Wednesday 6 June 2018

10:45 Minx is our daughter Alison's cat, that her family left with us when they moved to Denmark almost 6 years ago. It has become clear recently that Minx, who is 18 years old, is refusing to chew or bite her cat food, be it dry food or the ordinary wet food. So we have just recently been giving her luxury cat food in the form of pate, terrine and mousse.

Lois and I have an appointment this morning at 11am with the local veterinarian at the clinic located in front of the entrance to the racetrack, so he can investigate Minx's teeth.

We drive Minx over to the clinic and the vet investigates her teeth, but he thinks they look pretty good. But he sells us analgesics in liquid form, in case she is suffering from arthritis in the jaws. Poor Minx !!!!

We come home and relax with a cup of coffee on the couch.

11:30 I take a little look online and I see some charming pictures, which Alison, and Ed, her husband, have posted on Facebook. The family is moving back to England at the end of the month, and currently they are enjoying their last few days in Denmark.

Yesterday it was a national holiday over there: the country's Constitution Day . The weather in Denmark has been exceptionally hot and sunny for over a month, and yesterday the family made the most out of the holiday and the good weather: a walk with Sika, the family's dog, in the local Bernstorffspark and later on the beach at Charlottenlund. Lois and I know both places very well - we have often been there because we have visited the family many times over the last 6 years.

Ed, with the family's dog, Sika, in the local Bernstorffspark

Charlottenlund: the whole family on the beach

It's a bitter sweet time for the family. They are going to miss the country, and especially their many friends over there. Today, some of the schoolmothers give Alison a little farewell ceremony at the International Rygaards school, and she comes home with a lot of presents from the other schoolmothers. Alison has been very active over the last 6 years in helping new families with children at the school and in organizing get-togethers, etc.

For our grandchildren over there, Josie (11), Rosalind (9) and Isaac (7), it's a nervous time: Josie has a guaranteed place at Woolmer Hill, the local high school in Haslemere, where the family is moving back to at the end of the month. It is possible that Josie will (half-) recognize some of her schoolmates from 6 years back, but she will have to work to rebuild her old friendships, no doubt about that.

But there are unfortunately no places for the younger two children at the local elementary school. Alison is currently in the process of finding an alternative school that is not too far from their house. Good luck with that, Ali!

Also the Danish summer holiday starts at the end of June but the English doesn't until 3 weeks later and it is not clear whether the local council in Haslemere will require the 3 children to go to school for these last 3 weeks: good grief, what madness !!!!

Flashback to Feb 13th 2013: me, Josie (6) and Rosalind (4).

during Lois' and my first trip to Denmark

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. I get up at 3pm and jump up on my bike for the first time in seven days. I cycle my usual 6 miles.

16:00 I take a little look online. I find Morten Ingemann's latest comic strip. My goodness! I get a bit of a shock.

Danish Ingemann is my favorite cartoonist - no doubt about that! He is particularly interested in ugly, overweight, middle aged or older people, the kind of people rarely given attention to by most cartoonists.

The Dane, Morten Ingemann, my favorite cartoonist

In today's heartwarming cartoon strip we see a middle aged man sitting in a bar talking to a beautiful middle aged woman in a low-cut dress sitting and drinking just a few feet away. The man falls into conversation with the woman and asks her if she has ever met a man who has made her entire body vibrate with just a faint touch.

The woman ponders this for a few minutes, but in the end, she remembers that she has had this kind of experience recently and the person responsible was her dentist. As always with Ingemann's cartoon strips, the conclusion is a delicious ambiguity: is the dentist her lover, or is she perhaps thinking of a tooth extraction or something similar? The jury is still out on that one. Food for thought, though, no doubt about that!

18:00 We have dinner and then Lois gets going with preparing for her birthday outing tomorrow. She had a birthday yesterday, but the day was unfortunately spent in part on attending a funeral ceremony.

We are planning to go to Woodstock tomorrow, so Lois can do some genealogical research at the Oxfordshire county museum, also at the town's military museum dedicated to the local regiment that some of her ancestors and relatives served in.

She has a newspaper picture of the day in 1914 when the local volunteers were waiting for the train that would take them to the continent. It is a little touching to see how enthusiastic they were at this stage: they did not have the slightest idea of how terrible the war would be, no doubt about that.

Lois preparing for tomorrow's excursion to the town of Woodstock,

where she plans to do some genealogical research.

She is showcasing here the newspaper picture showing the volunteers getting ready

to board the train in 1914 that would take them to the continent.

21:00 We watch a little television. An interesting documentary is on, all about the different types of carbohydrates, the good ones and the bad ones - yikes! The host of the program is the charming Xand van Tulleken (crazy name, crazy guy).

An interesting program. I've never heard of so-called "resistant starch" before, which is a kind of fiber, a “good” starch,  that means that for example whole grain bread is good while white bread is pure poison - yikes!

Lois and I already eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, but we decide we should eat fewer potatoes from now on and avoid white bread and white rice.

I often eat cereal and toast for breakfast. But many breakfast cereals contain added sugar: it is better to eat porridge with fruit, or a boiled egg with a couple of pieces of whole-grain bread, according to the good doctor. My God! What madness !!!! But the program is convincing, no doubt about that !!!!

22:00 We go to bed. I read about 10 pages of my bedside book before I drift off to sleep - zzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation

10:45 Minx er vores datter Alisons kat, som hendes familie efterlod hos os, da de flyttede til Danmark for næsten 6 år siden. Det er blevet klart for nylig, at Minx, der nu er 18 år gammel, nægter at tygge eller bide sin kattemad, uanset det drejer om tørfoder eller det almindelige vådfoder. Vi har for nylig bare givet hende luksuskattemad i formen af paté, terrine og mousse.

Lois og jeg har en aftale i formiddag kl 11 hos den lokale dyrelæge på klinikken der findes foran indgangen til væddeløbsbanen, så han kan undersøge Minx’ tænder.

Vi kører Minx over til dyrelægeklinikken og dyrelæge undersøger hendes tænder, men han synes, de ser temmelig gode ud. Men han sælger os smertestillende midler i flydende form, for det tilfælde, hun lider af gigt i kæberne. Stakkels Minx!!!!

Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.

11:30 Jeg kigger lidt på nettet, og jeg ser nogle charmerende billeder, som Alison, og Ed, hendes mand, har lagt op på Facebook. Familien flytter tilbage til England ved slutningen af måneden, og for tiden nyder de deres seneste få dage i Danmark.

I går var det en helligdag derovre: landets forfatningsdag. Vejret i Danmark har i over en måned været usædvanligt varm og solrig, og i går fik familien mest ud af helligdagen og det gode vejr: en tur med Sika, familiens hund, i den lokale Bernstorffspark, og senere på stranden ved Charlottenlund. Lois og jeg kender begge steder meget godt – vi har ofte gået ture der, fordi vi har besøgt familien mange gange i de sidste 6 år. 

Ed, sammen med familiens hund, Sika, i den lokale Bernstorffspark

Charlottenlund: hele familien på stranden

Det er en bitter-sød tid for familien. De kommer til at savne landet, og især deres mange venner derovre. I dag giver nogle af skolemødre Alison en farvelceremoni på den internationale Rygaardsskole, og hun kommer hjem med en masse gaver fra de andre skolemødre. Alison har været meget aktiv over de seneste 6 år i at hjælpe nye familie med børn på skolen, og i at organisere sammenkomster osv.

For vores børnebørn derovre, Josie (11), Rosalind (9) og Isaac (7), er det en nervøs tid: Josie har en garanteret plads på Woolmer Hill, den lokale højskole i Haslemere, hvor familien flytter tilbage til ved slutningen af måneden. Det er muligt, at Josie vil kunne (halvt-) genkende nogle af sine skolekammerater fra 6 år tilbage, men hun vil skulle arbejde på at genbygge sine gamle venskaber, ingen tvivl om det.

Men der er desværre ingen plads til de yngre to børn på den lokale grundskole. Alison er for tiden i gang med at finde en alternativ skole, der ligger ikke ret langt fra deres hus. Tillykke med det, Ali!

Også den danske sommerferie starter ved slutningen af juni, men den engelske ikke indtil 3 uger senere, og det er ikke klar, om den lokale kommune i Haslemere vil kræve, at de 3 børn går i skole disse sidste 3 uger: du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

tilbageblik til den 13. februar 2013: mig, Josie (6) og Rosalind (4)

under Lois' og min første besøg til Danmark

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og hopper op på min kondicykel for første gang i syv dage. Jeg cykler mine sædvanlige 6 miles.

16:00 Jeg kigger lidt på nettet. Jeg finder Morten Ingemanns seneste tegneseriestribe. Du godeste! Jeg får lidt af et chok.

Danske Ingemann er min yndlingstegner  – ingen tvivl om det! Han interesserer sig især for grimme, overvægtige, midaldrende eller ældre folk, de slags mennesker, som de fleste tegnere sjældent giver opmærksomhed til.

Danske Morten Ingemann, min yndlingstegner

I dagens hjertevarmende tegnestribe ser vi en midaldrende mand, der sidder i en bar og snakker med en nydelig, midaldrende kvinde i en nedringet kjole, der sidder og drikker kun et par fods væk. Manden falder i snak med kvinden og spørger hende, om hun nogensinde har mødt en mand, der har fået hele hendes krop til at vibrere ved blot en svag berøring.

Kvinden overvejer et par minutter, men til sidst mindes hun, at hun har haft denne slags oplevelse for nylig, og den ansvarlige var hendes tandlæge. Som altid med Ingemanns tegnestriber, er konklusionen en liflig tvetydighed:  er tandlægen hendes elsker, eller tænker hun på en tandudtrækning eller noget lignende? Det er juryen stadig ude om. Mad til tanker, uden tvivl !

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og derefter går Lois i gang med at forberede sig på sin fødselsdagsudflugt i morgen. Hun havde fødselsdag i går, men dagen var desværre brugt delvis på at deltage i en begravelsesceremoni.

Vi har planlagt at tage til Woodstock i morgen, så Lois kan gøre lidt genealogisk forskning på grevskabet Oxfordshires museum, også på byens militær museum, der er dedikeret til det lokale regiment, som nogle af hendes forfædre og slægtninge tjente i.

Hun har et avisbillede af dagen i 1914, da de lokale frivillige ventede på det tog, der skulle tage dem til kontinentet.  Det er lidt rørende, hvor entusiastiske de var på dette tidspunkt: de havde ikke den fjerneste anelse om, hvor frygtelig krigen ville være, ingen tvivl om det.  

Lois forbereder sig på morgendagens udflugt til byen Woodstock,

hvor hun planlægger at gøre lidt genealogisk forskning.

Hun peger på det avisbillede, der viser de frivillinge ved at stige ind i det tog,

der i 1914 skulle tage dem til kontinentet.

21:00 Vi ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om de forskellige former for kulhydrater, de gode og de dårlige – yikes! Programmets vært er den charmerende Xand van Tulleken (skørt navn, skør fyr).

Et interessant program. Jeg har aldrig hørt om den såkaldte ”resistent stivelse” før, der er en form for fibre, en ”god” stivelse, der for eksempel betyder, at fuldkornsbrød er godt, mens hvidt brød er ren gift – yikes!

Lois og jeg spiser allerede en masse frugt og grøntsager, men vi beslutter, at vi skal spise mindre kartofler og undgå hvidt brødt og ris.

Jeg spiser ofte cornflakes og toast til morgenmad. Men mange morgenmadsprodukter indeholder tilsat sukker: det er bedre at spise grød med frugt, eller et kogt æg med et par stykker fuldkornsbrød, ifølge den gode læge. Du godeste! Sikke et vanvid!!!! Men programmet er overbevisende, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng. Jeg læser ca. 10 sider af min sengetidbog, før jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzz!!!!