Danskcolin: Saturday 30 June 2018

08:00 Lois and I go in the shower and get up. I take a little look online and I see that Alison, our elder daughter, and her family have arrived back in England (via the overnight ferry to Harwich) after nearly 6 years residence in Denmark. Hurrah!

10:00 Lois uses the morning to prepare for her church's get-together at a hotel restaurant in the town of Tewkesbury. About 40 people have been invited: not only church members but also others: partners, relatives, previous Sunday school students, and former seminar attendees who for one reason or another have not joined the sect.

Lois is responsible for providing books, toys, etc. to entertain the children of the guests. Like everything else she does, she puts her everything into covering all the bases - she's so conscientious! It's lucky that we have not thrown out all the toys that our 5 year old grandchildren, Lily and Jessica, played with before the family moved to Australia in December 2015.

For my part, my morning is completely overshadowed by the prospect of the gathering, an event that I am not looking forward to - ugh, I'm such an unsociable misery! Lois has to attend from start to finish (2pm - 6pm: 4 hours - yikes!) because of her responsibility for the children's entertainment and she needs my support. So I must do my best to be charming and talkative, with a friendly expression on my face (or something close to it).

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap.

13:30 We drive over to Tewkesbury and arrive at 1:50pm at the hotel-restaurant. None of the other participants are here yet, which is nice - it gives me some time to perfect my friendly expression. I do my best all afternoon, but at 4:30pm I decide I cannot take the chit-chat any more - it's very loud in the restaurant and I have a headache - and I spend the last 90 minutes in our car in the parking lot: I take a little look at my smartphone a bit and I also have a bit of second afternoon nap - zzzzzz !!!!

It was not as unpleasant as I expected - I have to admit. The church had arranged the meeting as a purely social event, although there was a bit of an undertone that "we would like to save your soul if you would let us" - yikes! Fortunately, this undertone was not made explicit, thank goodness!

I take a little look later in the day at my smartphone. I have access to a whatsapp chat room, consisting of members of Lois's Church, which gives me a lot of interesting insights. It is clear that the members were quite satisfied with the afternoon.

18:00 We drive home and relax with a cup of tea on the couch. We are exhausted.

We spend the evening watching television. An old episode of Top of the Pops is on, from December 1985.

December 1985 was Lois's and my first Christmas after moving back from the US following 3 years residence over there.

Flashback to December 25, 1985: our first Christmas back in the UK.

The time is 6:15am, as the clock on the mantelshelf shows.

A sleepy Lois looks on while Alison (10) and Sarah (8) open their Christmas presents.

Poor Lois !!!!!

Alison and Sarah showcasing some of their Christmas presents

Happy days!

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

Danish translation

08:00 Lois og jeg går i bad og står op. Jeg kigger lidt på nettet, og jeg ser at Alison, vores ældste datter, og hendes familie er ankommen tilbage til England (med overnatningsfærgen til Harwich) efter næsten 6 års ophold i Danmark.

10:00 Lois bruger formiddagen på at forberede sig på sin kirkes sammenkomst på et hotel-restaurant i byen Tewkesbury. Ca. 40 mennesker er blevet inviteret: ikke bare kirkemedlemmer, men også andre: partnere, slægtninge, tidligere søndagsskoleelever, tidligere seminardeltagere, der af en eller anden grund ikke har tilsluttet sig sekten.

Lois er ansvarlig for at forsyne bøger, lege osv for at underholde gæsternes børn. Ligesom alt andet hun gør, gør hun sig umage for at dække alle baserne – hun er så samvittighedsfuld! Det er heldigt, at vi ikke har smidt ud alle de legetøj, vores 5-årige børnebørn, Lily og Jessica, leget med, før familien flyttede i december 2015 til Australien.

For mit vedkommende, er min formiddag helt overskygget af udsigten til sammenkomsten, en begivenhed, som jeg ikke glæder mig til - øv, jeg er sikke et usocialt pivehoved! Lois skal deltage fra start til slut (kl 14-18 : 4 timer – yikes!) på grunden af sit ansvar for børnenes underholdning, og hun har brug for min støtte, så jeg må gøre mit bedste for at være charmerende og snaksom, med et venligt udtryk i ansigtet (eller noget tæt på det).

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en kort eftermiddagslur.

13:30 Vi kører over til Tewkesbury og ankommer kl 13:50 til hotel-restauranten. Ingen af de andre deltagere er her endnu, hvilket er rart – det giver mig lidt tid til at perfektionere mit venligt udtryk. Jeg gør mit bedste hele eftermiddagen, men kl 16:30 beslutter jeg, at jeg ikke kan udholde snik-snakken mere – det er meget lydt i restauranten og jeg har lidt af en hovedpine – og jeg tilbringer de sidste 90 minutter i vores bil på parkeringspladsen: jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone og tager en anden eftermiddagslur – zzzzzz!!!!

Det hele var ikke så ubehageligt som jeg havde forventet – det må jeg indrømme. Kirken havde arrangeret sammenkomsten som en rent social begivenhed, selvom der var lidt af en undertone af, at ”vi vil gerne frelse din sjæl, hvis du ville tillade os” – yikes! Heldigvis blev denne undertone ikke gjort eksplicit, gudskelov!

Jeg kigger senere på dagen på min smartphone. Jeg har adgang til en whatsapp-chatrum, der består af medlemmer af Lois’s kirke, hvilket giver mig interessante indsigter. Det er klart, at medlemmerne var helt tilfredse, med eftermiddagen – ingen tvivl om det!