Monday, July 16, 2018

The get-together that Lois is hosting here tomorrow evening for her sect's seminar-participants and other church members, has begun to dominate our thoughts - yikes! As usual, many of those invited have not replied to the invitation yet, so we do not know exactly how many are coming.

The weather is also a factor: we hope for a balmy evening so people can sit out on the terrace - otherwise it may be that there will be too many people thronging our living and dining areas. Do we have enough chairs? And what about parking?

Some guests have promised to bring food, but that is also a problem, because Lois cannot prepare too much in advance, and will only be able to get started with that after guests have already begun to arrive.

But I'm absolutely sure she is looking forward to the get-together, which is nice - whilst I myself will just have to try to "stay zen" - yikes (again) !!!!

09:30 Lois drives to the local Sainsbury's supermarket to buy a few things. I get going with reading the next 10 pages of "Let Down", the Danish crime novella, which is our U3A Danish group's current project. I have now read up to page 32.

Olaf is the novella's old farmer who discovers a year-old dead body in an old freezer in a dilapidated outhouse, somewhere out on his land. Spooky !!! The police have a suspect - Richard, who has been renting an old residence near the outhouse.

The novella's heroine is Pia, a young police forensics expert who has been in a relationship with one of the local detectives, Lars, for a couple of months. She says that sex with Lars is "okay", but that she'd rather "keep her options open".

Fortunately, there have been no sex scenes so far, although Pia has shown signs of being a bit slutty, to say the least. She has no inhibitions about taking her dress off on the back seat of Lars's car, to the amusement of passing drivers -  she calmly gives them the finger.

And as soon as she arrives at the crime-scene, she begins chatting up some of the younger local police officers. My god, what madness! And rather unprofessional in my opinion.

It's a bit embarrassing to read the sex scenes out loud during our group meetings, no doubt about that. But I have decided to miss out all such scenes if they are not necessary for understanding the plot. It's not that I’m prudish, but I have a bit of a responsibility, as a group leader, not to make members feel embarrassed. I do not want to become known as the Harvey Weinstein of Cheltenham U3A.

I thought everything would be okay in this aspect, so I'm a little disappointed when I read on page 26-27 of my Kindle version that the suspect is also being charged with "indecent relations with a corpse". Damn! I have not the slightest idea how to miss that bit out. Damn (again) !!!

Just my luck ha ha !!!!! It's not easy being a U3A group leader - no doubt about that.

10:30 I've had a message on Facebook / Messenger. Lois' cousin, Sylvia, who lives in Melbourne, Australia, wants to visit us in September with Rod, her new partner: the couple have been together for approx. 1 year, we think. She will stay with us for two weeks in the second half of the month. Then they will visit London and then some of Sylvia's other relatives from the huge Cox family. It will be Rod's first visit to England as far as we know.

It will be nice to meet Rod, and see Sylvia again. Lois and I spent a week at Sylvia's in Melbourne in 2016 on our way to Perth where our youngest daughter, Sarah, lives. At that time Sylvia was a widow and single. But of course, she did not tell us that she was actually lonely and looking for luuuuuuuhve ha ha!

Flashback to April 2016: Our hotel at Dubai Airport, 

on our way from Birmingham to Melbourne

Lois and Sylvia

When Sylvia a couple of months later hooked up with Rod (they met on the net) and they decided not to marry, Sylvia excluded herself from fellowship with the sect she and Lois belong to.

Lois and I do not mind that Sylvia and Rod will share a bed when they stay with us. We are just glad that she has finally found happiness. But we wonder if Sylvia will have trouble with some of her other relatives who are also members of the sect. But that's something the jury is still out on. We will have to see.

10:30 Lois comes back and we relax with a cup of coffee on the terrace. Afterwards we start clearing up and moving furniture from the dining room to the living room and vice versa as part of our preparation for tomorrow's get-together.

12:30 Lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. I get up at 3:30 pm and we continue to get the house ready for tomorrow's get-together - busy, busy, busy.

18:00 We have dinner. Then we water our flower beds and vegetable garden, also round at the neighbors' (Frances and Stephen, who are currently on holiday in the Czech Republic), despite the fact that it rained a little for about 15 minutes earlier in the afternoon. We are a little afraid that the rain will not have been enough: the soil is so dry. In addition, we have to look after the neighbors' greenhouse - no peace for the wicked ha ha !!!!

20:30 We spend the evening watching television. The first episode of the "University Challenge" television quiz's new season is on, something of a relief after the weeks of sports programs - World Cup and Wimbledon: good grief, what madness! This TV quiz is one of the few television shows that are not suitable for very stupid people, as any fool knows.

21:00 We continue to watch some television, a fascinating documentary (4th and last episode), about Trump and the American press, especially the New York Times, which the president is not on good terms with, to say the least.

Another fascinating (but sadly final) episode. It's a bit of shame that it's not a regular weekly program. Fascinating, in particular, to see Steve Bannon, the multimillionaire who dresses like a hobo for his followers (a man of the people ha ha!), in fact, is quite a charming and intelligent man. His public persona is different and you can see that he's just berating the media because it's a useful target to gee up his followers and distract them from the government's goofs, etc. But he himself does not really believe that the press is constantly creating fake news. Interesting.

22:00 I take a little look online, and I laugh at Andy Borowitz's latest headline, but the satire seems inadequate when you look at the reality of Trump's press conference in Finland.

Interestingly, I also read that there is again trouble brewing for the New York Times after they published a cartoon showing Trump and Putin as passionate lovers. But the furore apparently stems from the alleged "homophobia" of the cartoon - my god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Pass the sickbag, Alice !!!!

22:30 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

Den sammenkomst, som Lois i morgen aften holder hos os for sin sekts seminardeltagere og andre kirkemedlemmer, er begyndt at dominere vores tanker – yikes! Som sædvanligt har mange af de indbudte ikke svaret til invitationen endnu, så vi ikke ved præcis, hvor mange kommer.

Vejret er også en faktor: vi håber på en lun aften, så folk kan sidde på terrassen – ellers kan det være, at for mange mennesker vil stimse rundt i vores stue og spisestue. Har vi stole nok? Og hvad med parkering?

Nogle gæster har lovet at medbringe mad, men det der er også et problem, fordi Lois ikke kan forberede så meget på forhånd, og vil bare kunne gøre i gang med det efter gæster allerede er begyndt at ankomme. 

Men jeg er helt sikker på, at hun ikke desto mindre glæder sig til at holde sammenkomsten – mens jeg selv må prøve at ”blive zen” – yikes (igen) !!!!

09:30 Lois kører over til det lokale Sainsburys for at købe et par ting. Jeg går i gang med at læse de næste 10 sider af ”Svigtet”, den danske kriminovelle, der er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt. Jeg har nu læst op til side 24.

Olaf er novellens gamle bondemand, der opdager et 1 års gammelt lig i en gammel fryser i et faldefærdigt udhus, der ligger et eller andet sted på sin jord. Uhyggeligt!!! Politiet har en mistænkt – Richard, der har lejet en gammel stuehus i nærheden af udhuset.

Novellens heltinde er Pia, en ung retsmediciner, der i et par måneder har været i et forhold med en af de lokale detektiver, Lars. Hun siger, at sex med Lars er ”okay”, men hun vil hellere ”holde sine optioner åbne”.

Heldigvis har der hidtil ikke været nogle sex-scener, selvom Pia har vist tegn på, at være lidt løs på tråden, for at sige mildt. Hun har ikke hæmninger om at smide sin kjole på bagsædet af Lars bil, til morskab af forbipasserende bilister, som hun stille og roligt giver finger til.

Så snart hun ankommer til findestedet, begynder hun at falde i snak med nogle af de yngre lokale politimænd. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!  Og meget uprofessionelt efter min mening!

Det er lidt pinligt at skulle læse sex-scenerne op under vores gruppemøder, ingen tvivl om det. Men jeg har besluttet mig for at undelade alle sådanne scener, hvis de ikke er nødvendige for at forstår plottet. Det er ikke fordi jeg er så snerpet, men jeg har lidt af et ansvar, som gruppeleder, ikke at gøre medlemmer føle sig pinlige. Jeg har ikken nogen lyst til at blive kendt som Cheltenham U3As Harvey Weinstein.

Jeg troede, at alt ville være okay i denne retning, så er jeg lidt skuffet, da jeg læser på side 26-27 af min kindle-version, at mistænken også bliver sigtet for ”usømmelig omgang med lig”. Pokkers! Det har jeg har ikke den fjerneste anelse om, hvordan jeg kan udelade! Pokkers (igen) !!!

Bare mit uheld ha ha!!!!! Det er ikke nemt at være en U3A gruppeleder – ingen tvivl om det!!!!

10:30 Jeg får en besked på Facebook/Messenger. Lois’ kusine, Sylvia, der bor i Melbourne, Australien, ønsker at besøge os i september sammen med Rod, sin nye partner: parret har været sammen i ca. 1 år, tror vi. Hun vil bo hos os to uger i månedens 2. halvdel. Derefter vil de besøge London og derefter nogle af Sylvias andre slægtninge fra den enorme Cox-familie. Det vil være Rods første besøg til England, så vidt vi ved.

Det vil være rart at møde Rod og se Sylvia igen. Lois og jeg tilbragte en uge hos Sylvia i Melbourne i 2016, på vej til Perth, hvor vores yngste datter, Sarah, bor. Dengang var Sylvia enke, og single. Men selvfølgelig fortalte hun os ikke, at hun faktisk var ensom og på jagt efter kææærligheden ha ha!

tilbageblik til april 2016:  vores hotel ved Dubai-lufthavn, 

på vej fra Birmingham til Melbourne

Lois og Sylvia

Da Sylvia et par måneder senere fandt sammen med Rod (de mødte hinanden på nettet), og de besluttede sig for at gifte sig ikke, lukkede Sylvia  sig selv ud af fællesskabet med den sekt, hun og Lois hører til.

Lois og jeg indvender ikke, at Sylvia og Rod deler seng, når de bor hos os. Vi er glade for, at hun endelig har fundet lykke. Men vi spekulerer på, om Sylvia vil have problemer med nogle af sine andre slægtninge, der også er medlemmer af sekten. Men det er juryen stadig ude om. Vi får se !!!!

10:30 Lois kommer tilbage, og vi slapper af med en kop kaffe på terrassen. Bagefter går vi i gang med at rydde lidt op og rykke møbler fra spisestuen til stuen og omvendt, som del af vores forberedelser på morgendagens sammenkomst.

12:30 Frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermidddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15:30, og vi fortsætter at forberede huset på morgendagens sammenkomst – travlte, travlte, travlte!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad. Derefter vander vi vores blomsterbede og grøntsagshave, også naboernes (Frances og Stephen, der for tiden er på ferie i Tjekkiet), på trods af, at det regnede lidt i ca 15 minutter tidligere på eftermiddagen. Vi er lidt bange for, at regnen ikke vil have været tilstrækkelig: jorden er så tør. Derudover skal vi passe på naboernes drivhus – ingen fred for de ugudelige ha ha!!!!

20:30 Vi bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det første afsnit af ”University Challenge” tv-quizzens nye sæson, der er lidt af en lettelse efter ugerne af sportprogrammer – VM og Wimbledon: du godeste, sikke et vanvid! Denne tv-quiz er en af de få tv-programmer, der ikke er egnede til meget dumme mennesker, som alle ved.

21:00 Vi  fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, en fascinerende dokumentarfilm (4. og sidste afsnit), der handler om Trump og den amerikanske presse, især New York Times, som præsidenten er uvenner med, for at sige mildt!

Endnu et fascinerende sidste afsnit. Det er lidt af en skam, at det er ikke et regelæssigt ugentligt program. Fascinerende især, at se Steve Bannon, den multimillionær, der klæder sig ud som lidt af en vagabond for sine tilhængeres skyld (en mand af folket ha ha!), faktisk er en charmerende og intelligent mand. Hans offentlige persona er anderledes, og man kan se, at han bare revser medierne, fordi det er en nyttig skydestive for at ophidse sine tilhængere og samtidig distrahere dem fra regeringens bommerter osv. Men han tror ikke selv inderste inde, at pressen har for vane at skabe fiktige nyheder. Interessant!

22:00 Jeg kigger lidt på nettet, og jeg griner af Andy Borowitz’ seneste overskrift, men satiren synes utilstrækkelig, når men kigger på virkeligheden af Trumps pressekonference i Finland.

Interessant, at jeg læser også, at der igen er optræk til ballade for New York Times, efter de publiserede en karikatur, der viser Trump og Putin som lidenskabelige elskere. Men problemet stammer fra karikaturens angivelige ”homofobi” – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Ræk mig lige opkastningsposen, Alice!!!!

22:30 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!!