Tuesday 5 June 2018

07:30 Lois has her 72nd birthday today, but unfortunately we just have time to drink a cup of tea together in bed before I have to get dressed, grab a quick breakfast and go out. I have an early dental appointment with the clinic's new endodontist - damn!

08:30 I park the car on Westdown Gardens, my favorite street when it comes to dental appointments, even though the street is already almost 100% crammed with construction workers' cars and vans - so many houses are being refurbished in the area - good grief, what madness!

08:45 I step inside the dental clinic, but the receptionist tells me that the endodontist, who has a foreign name (Indian / Iranian?) which I can never remember, has been delayed on his way from Birmingham - damn!

09:30 The endodontist arrives - a very nice man. He examines my upper teeth on the right hand side and fortunately cannot see any signs of infection, thank goodness. I have 3 options, he says. (1) to do nothing: just monitor the situation and report problems as soon as they arise. (2) to have root canal treatment on one of the teeth, and (3) have the tooth pulled out.

I thank my lucky stars. Of course, I choose the first option and breathe a sigh of relief. Yesterday I saw one of the clinic's other dentists who confirmed that my long-standing tongue ulcer was not cancerous and had actually healed by itself.

Once again, I feel that my legendary luck has not let me down, even though I have terrible pain in the joints today - my legs, knees, hips, the whole package - damn!

10:30 I get home. Lois is in the process of writing invitations for her church get-together at the end of the month. She takes a break and we open her birthday presents: a lot of greeting cards, a pile of summer underwear from me and some DVDs from Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen - Sandra Bullock's "While You Were Sleeping" and Fred Astaire's "Top Hat" and " The Gay Divorcee ".

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards we have to leave. Lois unfortunately has to attend a funeral service this afternoon at her church's meeting-house in the town of Malvern. I drive her over to Mari-Ann and Alf's house, and they are going to drive her over to Malvern so that all three can attend the ceremony.

I come home. I have a little alone time - a rare thing recently. I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3.30pm and take a shower.

I have a cup of tea and a plate of sandwiches with homemade plum jam - yum yum!

16:00 Lois calls me from the meeting-house. Mari-Ann has invited me to have an early dinner at a local restaurant with a whole group of attendees from today's funeral in Malvern - herself, Alf, Lois, Fran, and Joan - at a restaurant on the other side of Cheltenham.

I would just as soon not accept the invitation, to be honest. I'm not hungry after the sandwiches and have been looking forward to enjoying a rare opportunity for precious alone-time, but I feel it will be rude to refuse, especially as it's Lois's birthday, so I say yes thanks very much.

I drive over to Up Hatherley and join the group at the restaurant. I order the "pensioner's ham, chips and 2 eggs" option - they always give pensioners small portions ha ha. Fran, who is divorced, is sitting next to me - I have to be extremely careful with her because she tends to touch my shoulder a lot (in a friendly way) and to pepper her conversations with religious thoughts and mini-sermons - yikes!

I escape the situation unscathed and drive home. The others drive over to Brockworth to attend the church's regular Bible seminar taking place this evening in the town's library.

20:00 I spend the evening watching television, the latest episode of the "Bridge", the Danish-Swedish crime series that revolves around 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, who plays Saga, the Swedish detective who suffers from aspergers / autism and now also occasional panic attacks - yikes!

I almost decided to give up on this series because the plot is so complicated and there are so many characters, so many well-groomed beards, annoyingly dark lighting in the scenes, and so many seemingly unconnected events and crimes. At one point I had fallen into complete despair over it.

But I decide to give the series another chance and I am rewarded towards the end of the episode when the beautiful Saga has a breakthrough - it turns out that the three murders that the police so far have examined are examples of three of the methods used by authorities in countries around the world to execute criminals: the first killing was a stoning, the second was by electrocution, and the third was death by poison.

Not a big breakthrough maybe for Saga and the Danish / Swedish police, but at least now we know that there are only 4 murders (max) waiting for us in the series. Saga, as usual, is an expert on the subject - there are apparently a total of 7 different execution methods used by the world's authorities.

Finally! Light at the end of the tunnel! Only 4 murders (max) left to come ha ha.

21:00 I carry on watching television. The latest episode is showing of an interesting Anglo-American documentary series, about abandoned disused installations and facilities - former research facilities, military installations, etc., which have never been demolished, and are still just sitting there in the countryside, on mountains, in deserts, in the sea etc.

Each hourly episode covers 4 former installations. It sounds a bit boring, but Lois and I find it really fascinating.

The first installation this evening is Canfranc, a massive Spanish railway station, built in the 1920s. The railway station showcased amazing architecture, and the platforms were 800 feet long - my god!

the former Canfranc railway station, 4000 feet up in the Pyrenees

The Spaniards needed a railroad through the Pyrenees to expand their trade with the rest of Europe. But the Spanish railways used a 5 foot 5 inch gauge, instead of the 4 foot, 8.5 inch international gauge - good grief, what madness!

That's why they built this massive railway station in the mountains, so freight and passengers could be transferred from the French trains to the Spanish (and vice versa).

The railway station was abandoned in the 1970s. It was too expensive to maintain it, seemingly. But it had a fascinating history during World War II, when most of the passengers were either spies (British and German) travelling in either direction, or refugees (first Jews, and then, towards the end of the war, Nazis - all in the same direction this time!).

We also hear tonight about the world's deepest hole, which was drilled by Soviet engineers in the country's frozen northern tundra in the 1960s: the hole is over 40,000 feet deep. They chose the northern tundra because one of the problems of drilling into the ground is that the powerful drillers soon get too hot and tend to get stuck. At least if the drill starts boring down in a very cold place, it may work longer before it warms up too much, which sounds sensible, though I'm no expert ha ha.

The whole project was a small part of the Cold War - the Americans were also drilling down, but their hole was actually "only" 39,000 feet deep.

The Soviet plant, where engineers drilled a hole

in the earth's crust, over 40,000 feet deep - good grief, what madness!

A surprising result of the projects was the discovery that life existed at this depth: although only small bacteria (no people or animals ha ha), but surprising none the less.

22:00 Lois comes back. I go to bed, but Lois needs to relax and wind down a bit after tonight's stimulating Bible seminar. She watches a little television and hops into bed with me at 11pm.

Danish translation

07:30 Lois har sin 72. fødselsdag i dag, men vi har desværre bare tid til at drikke en kop te sammen i sengen, før jeg skal klæde mig på, snuppe en hurtig morgenmad og tage af sted. Jeg har en tidlig tandlægeaftale med klinikkens nye endodontist – pokkers!

08:30 Jeg parkerer bilen på Westdown Gardens, min yndlingsgade, når det kommer til tandlægeaftaler, selvom gaden allerede er næsten 100% proppet med bygningsarbejderes biler og vognbiler – så mange huse bliver istandsat i området – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

08:45  Jeg træder ind i tandlægeklinikken, men receptionisten fortæller mig, at endodontisten, der har et fremmedt navn (indisk/iransk?), som jeg aldrig kan huske, er blevet forsinket på vej fra Birmingham – pokkers!

09:30 Endodontisten ankommer – en meget sød mand. Han undersøger mine øverste tænder på  den højre side og kan heldigvis ikke se tegn på infektion, gudskelov. Jeg har 3 optioner, siger han. (1) at gøre ingenting: bare at overvåge situationen og anmelde problemer, så snart de opstår. (2) at undergå rodkanalbehandling på en af tænderne, og (3) får tandet trukket ud.

Jeg takker mit gode held. Selvfølgelig vælger jeg den første option, og ånder lettet op. I går så jeg en af klinikkens andre tandlæger, der bekræftede, at mit langvarige tungesår ikke var kræftagtigt og havde faktisk havde læget af sig selv.

Endnu engang føler jeg, at mit legendariske held ikke har svigtet mig, selvom jeg har frygtelig ondt i ledene i dag – benene, knæene, hofter, den hele pakke – pokkers!

10:30 Jeg kommer hjem. Lois er i gang med at skrive invitationer til sin kirkes sammenkomst ved slutningen af måneden. Hun tager en pause, og vi åbner hendes fødselsdagsgaver:  en masse lykønskningskort, en bunke sommerundertøj fra mig og dvd’er fra Alison, vores datter i København – Sandra Bullocks ”While You Were Sleeping”, og Fred Astaires ”Top Hat” og ”The Gay Divorcee”.

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter skal vi af sted. Lois skal desværre deltage i en begravelsesceremoni i eftermiddag på sin kirkes menighedshus i byen Malvern. Jeg kører hende over til Mari-Ann og Alfs hus, og de skal køre hende over til Malvern, så alle tre kan deltage i ceremonien.

Jeg kommer hjem. Jeg har lidt alenetid – en sjælden ting for nylig. Jeg går i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15:30 og tager et brusebad.

Jeg drikker en kop te og spiser en tallerken sandwiches med hjemmelavet blommemarmelade  –  yum yum!

16:00 Lois ringer til mig fra menighedshuset. Mari-Ann har inviteret mig til at spise en tidlig aftensmad på en lokale restaurant med en hel gruppe af dem, der deltog i dagens ceremoni i Malvern: sig selv, Alf, Lois, Fran, og Joan på en restaurant på den anden side af Cheltenham.

Jeg har ikke lyst til at acceptere invitationen, ærligt talt. Jeg er ikke sulten efter sandwicherne, og har glædet mig til at nyde en sjælden mulighed for preciøse alenetid, men jeg føler, det vil være uhøfligt at afvise, især som det er Lois’ fødselsdag, så jeg siger ja mange tak.

Jeg kører over til Up Hatherley, og slutter mig til selskabet på restauranten. Jeg bestiller den ”pensionisters skinke, chips og 2 æg” option – de giver altid pensionister små portioner ha ha. Fran, der er fraskilt, sætter sig ved siden af mig – jeg er nødt til at være ekstrem forsigtig med hende, fordi hun har tendens til røre ved min skulder (på en venlig måde) og at krydre sine samtaler med religiøse tanker og mini-prædikener – yikes! 

Jeg slipper uskadt fra situationen og kører hjem. De andre kører over til Brockworth for at deltage i kirkens regelmæssige bibelseminar, der finder sted i aften i byens bibliotek.

20:00 Jeg bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, det seneste afsnit af ”Broen”, den danske-svenske krimiserie,  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, der spiller  Saga, den svenske detektiv, der lider af aspergers/autisme og nu også lejlighedsvise panikoverfald – yikes!

Jeg havde næsten besluttet at opgive denne serie, fordi plottet er så kompliceret, og der er så mange figurer, så mange velplejede skæg, irriterende mørk oplysing i scenerne, og tilsyneladende usammenhængende begivenheder og forbrydelser.  Jeg var på det ene tidspunkt blevet helt fortvivlet.

Men jeg beslutter, at jeg vil give serien endnu en chance, og jeg bliver belønnet mod slutningen af afsnittet, da den smukke Saga har et gennembrud – det falder hende ind, at de tre mord, som politiet hidtil har undersøgt, er eksempler på tre af de metoder, brugt af myndigheder i lande verden over, for at henrette kriminelle: det første drab var en stening, det andet var ved elektricitet, og det tredje var et giftmord.

Ikke et stort gennembrud måske for Saga og det danske/svenske politi, men i det mindste nu ved vi, at der kun er 4 mord (max), der venter os i serien. Saga, som sædvanligt, er en ekspert om emnet – der er tilsyneladende sammenlagt 7 metoder, som verdens myndigheder bruger.

Endelig! Lyset for enden af tunnelen! Kun 4 mord (max) tilbage ha ha.

21:00 Jeg fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det seneste afsnit i en interessant anglo-amerikansk dokumentarserie, der handler om opgivede, forladte anlæg og faciliteter – tidligere forskningsfaciliteter, militær faciliteter osv, der aldrig er blevet revet ned, som bare sidder ude på landet, på bjerge, i ørkner, i havet osv.

Hvert timelangt afsnit dækker 4 tidligere anlæg. Det lyder lidt kedeligt, men Lois og jeg finder det faktisk helt fascinerende.

Det første anlæg i aften er Canfranc, en massive spanske banegård, der blev bygget i 1920’erne. Banegården fremviste forbløffende arkitektur, og perronerne var 800 fods lange – du godeste!

den tidligere Canfranc-banegård, 4000 fods oppe i Pyrenærene

Spanierne havde brug for en jernbane gennem Pyrenærene for at udvide deres handel med resten af Europa. Men de spanske jernbaner brugte en sporvidde på 5 fods 5 inches, i stedet for den internationale sporvidde på 4 fods, 8,5 inches – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Derfor byggede de denne massive banegård i bjergene, så fragt og passagere kunne overføres fra de franske tog til de spanske (og omvendt).

Banegården blev forladt i 1970’erne. Det var for dyr til at vedligeholde den, lader det til. Men den havde en fascinerende historie under den 2. verdenskrig, da de fleste passagere var spioner (britiske og tyske) rejsende i begge retninger, eller flygtninge (jøder, og, mod krigens slutning, nazister i samme retning).

Vi hører også i aften om verdens dybeste hul, som blev boret af sovjetiske ingeniører i landets frosne nordlige tundraer i 1960’erne: hul er over 40.000 fods dybt. De valgte de nordlige tundraer, fordi en af problemerne med at bore ned i jorden er, at det kraftige drilbor snart bliver for varmt, og har tendens til at gå i stå. I det mindste, hvis drilboret starter i et meget koldt sted, kan det virker længere, før det varmer op for meget, hvilket lyder fornuftigt, selvom jeg er ikke nogen ekspert!

Det hele projekt var en lille del af den kolde krig – amerikanerne var også i gang med at bore ned, men deres hul var faktisk ”kun” 39.000 fods dybt.

Det sovjetiske anlæg, hvor ingeniører borede et hul

i jordenskorpen, over 40.000 fods dybt – du godeste, sikke et vanvid.

En overraskende resultat af projekterne var opdagelsen, at der fandtes liv på denne dybde: bare små bakterier (ingen mennesker eller dyr ha ha), men overraskende imidlertid.

22:00 Lois kommer tilbage. Jeg går i seng, men Lois trænger til at slappe af og geare lidt ned efter aftenens stimulerende bibelseminar. Hun ser lidt fjernsyn og hopper op kl 23 i sengen til mig.