10:00 Lois and I drive over to the town of Banbury. We
are going to stay overnight in the town on Monday night because I have to take
a course organized by the Oxfordshire County Police: I have become a bit of a
bad boy because police speed cameras caught me in Rose Hill, Oxford when I was
driving at 35 miles an hour, where the speed limit was 30 mph. It all happened
in late February just before Lois and I traveled on vacation to Australia.
Damn!
It was my first offense after almost 50 years of motoring
- damn (again!). But the police gave me an option to take a course, instead of
getting "points" on my driving license, which is a bit of a relief.
We hoped to visit two of Lois's relatives, John and Sue,
who live in the town, but there was no answer when we called them the other
day, which is a bit of a shame. Maybe they are on holiday, but we will try to
contact them again today from our hotel in the town center.
Route: Our route from Cheltenham to Banbury
The hotel was built in the 17th century and overlooks the
famous hub Banbury Cross, a place name that comes in the old English children's
rhyme, "Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross, to see a fine lady ride on a
white horse ".
11:30 We check in at the hotel and eat our packed lunches
in the room. Afterwards Lois goes for a walk in town. She looks around the
shops a bit and visits some old buildings that are important to her
genealogical research: her late father was born in the town.
I walk down the stairs to the hotel's "Garden
Suite" and take the county police's course together with about 25 other
participants. We are all people who have violated the speed limit by less than
10 miles per hour.
The course lasts 4 hours, including a 15-minute break. It
is at times quite boring because the course leaders are actually telling us
what we mostly know. But all in all, I'm glad I'm taking the course. It's a
useful refresher - I've actually not looked at the highway code since I got my
driving license in 1969. I learn some things I did not know and I'm sure I'll
drive more carefully in the future. Hats off to the county police.
16:30 The course ends and I meet up with Lois in our
room. We walk down the stairs to the hotel's garden and order sandwiches and a
cup of tea (Lois) and a glass of beer (me).
19:00 We have dinner in the hotel restaurant. I'm glad
that the restaurant offers a tempting range of gin and tonics, my favorite
drink, which coincidentally in the last couple of years has become very fashionable.
It's a little unusual for me to be suddenly "in fashion" - good
grief! After a lot of thought I choose to opt for a Hendricks again, with its
hint of cucumber - yum yum!
Hendrick's Gin
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!
(Tuesday)
08:30 We have breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Before
we check out we walk around the hotel, into the back garden and onto the street
in front of the hotel, to take some photos.
King James II visited the town in September 1687 and
stayed in one of the hotel's rooms: this room was actually used by local
Catholics for secret meetings. It was then illegal to perform Catholic
services. The room was connected to a system of secret stairs and tunnels so
that the Catholics could, if necessary, easily escape to other parts of the
town if the authorities became suspicious. The king himself was a (semi-secret)
Catholic, and was exiled by Parliament the following year. He was replaced by
the Protestant duo, William and Mary, in 1688.
Lois in the garden where yesterday afternoon
we drank tea and ate sandwiches
Me in front of the hotel's main entrance
Me in front of the room, the so-called
"Father's Dyneing Room",
where King James II stayed in 1687
11:00 We drive back to Cheltenham. We have lunch and
afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap.
16:00 I get up. I have received a rather distressing
email from my sister Gill, who lives in Cambridge. She traveled north a week
ago, together with Peter, her husband, and Lucy, her youngest daughter, to the
county of Lancashire to stay for a week in a couple of holiday homes to
celebrate her 60th birthday. Gill's other daughters, Zoe and Maria, also stayed
there for a few days.
Gill (left) last week on vacation in Lancashire
Unfortunately, Gill began to feel ill soon after the
family arrived at holiday homes, and she was taken by ambulance to the local
emergency room. The doctors thought the problem might be associated with her
recent shingles, but the situation is not entirely clear and she is now waiting
for her local hospital in Cambridge to give her a neurological examination.
Doctors have asked her a lot of questions about our
parents' and our grandparents' health records, which she has had difficulty answering.
She asks me about our father's diagnosis and our paternal grandmother's
diagnosis (she died unexpectedly in 1938 in 52 years) and she also asks me if I
know anything about a history of heart attacks or strokes in our family so I do
some research .
My conclusion is that there have not been a lot of heart
problems - our mother finally died of a heart attack, but she was 91, and was
not very good at taking her pills regularly. I tell Gill I will do a little
more research about our paternal grandmother's death. Poor Gill. She has
cancelled her birthday party, scheduled for June 2nd.
17:00 I take a little look at Facebook. I see that Ed,
our son-in-law in Copenhagen, has been in Paris the last 2-3 days . He says he
is "networking" but Lois and I suppose he is continuing to search for
his next job - his work in Copenhagen finished at the end of March.
Ed, our son-in-law in Copenhagen
is currently in Paris
17:30 Lois and I have dinner, a bit earlier than usual,
and afterwards we have to go out. Lois wants to attend her church's bible
seminar taking place this evening in the town of Brockworth. I drive her over
to Mari-Ann and Alf's house - they will drive her over to Brockworth. I drop
Lois off in front of Mari Ann's house and drive home.
I have a little alone time and watch a bit of television,
the second episode of the Danish-Swedish crime series "The Bridge",
which is about crime in Copenhagen and Malmo in Sweden, two cities connected by
the famous bridge. The star of the series is the gorgeous Swedish actress,
Sofia Helin.
This time again, I want to finally work out who is who among all
the characters who sport small well-groomed beards - I tend to mix them all up.
Two of these characters are identical twins, which complicates the problem even
more, but today is my lucky day - one of the twins gets murdered - he is
electrocuted in his outdoor hot tub.
Hurrah! One less bearded man in the series. Finally, I
can see light at the end of the tunnel!
22:00 Lois returns home - Mari-Ann drops her off in front
of the house. I go to bed, but Lois needs to relax and wind down after the
evening's stimulating Bible seminar, all about Jesus’s brother James and his
epistle. So she watches a little television.
22:30 She jumps into bed with me. What a two days it has
been!
Danish
translation
10:00 Lois og
jeg kører over til byen Banbury. Vi skal overnatte midt i byen mandag aften,
fordi jeg må tage et kursus organiseret af grevskabet Oxfordshires politi: jeg
er blevet lidt af en bad boy, fordi politiets hastighedskameraer fangede mig i
Rose Hill, Oxford, da jeg kørte 35 miles i timen, hvor der var en
hastighedgrænse på 30 miles i timen. Det hele skete lige før Lois og jeg i
slutningen af februar rejste på ferie til Australien. Pokkers!
Det var min
første lovovertrædelse efter næsten 50 års som bilist – pokkers (igen!). Men
politiet gave mig en option til at tage et kursus, i stedet for at få ”punkter”
på mit kørekort, hvilket er lidt af en lettelse.
Vi håbede at
kunne besøge to af Lois’s slægtninge, John og Sue, der bor i byen, men der var
intet svar, når vi forleden ringede til dem, hvilket er lidt af en skam. De er
måske på ferie, men vi vil forsøge at kontakte dem igen i dag fra vores
hotel i bymidten.
vores rute fra Cheltenham til Banbury
Hotellet var
bygget i det 17. århundrede, og har udsigt over det berømte knudepunkt, Banbury
Cross, et stednavn, der står i den gamle engelske børnerim, ”Ride a cock horse
to Banbury Cross, to see a fine lady ride on a white horse”.
11:30 Vi
tjekker ind på hotellet og spiser vores madpakker i værelset. Bagefter går Lois
en tur i byen. Hun kigger lidt rundt i butikkerne og besøger nogle gamle
bygninger, der har betydning for hendes genealogiske forskning: hendes afdøde
far var født i byen.
Jeg går ned ad
trappen til hotellets ”Havesuite” og tager det lokale politiets kursus sammen
med ca 25 andre deltagere. Vi er alle mennesker, der har overtrådt
hastighedsgrænsen med mindre, end 10 miles i timen.
Kurset varer 4
timer, herunder en 15-minutters tepause. Det er af og til lidt kedeligt, fordi
kursets ledere faktisk er i gang med at fortælle os, hvad vi for det meste
allerede ved. Men alt i alt er jeg glad for, at jeg tager kurset. Det er et
nyttigt repetitionskursus – jeg har faktisk ikke bladet igennem færdselslovet
siden jeg fik mit kørekort i 1969. Jeg lærer nogle ting, jeg ikke vidste, og
jeg er helt sikker på, at jeg vil køre mere forsigtigt i fremtiden. En ros til
grevskabets politi.
16:30 Kurset
slutter og jeg mødes med Lois i vores værelse. Vi går ned ad trappen til
hotellets have og bestiller sandwiches og en kop te (Lois) og et glas øl (mig).
19:00 Vi
spiser aftensmad i hotellets restaurant. Jeg er glad for, at restauranten
tilbyder en fristende vifte af gin-og-tonics, min yndlingsdrik, der tilfældigvis
i de seneste få år er blevet meget moderigtig. Det er lidt usædvanligt for mig,
at være pludselig ”på mode” – du godeste! Efter en masse tænkning vælger jeg at
optere for en Hendricks igen, med dens antydning af agurk – yum yum!
Hendricks
gin
22:00 Vi går i
seng – zzzzzzz!!!!
(tirsdag)
08:30 Vi
spiser morgenmad in hotellets restaurant. Før vi tjekker ud går vi rundt i
hotellet, i baghaven og i gaden foran hotellet for at tage nogle fotos.
Kong Jakob 2.
besøgte byen i september 1687, og boede i et af
hotellets værelser: dette værelse blev faktisk brugt af lokale katoliker til
hemmelige møder. Det var dengang ulovligt at praktisere katolske tjenester.
Værelset var forbundet med et system af hemmelige trapper og tunneler, så
katolikkerne kunne, hvis nødvendigt, sagtens undslippe til andre dele af byen,
hvis myndighederne blev mistænkelige. Selve kongen var en (delvis hemmelig)
katolik, og blev forvist af parlamentet det følgende år. Han blev erstattet af
det protestantiske duo, William og Mary, i 1688.
Lois
i haven, hvor vi i går eftermiddags drak te og spiste sandwiches
Mig,
foran hotellets hovedindgang
Mig,
foran det værelse, det såkaldte ”Father’s Dyneing Room”,
hvor kong Jakob 2.
boede i 1687
11:00 Vi kører
tilbage til Cheltenham. Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager
en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.
16:00 Jeg står
op. Jeg har fået en lidt bedrøvende email fra min søster Gill, der bor i
Cambridge. Hun rejste nord for en uge siden, sammen med Peter, sin mand, og
Lucy, sin yngste datter, til grevskabet Lancashire for at bo i en uge i et par
feriehuse, for at fejre sin 60. fødselsdag. Gills andre døtre, Zoe og
Maria, boede også deroppe i nogle dage.
Gill
sidste uge på ferie i Lancashire
Desværre er
Gill begyndt at føle sig dårligt tilpas, snart efter familien ankom til
feriehuse, og hun blev taget med ambulance til den lokale skadestue. Lægerne
troede, at problemet måske var forbundet med hendes nylige udbrud af helvedesild,
men situationen er ikke helt klar, og hun venter nu på, at hendes lokale
hospital i Cambridge giver hende en neurologisk undersøgelse.
Lægerne har
stillet hende en masse spørgsmål om vores forældres og vores bedsteforældres
helbredrekord, som hun har haft svært med at besvare. Hun spørger mig, om vores
fars diagnose, og vores farmors diagnose (hun døde uforventet i 1938 på 52 år),
og hun spørger mig også, om jeg ved noget om en historie af hjerteanfald eller
slagtilfælde i vores familie, så jeg gør lidt forskning.
Min konklusion
er, at der ikke har været en masse hjerteproblemer – vores mor døde endelig af
et hjerteanfald, men hun var 91, og var ikke særligt god til at tage sine
piller regelmæssigt. Jeg fortæller Gill jeg vil gøre lidt mere forskning om
vores farmors død. Stakkels Gill. Hun har aflyst hendes fødselsdagfest, der var
bestemt til den 2. juni.
17:00 Jeg
kigger lidt på Facebook. Jeg ser, at Ed vores svigersøn i København, de seneste
2-3 dage har været i Paris. Han siger, at han er igang med at ”netvirke”, men Lois
og jeg formoder, han fortsætter med at søge sit næste job – sit arbejde i
København endte ved slutningen af marts.
Ed, vores svigersøn i København, er for tiden i Paris
Jeg har lidt
alenetid og ser lidt fjernsyn, det andet afsnit af den danske-svenske
krimiserie ”Broen”, der kredser om kriminalitet i København og Malmø i Sverige, to byer forbundet af den berømte bro. Seriens
stjerne er den pragtfulde svenske skuespillerinde, Sofia Helin.
Denne gange
vil jeg gerne finde frem til, hvem er hvem blandt alle de figurer, der går med et
lille velplejet skæg – jeg har tendens til at blande dem alle sammen. To af
disse figurer er enæggede tvillinger, der komplicerer problemet endnu mere, men
i dag er min lykkelige dag – en af tvillingerne bliver myrdet – han bliver
dræbt af elektrisk strøm i sin udendørs hot-tub.
Hurra! En
mindre skægget mand i serien. Jeg kan endelig se lyset for enden af tunnelen!
22:00 Lois
kommer hjem igen – Mari-Ann sætter hende af foran huset. Jeg går i seng, men
Lois trænger til at slappe af og geare ned efter aftenens stimulerende
bibelseminar, der handlede om Jakob, Jesus’ bror, og hans brev. Hun ser lidt
fjernsyn.
22:30 Hun
hopper op i sengen til mig. Sikke to dage, det har været!
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