says it may snow for a few hours tonight starting from 9pm. I offer to drive her over to Mari-Anne's house. They will be happy to drive her over to Brockworth and drive her home again after the seminar ends, I'm absolutely sure.

the weather forecast for the evening - the weather girl

says it may snow a little between 9pm and 1am - yikes!

17:30 We have dinner a bit earlier than usual, and afterwards I drive Lois over to Mari-Anne's house. She and Alf, her husband, are happy to drive her over to Brockworth, where all three are taking part tonight in a seminar about the minor prophets.

19:00 I drive home. I have a little alone time and listen to the radio, an interesting program all about Powerpoint, the famous business software for creating presentations characterized by slide after slide covered with bullet points. The program's presenter is the charming Ian Sanson.

I find this program very nostalgic, and it reminds me that I have been retired for 12 years, which is a long time - it now accounts for 16% of my life. When I was at work, I knew how to make powerpoint presentations in my sleep, but now I would not know where to start.

Death by Powerpoint - that is the famous phrase, and PowerPoint presentations have a reputation for being boring. Also, there is a more serious accusation that slides with bullet point lists can give the impression that the information has meaning and is structured, whereas in fact it is not.

a typical powerpoint slide

Sansom says that some people use powerpoint for everything, and not just at work. Nokia was a company that had the reputation of putting everything in Powerpoint, so a co-worker would invite another to go out for lunch and have a beer, by sending an email with the suggestion written in a powerpoint attachment.

Sansom interviews Ben, who works in a company where powerpoint presentations form a big part of the job. He was on Tinder the other day, and somebody invited him out on a date and he said yes. The woman asked him what he recommended because he knew London better than she did. Ben chose to send her a powerpoint presentation, full of options and ideas for a first date. The woman did not reply, she just blocked him - my god, what madness !!!!

22:00 Lois comes home. Mari-Ann and Alf drop her off in front of the house. There has been no snow, needless to say.

Lois is all fired up after tonight's presentation on the minor prophets, no doubt about that!

I go to bed (zzzzzzzzzz!), But Lois needs to relax and wind down, so she watches a little television. She does not wake me up when she hops into bed with me an hour later.

Danish translation

09:30 Lois lægger den sidste brik i vores”umulige” puslespil med 1000 brikker. Vi startede at arbejde på det den 27. december, så det har taget os (først og fremmest) Lois næsten 3 uger. Det er en hyldest til hendes udholdenhed, at hun endelig har fuldendet det. Godt klaret, Lois, og hyl dig – du holdt os ud af krig!

Lois har lagt puslespillets sidste brik efter 20 dage – hurra!

10:00 Vi kører over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at købe ind. Ikke for mange kunder, hvilket er flot – vi bliver klar over, at tirsdag er dagen, når der er mest stille og roligt derinde. Ulempen er, at der er færre pengekasser, som er åbne, og nogle hylder er ikke så velforsynede, som sædvanligt. For mig, manglen af andre kunder er det største salgsargument. Andre kunder er bare irriterende efter min mening!!! I sær de ældre - ikke fordi jeg selv er ældre ha ha ha.

Vi kører hjem. Postbudet har leveret min spritnye bærebare dvd-afspiller. Den er den slags dvd-afspiller, som forældre køber til deres børn til at bruge i deres værelser. Skærmen er ikke særlig stor, men jeg kan se dvd’er på den, når jeg hopper op på min kondicykel. Også Lois og jeg kan tage den med, når vi overnatter i hoteller osv.

Jeg ringer til Cotswold Dairies-mejeret. David Attenborough, den berømte tv-naturforsker har forslåget, at vi burde bruge mindre plastik. Plastik har tendens til at ende op i havet, hvor fisk æder den, så den også er inde i fiskene vi spiser, siger han – føj! Lois forslår, at vi bestiller mælk i 1-pints glasflasker, som i de gode gamle dage, i stedet for de nymodens 1-liters plastik kartoner.

Vi beder mælkemanden om at levere 4 pints, både om tirsdagen, og torsdagen og lørdagen. så alt i alt lidt mere (12 pints om ugen), end de 6 liter vi for tiden får, hvilket er rart.

Hvis en elsket og velanset kendis, som David Attenborough eller Jamie Oliver starter en eller anden kampagne på vegne af miljøet, går hele landet i gulvet – de lytter til hvad disse kendisser sager, og adlyde dem uden spørgsmål. Hvis politkere starter kampagner, plejer befolkningen at ignorere dem. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!

11:00 Jeg snakker lidt med Lois om vores planer om at hjælpe miljøet. Jeg minder hende om, at USA, som ofte, er et par år forud med miljøvenlig bortskaffelse af affald i forhold til Storbritannien. Så tidligt som 2015, havde Miljøstyrelsens embedsmænd begyndt at råde amerikanerne til at sortere deres plastmaterialer og glasmaterialer i adskilte oceaner (rapport, den 16. februar 2015, kilde: Onion News).

Embedsmænd mindede amerikanere om, at klart, brunt og grønt glas skal udskylles og smides i Atlanterhavet, og plast klassificeret som 1, 2, 4, 6 og 7 tilhørte Stillehavet. De tilføjede, at søer og floder skulle begrænsede til bortskaffelse af strengt papirprodukter. De understregede også, at amerikanerne kun bør smide gamle computere, fjernsyn, mobiltelefoner og anden uønsket elektronik i skovene på deres tildelt dag i ugen.  

Vi snakker lidt om de Storbritanniens elendig historie, når det kommer til miljøet. Hvorfor er vi altid de sidste at tage nye idéer op? Det er vi ikke helt sikre på – juryen er stadig ude om det.

13:00 Frokost og bagefter en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

16:00 Jeg står op. Lois ønsker at deltage i en bibelseminar, der finder sted i aften i byen Brockworths bibliotek. den første session i en ny semester: emnet er de mindre profeter. Hun havde til hensigt at køre selv til Mari-Anns hus, så Mari-Ann og Alf kan køre hende resten af vejen.

Jeg er imidlertid lidt nervøs på hendes vegne. Hun har ikke kørt en bil i mørket, siden hun for et par måneder tilbage fik sin øjenoperation. Og vejrpigen siger, det kan sne lidt i nogle timer i aften startende fra kl 21. Jeg tilbyder at køre hende over til Mari-Anns hus. De vil være glade for at køre hende over til Brockworth, og køre hende hjem igen efter seminaret slutter, er jeg helt sikker på.

vejrudsigten til aftenen – vejrpigen

siger, det kan sne lidt mellem kl 21 og kl 1 – yikes!

17:30 Vi spiser aftensmad, lidt tidligere end normalt, og bagefter kører jeg Lois over til Mari-Anns hus. Hun og Alf, hendes mand, er glad for at køre hende over til Brockworth, hvor alle 3 i aften deltage i et bibelseminar, der handler om de mindre profeter.

19:00 Jeg kører hjem. Jeg har lidt alenetid og lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program, der handler om Powerpoint, det berømte forretningsoftware for at skabe præsentationer karakteriserede af slide efter slide dækket med punktopstillinger. Programmets vært er den charmerende Ian Sanson.

Jeg finder dette program meget nostalgisk, og det minder mig om, at jeg har været på pension i 12 år, hvilket er lang tid – det svarer nu til 16% af mit liv. Da jeg var på arbejde, kunne jeg lave powerpointpræsentationer i søvne, men nu ville jeg ikke vide, hvor jeg skulle begynde.

Død ved powerpoint – dette er det berømte udtryk, og powerpointpræsentationer har et ry for at være kedelige. Også er der en alvorligere beskyldning, at slides med punktopstillinger kan give indtryk af, at informationer har mening og er struktureret, mens faktisk er de ikke.

en typisk powerpoint-slide

Sansom siger, at nogle personer bruger powerpoint til alting, og ikke bare på arbejde. Nokia var et selskab, der havde ry for at skrive alting i Powerpoint, så den ene medarbejde plejede at invitere en anden til at gå ud i frokost og drikke en øl, ved at sende en email med forslaget skrevet i et powerpoint vedhæftning.

Sansom interviewer Ben, der arbejder i et selskab, hvor powerpoint præsentationer danner en stor del af arbejdet. Han var forleden på Tinder, og nogen inviterede ham ud på en date, og han sagde ja. Kvinden spurgte ham, hvad han anbefalede, fordi han kendte London bedre, end hende. Ben valgte at sende hende en powerpoint præsentation, fuld af optioner og idéer for en først date. Kvinden svarede ikke, hun blokerede ham bare – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

22:00 Lois kommer hjem. Mari-Ann og Alf sætter hende af foran huset. Der har ikke været noget sne, unødvendigt at sige.

Lois er oprømt efter aftenens fremlæggelse om de mindre profeter, ingen tvivl om det!

Jeg går i seng (zzzzzzzzzz!), men Lois trænger til at slappe af og gear ned. Hun ser lidt fjernsyn. Hun vækker mig ikke, da hun en time senere hopper op i sengen til mig.