Sunday 20 May 2018

Both of our two daughters live abroad (Alison in Denmark, and Sarah in Australia). Lois and I asked them yesterday if they could talk to us on Skype today (Sunday), but we have not received any response, so we suppose they are both busy.

10:30 Lois has to attend her church's 2 services today. She is responsible today for supplying bread for the sacrament, and milk for cups of tea which church members drink on arrival and between the two services.

She has recently had back problems, so she has asked me to drive her over to the church in Tewkesbury. I drop her off in front of the church and come home again.

12:00 I have a little alone time, but not that much in fact! Only until 2:30pm when I have to drive over to Tewkesbury again to pick her up and bring her home.

I have lunch and watch television, the first part of the Danish crime series "The Bridge", which I have already seen. I recorded it a week ago on my YouView device. The series revolves around crime in Copenhagen and Malmo in Sweden, two cities connected by the famous bridge.

This time I want to work out who is who, among all the characters wearing small well-groomed beards - I tend to mix them all up.

13:00 My plan is to see this first episode again and immediately afterwards see the second one. But after 1 hour I have had enough. I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzzz !!!!

14:30 I drive over to Tewkesbury and pick Lois up in front of the church. We come home and relax with a cup of tea on the terrace. Afterwards we go to bed for a couple of hours. We read about 10 pages of our respective bedtime books, and get up.

We pack some things in our little suitcase. Tomorrow we are going to 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 there was a speed limit of only 30 mph. It all happened in late February just before Lois and I went on vacation to Australia. Damn!

It was my first offense after almost 50 years of motoring - damn (again!). But the police gave me the option to take a course, instead of getting "points" on my driving license, which is a bit of a relief.

We had 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, which is a bit of shame. Maybe they are on vacation.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. An interesting documentary is on, all about the story of tap dance in the United States. The host of the program is the charming Clarke Peters.

In my ignorance, I always thought that the tap dance tradition was invented by white vaudeville dancers, and film actors like Fred Astaire. I did not have the slightest idea that it was black slaves from Africa who started the tradition after they arrived in the United States 200-300 years ago. Good grief, every subject becomes more complicated and confusing, the more you delve into it - no doubt that !!!! What madness !!!!

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

Danish translation

Begge vores to døtre bor I udlandet (Alison i Danmark, og Sarah i Australien). Lois og jeg spurgte dem igår, om de kunne tale med os på Skype i dag (søndag), men vi har ikke modtaget noget svar, så vi formoder, de begge to har travlt.

10:30 Lois skal deltage i sin kirkes 2 gudstjenester i dag. Hun er ansvarlig i dag for at tilføre brød til nadveren, og mælk til kopper te, som kirkemedlemmer drikker på ankomst og mellem de to tjenester.

Hun har for nylig lidt af rygproblemer, så derfor har hun spurgt mig om at køre hende over til kirken i byen Tewkesbury. Jeg sætter hende af foran kirken og kommer hjem igen.

12:00 Jeg har lidt alenetid, men ikke ret meget faktisk! Kun indtil kl 14:30, når jeg skal køre over til Tewkesbury igen for at hente hende og køre hende hjem.

Jeg spiser frokost og ser lidt fjernsyn, det første afsnit af den danske krimiserie ”Broen”, som jeg faktisk allerede har set. Jeg optog den for en uge siden på min YouView-enhed. Serien kredser om kriminalitet i København og Malmø i Sverige, to byer forbundet af den berømte bro.

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.

13:00 Min plan er at se det første afsnit igen og straks bagefter at se det 2., men efter 1 time har jeg fået nok. Jeg går i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzzzz!!!!

14:30 Jeg kører over til Tewkesbury og henter Lois foran kirken. Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop te på terrassen. Bagefter går vi i seng i et par timer. Vi læser ca. 10 sider af vores henholdsivisse sengetidsbøger, og står op.

Vi pakker nogle ting i vores lille kuffert. I morgen skal vi til 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 ringede til dem, hvilket er lidt af en skam. De er måske på ferie.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om historien af stepdans i USA. Programmets vært er den charmerende Clarke Peters.

I min uvidenhed troede jeg altid, at stepdans-traditionen blev opfundet af hvide vaudeville dansere, og filmskuespillere som Fred Astaire. Jeg havde ikke den fjerneste anelse om, at det var sorte slaver fra Afrika, der startede traditionen, efter de ankom i USA for 200 år siden. Du godeste, hvert emne bliver jo mere kompliceret og forvirrende, jo mere man dykker ned i det – ingen tvivl om det!!!! Sikke et vanvid!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!!