Saturday 7 July 2018

09:00 Lois and I get up and have breakfast. I swing by our neighbor, Bob's house, an ex-builder (now retired), and I pay him for repairing our driveway gates and gateposts.

Afterwards, I sit down in front of the computer and write instructions for some of our other neighbors, Stephen and Frances, who have promised to look after our house during our short absence in the county of Surrey, visiting our elder daughter, Alison and her family: Ed, her husband and their 3 children - Josie (11), Rosalind (10) and Isaac (7).

10:00 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 by most cartoonists.

The Dane, Morten Ingemann, my favorite cartoonist

Ingemann often raises interesting legal issues at the table. I sometimes wonder if he had some kind of legal education in the past - maybe he was a student in law, but dropped out, but I'm not entirely sure. The jury is still out on that one.

In today's thoughtful cartoon strip, we see an older man sitting and drinking a bottle of wine on a cloud in the sky. He is obviously dead but, apart from that, he looks pretty good and quite cheerful into the bargain.

But his reveries are suddenly interrupted by the arrival of his wife on the same cloud: she probably died just a few minutes ago. She is very happy to see her former husband and she says, "Ohhh, Arthur, finally - we're together again!".

Her husband, however, seems to have at least some basic legal knowledge because he replies that their marital agreement was only "till death us do part".

A very interesting debating point - no doubt about that!

I have always been confused by the phrase "a marriage made in heaven". I imagine that those marriages made in heaven do not have that "till death us do part" loophole. Or am I talking nonsense, maybe? I need an expert comment here from a real legal brain, I must say !!

11:00 I continue to look online and I see that Ed has posted some charming pictures on "Insta" and Facebook, which show the interior of their house. For Lois and me, the house is now almost unrecognisable. The family has had the house significantly renovated during their 6 year absence in Denmark, with a massive new extension built on the front of the house.

a 2-story extension now stands

on the front of the old house

Rosalind (9) in the new kitchen-dining room

How great to be 9 - I wish I were 9 again!!!!

Rosalind and Isaac (7) in the new living room

We cannot help noticing that there are no carpets shown in the pictures. Lois and I are just two old crows, but we know that carpets are not fashionable at the moment with many young families. But it's possible that Ali and Ed may not want to put carpets down before they've placed all their furniture items exactly where they want them. We will see! But we will have to take our slippers with us - no doubt about that!

11:00 We start to pack some stuff in our little suitcase: clothes and toiletries for the most part. We will leave early tomorrow before it gets too hot. We have booked a double room in a hotel located not far from Alison's house. The family is still unpacking their boxes and arranging their furniture etc. so that Lois and I would rather not disturb them too much by asking to sleep there in the house.

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards we go to bed for a couple of hours. We read about 10-12 pages of our respective bedtime books.

16:00 We get up and go in the shower. Then we go downstairs and relax with a cup of tea on the couch.

17:00 We get going with clearing up the house and the garden so our neighbors Stephen and Francis will not be too disgusted over the mess when they come to feed Minx or water our plants, either in the house or in the garden - yikes, tiring!

18:30 We have dinner and collapse on the couch. We are exhausted! We are getting old, no doubt about that.

20:00 We spend the rest of the evening listening to the radio and watching some television. A movie is on, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel".

This movie is not really my cup of tea, but Lois wants to see it and I'm too tired to do anything other than sit there next to her and watch it until it's bedtime - yikes!

I'll be glad if I never have to see another movie with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton and Ronald Pickup ever again for the rest of my life - I have to say that !!!!

22:30 We go to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow. I am feeling a bit nervous about tomorrow's journey, which is a little ridiculous. I've got out of the habit of doing long drives in the car - tomorrow's journey will only take 2 hours or so, so I feel like a bit of a wimp, and rightly so.

Zzzzzzzz !!!!!!

Danish translation

09:00 Lois og jeg står op og spiser morgenmad. Jeg smutter ind hos vores nabo, Bob, en eks-byggeherre (nu på pension), og jeg betaler ham for at reparere vores indkørselslåger og portstolper.

Bagefter sætter jeg mig foran computeren og skriver anvisninger for nogle af vores andre naboer, Stephen og Frances, der har lovet at passe på vores hus under vores korte fravær i grevskabet Surrey, på besøg hos vores ældste datter, Alison og hendes familie: Ed, hendes mand, og deres 3 børn – Josie (11), Rosalind (10) og Isaac (7).

10:00 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

Ingemann bringer ofte interessant juridiske spørgsmål på bane.  Jeg spekulerer nogle gange, om han havde noget slags juridisk uddannelse i fortiden – måske var han studerende i jura, men droppede ud, men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på. Juryen er stadig ude om det.

I dagens tankevækkende tegnestribe ser vi en ældre mand, der sidder og drikker en flaske vin på et sky i himlen. Han er åbenbart død, men bortset fra det der, ser han temmelig god ud, og meget munter oven i købet.

Men hans drømmerier bliver pludselig afbrudt af ankomsten af sin kone til samme skyet:  hun døde formentlig  for bare nogle minutter siden. Hun er meget glad for at se sin tidligere ægtemand og hun siger, ”Åhhh, Arthur, endelig er vi sammen igen!”.

Hendes mand virker imidlertid at have i det mindste grundlæggende juridisk viden, fordi han svarer, at deres aftale kun var ”til døden os skiller”.

Et meget interessant debatpunkt - ingen tvivl om det!

Jeg er altid blevet forvirret af udtrykket ”et ægteskab lavet i himlen”.  Jeg formoder, at de ægteskaber, der blev lavet i himlen, ikke har det der ”til døden os skiller” smuthul! Eller taler jeg nonsens, måske? Jeg har brug for ekspert-kommentarer fra en sand juridisk hjerne – det må jeg nok sige!!

11:00 Jeg fortsætter med at kigge lidt på nettet og jeg ser, at Ed har lagt nogle charmerende billeder op på ”Insta” og Facebook, der viser husets indre. For Lois og mig er huset nu næsten uigenkendeligt.  Familien fik huset betydeligt  renoveret, under deres 6 års ophold i Danmark, med en massiv ny tilbygning bygget på husets forside.

en 2-etagers tilbygning står nu

på forsiden af det gamle hus

Rosalind (9) i den nye køkken-spisestue

Hvor flot at være 9 - hvis bare jeg var 9 igen !!!!!

Rosalind og Isaac (7) i den nye dagsligstue

Vi kan ikke undgå at bemærke, at der ikke er nogle gulvtæpper i billederne. Lois og jeg er bare to gamle krager, men vi ved godt, at gulvtæpper er ikke moderigtige for tiden hos mange unge familier. Men det kan være, at Alison og Ed ikke har lyst til at lægge gulvtæpper ned, før de har placeret alle deres møbler, præcis hvor de vil have dem. Vi får se! Men vi må tage vores hjemmesko med – ingen tvivl om det!

11:00 Vi begynder at pakke nogle ting ned i vores lille kuffert: tøj og toiletartikler for det meste. Vi skal til af sted i morgen tidligt, før det bliver for varmt. Vi har booket et dobbelt-værelse i et hotel, der ligger ikke ret langt fra Alisons hus. Familien er stadig i gang med at pakke deres flyttekasser op og arrangere deres møbler osv, så Lois og jeg ikke hellere ville forstyrre dem for meget ved at bade om, at vi kunne sove der i huset.

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går vi i seng i et par timer. Vi læser ca 10-12 sider af vores henholdsvisse sengetidbøger.

16:00 Vi står op og går i bad. Vi kommer ned ad trappen. Vi slapper af med en kop te på sofaen.

17:00 Vi går i gang med at rydde op i huset og i haven, så vores naboer, Stephen og Francis, ikke vil væmmes over noget rod, når de kommer for at fodre Minx eller vande vores planter enten i huset eller i haven – yikes, trættende!

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad og dratter om i sofaen. Vi er udmattede! Vi bliver gamle, ingen tvivl om det.

20:00 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en film, ”The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”.

Denne film er ikke rigtigt mit nummer, men Lois vil gerne se den, og jeg er for træt til at gøre noget andet, end at sidde ved siden af hende og se på det indtil sengetid – yikes!

Jeg vil være glad, hvis jeg aldrig ser endnu en film med Judi Dench, Maggies Smith, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton og Ronald Pickup for resten af mit liv – det må jeg nok sige!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng. Vi må stå tidligt op i morgen. Jeg føler mig lidt nervøs om morgendagens rejse, hvilket er lidt latterligt.  Jeg er kommet ud af vane med at køre lange kørsler i bilen – morgendagens rejse vil imidlertid tage kun 2 timer eller deromkring, så jeg føler mig  som lidt af en skvat, og med rette.

Zzzzzzzz!!!!!!