Lois has her 72th birthday tomorrow, but we have decided
to postpone her birthday outing till (probably) Thursday.
She actually has to attend a funeral tomorrow - John, a
member of Lois's church has sadly died and the funeral is taking place tomorrow
afternoon in Malvern. I have to drive Lois over to Mari-Ann and Alf's house,
and they will drive her over to Malvern so that all three can attend the
ceremony.
After the ceremony and afternoon tea at the church's
local meeeting house, some church members, including Mari-Ann, Alf and Lois,
will gather at a local restaurant and then drive over to Brockworth. The
members are holding one of their church's regular Bible seminars tomorrow night
in the town's library.
An unusual birthday for Lois. But for the first time in 3
years she is celebrating her birthday in England. Last year we were in
Copenhagen looking after our 3 grandchildren in their parents' absence, and in
2016 we were in Perth, Australia, visiting our daughter Sarah and her family.
Flashback to 2017: Lois 71th birthday in Denmark
Flashback to 2016: Lois 70th birthday in Australia
10:00 We drive over to the local Sainsburys supermarket
to buy a couple of things as Lois's contribution to tomorrow's food: food for
the gathering in the the meeting house after the funeral, and food for the
evening's bible seminar, where she, as the "birthday girl", has to
contribute cupcakes for the seminar's tea-break. Good grief, it's eat, eat,
eat!
11:00 We come home - Lois is behind the wheel for the
first time since we came back from Australia at the end of April. She is hoping
that her back problems are beginning to disappear. We relax with a cup of
coffee on the couch.
12:00 Lunch and afterwards a gigantic afternoon nap.
14:00 I get up. It says on the calendar that I have an
appointment at 2:45pm with Josh, my dentist.
My problem started when we were in Australia. An ulcer
developed on my tongue, and after a month it had still not healed. After I
returned to England, my doctor referred me to the specialist at Gloucester
Royal Hospital in case the ulcer was cancerous.
The specialist told me that the ulcer was slowly healing,
but she thought the process had been delayed because the side of the tongue was
coming into constant contact with a sharp tooth: I had lost a piece of one of
my lower teeth on the right side. She asked me to get an appointment with my
dentist so that the sharp tooth could be filed down, or so that any other
treatment could take place - whatever the dentist thought was appropriate.
Josh, my dentist, filed the tooth down a couple of weeks
ago, and my ulcer finally healed of itself. But Josh asked me to come back
within 2 weeks so he could check up on the problem: that's why I have an
appointment with him this afternoon.
Unfortunately, when I arrive at the dental clinic, they
can find no record of my appointment. My God! Another mistake by the clinic's
administrative team!
Lois and I are tired of the clinic's frequent mistakes on
the administrative side. We would like to switch to another clinic, but first
of all, we need to ask our friends and neighbors for their recommendations.
It's a little sad because we've been patients there for over 40 years. The
clinic began to go downhill when our original dentist, Mr. Williams, retired
about 10 years ago. Damn!
This afternoon, one of the clinic's other dentists can
happily spare 10 minutes to check my mouth and she confirms that the ulcer has
healed. She also finds a cavity in my upper teeth and gives me a temporary
filling. Lois and I have our regular 6-month checkup with Josh next month,
thank god.
18:00 We have dinner. I sit down in front of the computer
and design my birthday card to Lois. I want to stress how nice it is to
celebrate her birthday in England for once. Good grief, we never expected that
we would be flying so much here and there around the world after we retired in
2006. But we have had a lot of fun, no doubt about that !!!!
22:00 What a day. And I have an appointment with one of
the clinic’s other dentists early tomorrow, 9am – yikes!
We go to bed - zzzzzzzz !!!!!
Danish translation
Lois har sin
72. fødselsdag i morgen, men vi har besluttet at udskyde hendes
fødseldsdagsudflugt til (sandsynligvis) torsdag.
Hun skal
faktisk deltage i en begravelse i morgen – John, en medlem af Lois’ kirke er
desværre død, og begravelsen finder sted i morgen eftermiddag i Malvern. Jeg
skal køre Lois over til Mari-Ann og Alfs hus, og de skal køre hende til
Malvern, så alle tre kan deltage i ceremonien.
Efter
ceremonien og eftermiddagsté på kirkens lokale menighedshus skal nogle
kirkemedlemmer, inklusive Mari-Ann, Alf og Lois, samles på en lokal restaurant
og bagefter køre over til Brockworth. Medlemmerne holder en af deres kirkes regelmæssige
bibelseminarer i morgen aften i byens bibliotek.
En usædvanlig
fødseldag for Lois. Men for første gang i 3 år fejrer hun sin fødselsdag i
England. Sidste år var vi i København for at passe på vores 3 børnebørn i deres
forældres fravær, og i 2016 var vi i Perth, Australien, på besøg hos vores
datter Sarah og hendes familie.
Tilbageblik
til 2017: Lois’s 71. fødselsdag i Danmark
Tilbageblik
til 2016: Lois’s 70. fødselsdag i Australien
10:00 Vi kører
over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at købe et par ting, som Lois’
bidrag til morgendagens mad: mad til
sammenkomsten i menighedshuset efter begravelsen, og til aftenens bibelseminar,
hvor hun, som ”fødselsdagspige” skal bidrage med kopkager til seminarets
tepause. Du godeste, det er spis, spis, spis!
11:00 Vi
kommer hjem – Lois sidder bag rettet for første gang siden vi ved slutning af
april kom tilbage fra Australien. Hun
håber på, at hendes rygproblemer begynder at forsvinde. Vi slapper af med en
kop kaffe i sofaen.
12:00 Frokost
og bagefter en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.
14:00 Jeg står
op. Det står på kalenderen, at jeg har aftale kl 14:45 hos Josh, min tandlæge.
Mit problem
startede, da vi var i Australien. Et sår udviklede sig på min tunge, og efter
en måned havde det ikke læget af sig selv, so de fleste sår i munden gør. Efter
vi kom tilbage til England, henviste min læge mig til specialisten på
Gloucester Royal Hospital, for det tilælde, såret var kræftagtigt.
Specialisten
fortalte mig, at såret var begyndt langsomt at læges, men hun mente, at
processen var blevet forsinket, fordi siden af tungen kom i konstant kontakt
med en skarp tand: jeg havde mistet et
stykke af en af mine nedre tænder på min munds højre side. Hun bad mig om, at
få en aftale hos min tandlæge, så den skarpe tand kunne blive filet ned, eller
nogen anden behandling kunne finde sted – hvad som helst var passende ifølge
tandlægen.
Josh, min
tandlæge, filede tanden ned for et par uger siden, og mit sår lægede endelig af
sig selv. Men Josh bad mig om at komme igen indenfor 2 uger, så han kunne
tjekke op på problemet: derfor har jeg en aftale hos ham i eftermiddag.
Desværre, da
jeg ankommer til tandlægeklinikken, kan de finde ingen registrering til min aftale.
Du godeste! Endnu en fejl af klinikkens administrative hold!
Lois og jeg er
godt trætte af klinikkens adskillige fejl på dens administrative side. Vi vil
meget gerne skifte til en anden klinik, men vi skal først og fremmest bede
vores venner og naboer om deres anbefalinger. Det er lidt trist, fordi vi har
været patienter der i over 40 år. Klinikken begyndte at gå ned ad bakke, da
vores oprindelige tandlæge hr Williams, for ca 10 år siden gik på pension.
Pokkers!
I eftermiddag
kan en af klinikkens andre tandlæge heldigvis sparer 10 minutter for at tjekke
min mund og hun bekræfter, at såret har læget. Hun finder også et hul i mine
øverste tænder, og giver mig en midlertidig plombe. Lois og jeg har vores
regelmæssige 6-måneders checkup hos Josh
næste måned, gudskelov.
18:00 Vi
spiser aftensmad. Jeg sætter mig foran computeren og designer min
fødselsdagkort til Lois. Jeg vil understrege, hvor rart det er at fejre hendes
fødselsdag i England, for engangs skyld. Du godeste, vi forventede aldrig, at
vi ville flyve så meget her og der i verden, efter vi i 2006 gik på pension.
Men vi har haft det sjovt, ingen tvivl om det!!!!
22:00 Sikke en
dag! Og jeg har en aftale hos en af klinikkens andre tandlægere i morgen tidligt, kl 9 – yikes!
Vi går i seng –
zzzzzzzz!!!!!
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