Friday 25 May 2018

04:30 I get up early and take a little look online. I cannot help but notice the difference between the weather forecast here and the one in Copenhagen, where Alison, our eldest daughter lives. Where has our sunshine gone?

 

The weather in Cheltenham

 

The weather in Copenhagen

07:30 I hop back into bed with Lois and we drink our morning tea. We get up and go in the shower.

09:00 I browse last week's "The Week", Lois's magazine, which gives a summary of the news of the week. I see that John Gray has written a book entitled "The Seven Types of Atheism". I do not have the slightest idea why he has chosen the number seven, but I have long suspected that "seven" is the sexiest number and the most eye-catching when it comes to titles of movies or books etc. What madness !!!!

John Gray with his new book

In his new book, Gray discusses whether atheism is a religion or not.

Is atheism a religion? Steve, my brother in law, recently sent me an interesting online conversation between the famous atheist Hemant Mehta and Bodie Hodge, a creationist. Bodie claims that atheism is a religion, and that the atheist Hemant must in fact be religious, simply because he is constantly talking about religion.

Atheist Hermant Mehta crossing swords on the net with

creationist Bodie Hodge

Gray however says in his book that he believes atheists while claiming to reject religion, actually take on the thinking patterns and assumptions of religion by replacing religious beliefs with abstract concepts such as progress or humanity. He believes that most types of atheism share the idea that human history has an ultimate purpose.

He is much more enthusiastic about the kind of atheism he attributes to Joseph Conrad: an atheism that rejects the assumption that humans can be changed for the better.

Gray's views are unbelievably gloomy, John Carey said in The Sunday Times. Gray believes that history has no meaning, and that humanity has no objective existence. He believes that the idea that everyone should obey the same morality is absurd.

Gray may be right, but this worldview does not necessarily make him the ideal dinner party guest in my opinion. Do not expect an invitation from Lois and me, Mr Gray!

10:00 Lois and I carry on choosing the best photos from our stay in Australia and we design even more photo books: another photo book about our week in the Margaret River region with our daughter Sarah and her family, and a fourth photo book all about Lois's and my visit to the suburbs Leederville and Cottesloe.

The front cover of our 3rd photo book about the Margaret River region:

we visit the World Surfing Championships.

The front cover of our photo book about the suburbs of Leederville

and Cottesloe: we visit Leederville's thriving indoor fish market

12:00 I hop up on my exercise bike ride and cycle 3 miles. I'm going to gradually increase the distance bit by bit to my usual old 6 miles. While I'm cycling, I watch pop music videos from 1986, which I recorded on vhs tapes (now happily converted to DVDs).

12:30 Lunch and afterwards a giant afternoon nap.

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

Doreen Simmons has unfortunately died, aged 85. She was born in Nottingham and went to the same school as my father (Mandella Grammar School). After a short visit to Japan in 1968, she settled in the country in 1973. She had a Cambridge degree and had previously been a Latin teacher.

People tended to compare her with Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple" because of her voice and appearance, but she was actually the western world's leading expert in sumo wrestling, although, as far as I know, she never became a world champion, just a well-loved sumo enthusiast and television commentator: but I suspect she would have had to compete in the light flyweight class (less than 108 pounds) if she had decided to "get her hands dirty".

The Englishwoman Doreen Simmons, along with her wrestler friends

I'm a little jealous - I have to admit. I myself acquired a bachelor's degree in Japanese in 1969, and temporarily lived in Japan during 1970-1. I could have embarked on a career as a wrestler, but I moved home to England in 1971 and started work as an civil servant - damn, a wasted opportunity there, no doubt about that!

18:30 Lois and I have dinner and afterwards watch a bit of television. An old episode of Top of the Pops from September 1985 is showing.

I think Lois and I must have seen this episode at the time, but we do not remember most of the songs in the program.

Bonnie Tyler in September 1985

We were at that time struggling to get used to life in England again after 3 years of residence in the US. We also had to get used to our old house, which was much smaller than our American house.

Flashback to August 1985: we say goodbye to the US after 3 years of residence -

New York's iconic twin towers, as seen from the ship QE2

(Lois in centre with Sarah (8) and Alison (10) towards the right)

Our daughter Alison (10) on the deck of the QE2.

We approach the port city of Southampton, England - and sail past the

Isle of Wight's famous Needles, the cliffs and lighthouse

21:00 We continue to watch a bit of television, an interesting documentary about Cliff Richard, the famous English pop singer, who started his career in the late 1950s.

Cliff started with a sexy "bad boy" image (Elvis was his hero) - Kathy, my late younger sister, was initially one of his biggest fans.

Cliff in his "bad boy" days, along with The Shadows, his backing group

Cliff singing "Living Doll" in 1959 on Danish TV

But after 1-2 years, Cliff put this image back on the shelf and became a nice "boy next door" type. He "came out" as a Christian in the mid-1960s, after his career had been overshadowed by The Beatles and similar rock groups.

The question always arises again and again - is he gay? He has had some regular girlfriends, such as the singer Olivia Newton-John, and Sue Barker, the famous tennis player, but he never married and has apparently never been in a sexual relationship.

Lois and I assume that he is first and foremost keen to maintain his "nice" image, which is for some reason the most important thing in his life. He is basically a quiet, modest, unassuming man who has no interest in manipulating or controlling others. He may be a bit of a narcissist, but a nice, harmless one, nothing more than that, we think.

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation

04:30 Jeg står tidligt op og kigger lidt på nettet. Jeg kan ikke undgå at bemærke forskellen mellem vejret her og vejret i København, hvor Alison, vores ældste datter bor. Hvor bliver vores solskin af?

vejret i Cheltenham

vejret i København

07:30 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté. Vi står op og går i bad.

09:00 Jeg blader igennem sidste fredags ”The Week”, Lois’s tidskrift, der giver en resumé af ugens nyheder. Jeg ser, at John Gray har skrevet en bog med titlen ”De syv typer af ateisme”. Jeg har ikke den fjerneste anelse om, hvorfor han har valgt sig tallet syv, men jeg har for længe mistænkt, at  ”syv” er det mest sexede tal, og det mest iøjnefaldende, når det kommer til titler af film eller bøger osv. Sikke et vanvid!!!!

John Gray med sin nye bog

I sin nye bog, diskuterer Gray, om ateisme er en religion, eller ej.

Er ateismen en religion? Steve, min svigerbror, sendte mig for nylig en interessant online-samtale mellem den berømte ateist Hemant Mehta og Bodie Hodge, en kreationist, hvor Bodie påstår, at ateisme er en religion og at ateisten Hemant faktisk må være religiøs, fordi han taler konstant om religion.

Ateisten Hermant Mehta dyster på nettet mod

kreationisten Bodie Hodge

Gray mener, at ateister påstår at afvise religion, men faktisk overtager de religionens tænkning-mønstrer og antagelser, ved at udskifte religiøs tro med abstrakt concepter, som for eksempel fremskridt eller menneskelighed. Han tror, at de fleste typer af ateisme deler idéen, at den menneskelige historie har et ultimativt formål.

Gray er meget mere entusiastisk over for den form for ateismen, han tillægger Joseph Conrad: en ateisme, som afviser antagelsen om, at mennesker kan ændres til det bedre. Greys synspunkter er ufatteligt dystre, sagde John Carey i The Sunday Times. Gray mener, at historien ikke har nogen mening, at menneskeheden ikke har nogen objektiv eksistens. Han tror, at idéen om, at alle skal adlyde den samme moral, er absurd.

Det kan godt være, at Gray har ret, men dette verdensbillede ikke nødvendigvis gør ham til at være den ideelle middagsselskabsgæst efter min mening. Forvent ikke en invitation fra Lois og mig, hr Gray!

10:00 Lois og jeg fortsætter med at vælge de bedste fotos fra vores ophold i Australien og med at designe endnu flere fotobøger: endnu en fotobog, der handler om vores uge i Margaret River-regionen sammen med vores datter Sarah og hendes familie, og en fjerde fotobog, der handler om Lois’s og min besøg til forstæderne Leederville og Cottesloe.

forsiden af vores 3. fotobog om Margaret River-regionen:

vi besøger verdensmesterskabet i surfing.

LeedervilleCover: forsiden af vores fotobog om forstæderne Leederville

og Cottesloe: vi besøger Leedervilles blomstrende fiskemarked

12:00 Jeg hopper op på min kondicykel og cykler 3 miles. Jeg har tænkt mig gradvist at øge afstanden bid for bid til mine gamle sædvanlige 6 miles. Mens jeg cykler ser jeg på popmusikvideoer fra 1986, som jeg optog på vhs-bånd (nu konverterede til dvd’er).

12:30 Frokost og bagefter en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

16:00 Vi står op 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.

Doreen Simmons er desværre død, på 85 år. Hun var født i Nottingham, og gik i samme skole, som  min far (Mandella Grammar School). Efter et kort besøg til Japan i 1968, slog hun sig ned i landet i 1973. Hun havde en bachelorgrad fra Cambridge University og havde før i tiden arbejdet i England som latin-lærerinde.

Folk havde tendens til at sammenligne hende med Agatha Christies ”Miss Marple” på grund af hendes stemme og udseende, men hun var faktisk den vestlige verdens førende ekspert i sumo brydning, selvom, så vidt jeg ved, hun selv aldrig blev en verdensmester, bare en velanset sumo-entusiast og tv-kommentator:  men jeg mistænker, at hun ville have konkurreret i den let- fluevægtklasse (mindre, end 108 pund), hvis hun havde besluttet at ”få sine hænder beskidte”.

Engelske Doreen Simmons, sammen med sine brydere-venner

Jeg er lidt jaloux – det må jeg indrømme. Jeg selv erhvervede en bachelorgrad i japansk i 1969, og boede midlertidligt til japan i 1970-1. Jeg kunne være begyndt på en karriere som bryder, men jeg flyttede hjem til England i 1971 og startede et job som embedsmand – pokkers, en spildt lejlighed der, ingen tvivl om det!

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad, og bagefter ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser et afsnit af Top of the Pops fra september 1985.

Jeg tror, at Lois og jeg må have set dette afsnit, men vi husker ikke de fleste sange i programmet.

Bonnie Tyler i september 1985

Vi kæmpede dengang at vænne os til livet i England igen efter 3 års ophold i USA. Vi måtte også vænne os til vores gamle hus, der var meget mindre, end vores amerikanske hus.

Tilbageblik til august 1985: vi siger farvel til USA efter 3 års ophold –

New Yorks ikoniske tvillingertårnene, som set fra skibet QE2

Vi nærmer os til havnebyen Southampton, England – og sejler forbi

Isle of Wights berømte Needles klipper og fyrtårn

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om Cliff Richard, en berømt engelsk popsanger, der startede sin karriere sidst i 1950’erne.

Cliff startede med et sexet “bad boy” image (Elvis var hans helt) – Kathy, min afdøde lillesøster, var i begyndelsen en af hans største fans.

Cliff i sine ”bad boy” dage, sammen med The Shadows, sin backinggruppe

Cliff syngende ”Living Doll” i 1959 på dansk tv

Men efter 1-2 år lagde Cliff dette image på hylden og blev til en sød ”boy next door”-type. Han ”sprang ud” som kristen midt i 1960’erne, efter hans karriere var blevet overskygget af The Beatles og lignende rockgrupper.

Spørgsmålet opstår altid igen og igen – er han bøsse? Han har i perioder haft faste girlfriends, som for eksempel sangerinden Olivia Newton-John, og Sue Barker, den berømte tennisspiller, men han har aldrig giftet sig og har tilsyneladende aldrig været i et seksuelt forhold.

Lois og jeg formoder, at han først og fremmest er frisk på at fastholde sit ”søde” image, hvilket er af en eller anden grund den mest vigtige ting i sit liv. Han er grundlæggende en stille, beskeden, fordringsløs mand, der har ingen interesse i at manipulere eller kontrollere andre. Han er måske lidt af en narcissist, men en harmløs, intet mere end det, synes vi.

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!