Friday, August 10, 2018

07:30 We get up early because Lois has an appointment this morning at 8:30 am with one of the doctors at our local clinic. The doctor gives her the go ahead for a blood test as part of the annual review of Lois' medication plan - she has a slightly elevated cholesterol level. But the doctor also says that it's ok for her future reviews may be less often - once every 2 years. Lois is very happy with that, but in my opinion, I suspect that the clinic is trying to save a little money here and there - good grief!

Lois asks about her eyelashes - every now and then some of them keep giving her trouble by irritating her eye. When we were in Australia, she explained the situation to a doctor over there who said that laser treatment could solve the problem. That's something our English doctor agrees with, but he says that Lois would have to seek private treatment - the country's NHS health system has basically gone bankrupt - my god! Not a good prospect for us wrinkled old crows, no doubt about that! Good grief!

10:00 I sit in front of my laptop and prepare a Danish vocabulary test for Lois - I'm such a considerate husband - I'm what every woman wants in a husband - ha ha. But I'm just using Lois as a guinea pig. I want to discover what words from yesterday's Danish group meeting she does not remember, so I can send out to the group members a list of words they must learn by heart before the next meeting of the group in 2 weeks' time.

The scary Danish vocabulary test I have devised for Lois - yikes!

11:00 We relax with a cup of tea in the living room. Minx, our daughter Alison's cat, whom she left with us in 2012 when her family moved to Denmark, snuggles up to Lois on the couch. Minx is a real old lady now at age 18 yrs, and sometimes she has trouble curling up on Lois' lap - we suspect she is suffering from arthritis, the poor thing !!!! She often likes to lie half on and half off, just next to Lois, or else straight across her lap in a straight line.

I surprise Lois with a quick photo

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois goes out into the backyard and picks 5 pounds 10 ounces of greengage plums off one of our fruit trees. She says that, probably because of the exceptionally cold, wet spring and unusually hot, dry summer, many of the plums are not fully ripe: many of the ones that are ripe have gone bad for some reason.

She plans to use all, or many of the plums she picked, to make jam. They are mostly not quite ripe, so it will take a little more time than usual to cook them.

18:00 We have dinner and afterwards we talk a little with our elder daughter Alison on the phone. Her family moved back to England last month after almost 6 years of residence in Denmark.

Since returning to England, the family has ironically spent a lot of time in the company of some of the friends they got to know while living in Copenhagen. Last weekend they stayed in a large house in the countryside with three other families.

Alison and Ed's weekend in the country

Alison says that the owners of the house were on holiday abroad, while they were there. She discovered during their stay in the house that the owners have a lot of connections with the rich and famous, to put it mildly - one family member was a boyfriend of Sarah Ferguson's before she married Prince Andrew, for example. And in a desk drawer, Alison saw an invitation to William and Kate's wedding. Good grief!

In another desk drawer, she saw a rare military medal, which one of the owners' forebears was awarded in the First World War. Alison was impressed by how much the owners trust their guests / customers, considering they have left such a valuable medal in the house - someone in Alison's group thought it was worth thousands of pounds on the second-hand market. Good grief (again) !!!!

We talk a little to her about my and Lois' stay with them next week. We arrive on Monday (at midday-ish) and stay with them for 4 days. Alison has her 43th birthday on Wednesday. My god, you know that you really getting on in years when your children are getting to be well and truly middle aged, no doubt about that.

20:00 Lois and I spend the rest of the evening watching television. Two episodes of the Big Bang Theory's last season are on - both repeats. The first one we missed due to our absence in Australia in March and April. We were staying with our younger daughter Sarah in Perth. The second episode we actually saw in Australia, but it was hard to concentrate during the program because Sarah's 5-year-old twins liked to climb onto our laps in the evenings and chat with us. Happy days!

We want to be up to date with the status of the main characters before the season's new season starts in the fall.

21:00 We continue to watch a bit of television. An interesting TV reality show (2nd part of 4) is on, all about a group of elderly celebrities who want to experience India as a possible place to spend their old age in (at least this is the program's alleged premise) .

I am not in the habit of watching TV reality shows or celebrity TV shows, or celebrity reality tv shows, but this kind of series is different than the normal - the celebrities are all elderly like me and I know who they are. Younger celebrities have no impact on me - for the most part, I do not have the faintest idea of who they are, I don't know them from Adam. And it is interesting to see how much these older celebrities have changed since their heyday, and it is not always clear whether they have had cosmetic surgery or not.

In this evening's program, many members of the group are visiting the Golden Temple, the Sikhs' shrine in Amritsar. The old English crows (and the voice-over commentary) stress the Sikhs' desire to give to others and to be in fellowship with others, but Lois says that the religion and the practice of it are actually quite violent - my god, what madness !!! I do not know anything about the Sikh religion, but Lois is a bit of an expert about many of the world's religions, no doubt about that.

Peter Dean, a 78-year-old ex-soap opera actor ("Eastenders"), makes no secret of his hope of finding love again - he has lived alone for a few years. He arranges a date with a local woman, but she turns out to be about 20 years younger than him, although he himself looks quite well and fit considering his age. But when he asks her for a second date, she says, "Sorry, no" - she has to go to Calcutta, apparently.

Peter Dean, 78-year-old ex-soap opera actor, makes no secret of the fact

that he hopes to find love again.

I discuss this scenario with Lois. We both think "sorry, I've got to go to Calcutta" would be a very useful excuse anywhere in the world over (apart from in Calcutta itself obviously), if you wanted to reject an invitation from the opposite sex.

Excuses with foreign references are always incredibly powerful, we think. In the 1970s, the Private Eye satirical magazine reported on an incident at a party in the journalist Neil Ascherson's house, where another journalist, Mary Kenny, allegedly had "a meaningful discussion" with a former member of Milton Obote's cabinet. She later claimed that she was upstairs on the 1st floor discussing Ugandan politics with the man. "Discussing Uganda" subsequently became one of the magazine's euphemisms for "having sex".

My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

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

Danish translation

07:30 Vi står tidligt op, fordi Lois har aftale i formiddag kl 08:30 hos én af lægerne på vores lokale klinik. Lægen giver hende få til at tage en blodprøve, som en del af den årlige gennemgang af Lois’ medicineringsplan – hun har et lidt forhøjet kolesteroltal. Men lægen siger også, at hendes kommende gennemgange kan være mere sjældne - engang om 2 år. Det er Lois meget glad for, men for mit vedkommende mistænker jeg, at klinikken forsøger igen at spare lidt penge hist og pist – du godeste!

Lois spørger om sine øjenvipper – engang imellem en eller anden af dem give hende problemer ved at irritere øjen. Da vi var i Australien, forklarede hun situationen til en læge derovre, der siger, at laserbehandling kunne løse problemet. Det er vores engelske læge enig i, men han siger, at Lois ville måtte søge privatbehandling – landets NHS sundhedssystem er grundlæggende gået konkurs – du godeste! Ikke gode udsigter for os rynkede gamle krager, ingen tvivl om det! Du godeste!

10:00 Jeg sætter mig foran min bærebare og udfærdiger en dansk ordforrådtest til Lois – jeg er sikke en betænksom ægtemand – jeg er, hvad hver kvinde ønsker sig i sin mand - ha ha. Men jeg bruger Lois bare som en forsøgskanin. Jeg vil gerne opdage, hvilke ord fra gårsdagens danske gruppemøde hun ikke huske, så jeg kan sende gruppemedlemmerne en list af ord, de skal lære udenad før gruppens næste møde i 2 ugers tid.

Den skræmmende danske ordforrådtest jeg har udfærdiget til Lois – yikes!

11:00 Vi slapper af med en kop te i stuen. Minx, vores datter Alisons kat, som hun efterlod hos os i 2012, da hendes familie flyttede til Danmark, putter sig ind til Lois i sofaen. Minx er en gammel dame nu på 18 år, og hun har af og til problemer med at rulle sig sammen på Lois’ skød – vi mistænker hun lider af gigt, staklen!!!! Hun foretrækker ofte at ligge halvt af halvt på, ved siden af Lois eller på tværs af skødet.

Jeg overrasker Lois med et hurtigt foto

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden går Lois ud inde i baghaven og plukker 5 pund 10 ounces reine-clauder blommer af en af vores frugttræer. Hun siger, at sandsynligvis på grund af det usædvanligt kolde, våde forår og usædvanligt varme, tørre sommer, er mange af blommerne stadig umodne: blommerne, der er modne, er blevet fordærvet af en eller anden grund.

Hun planlægger at bruge alle, eller mange af, de blommer, hun plukkede, til at lave marmelade. De er for det meste stadig lidt umodne, så det vil tage lidt mere tid, end vanligt, til at koge dem.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter taler lidt med vores ældste datter Alison i telefonen. Hendes familie flyttede tilbage til England sidste måned efter næsten 6 års ophold i Danmark.

Siden de kom tilbage til England har familien ironisk tilbragt en masse tid i selskab med nogle af vennerne, de lærte at kende, mens de boede i København. Sidste weekend boede de i en stor hus ude på landet, sammen med to andre familier.

Alison og Eds weekend ude på landet

Alison siger, at husets ejere er på ferie i udlandet. Hun opdagede under deres ophold i huset, at ejerne har en masse forbindelser med de rige og berømte, for at sige mildt – en familiemedlem var kærester med Sarah Ferguson, før hun giftede sig med Prins Andrew, for eksempel. Og i en skrivebordsskuffe så hun et invitationskort til William og Kates bryllup. Du godeste!

I en anden skrivebordsskuffe så hun en sjælden militær medalje, som en af ejernes forfædre blev tildelt i den 1. verdenskrig. Alison var imponeret om, hvor meget ejerne stoler på deres gæster/kunder, i betragtning af, de efterlader sikke en værdifuld medalje i huset – en eller anden i Alisons gruppe troede, den er tusindvis af £ værd, på det brugte marked. Du godeste (igen) !!!!

Vi snakker lidt med hende om min og Lois’ ophold hos dem næste uge. Vi ankommer på mandag (midt på dagen) og bo hos dem i 4 dage. Alison  har sin 43. fødselsdag på onsdag. Du godeste, du ved godt, at du er godt oppe i årene, når dine børn bliver godt og grundigt midaldrende, ingen tvivl om det.

20:00 Lois og jeg bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser 2 afsnit af sitcommen Big Bang Theorys sidste sæson – begge genudsendelser. Det første gik vi glip af på grund af vores fravær i Australien i marts og april. Vi boede dengang hos vores yngste datter Sarah i byen Perth. Det 2. afsnit så vi faktisk i Australien, men det var svært at koncentrere os under programmet, fordi Sarahs 5-årige tvillinger godt kunne lide om aftenen at sætte sig på vores skød og snakke med os. Lykkelige dage!

Vi vil være helt ajour med hovedfigurernes status, før sitcommens nye sæson starter i efteråret.

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant tv-reality show (2. del af 4), der handler om en gruppe ældre celebriteter, der har lyst til at opleve India som et muligt sted at tilbringe deres alderdom i (i det mindste er dette programmets angivelig præmis).

Jeg har ikke for vane at se tv-reality shows eller celebritet tv-shows, eller celebritet-reality-tv shows, men denne slags serie er anderledes, end den normale – berømthederne er alle ældre, som mig, og jeg ved, hvem de er. Yngre beromtheder gør ingen indvirkning på mig – jeg har for det meste ikke den fjerneste anelse om, hvem de er. Og det er interessant at se, hvor meget disse ældre berømtheder har ændret sig siden deres storhedstid, og det er ikke altid helt klart, om de har haft kosmetisk operationer, eller ej.

I aftenens program besøger mange af gruppemedlemmer den gyldne tempel, sikhernes helligedom  i Amritsar. De gamle engelske krager (og programmets speakerstemme) understreger sikhernes ønske om at give til andre og være i fællesskab med andre, men Lois siger, at religionen og dens udøvelse faktisk er ganske voldelige – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!! Jeg selv kender ikke noget til den sikhiske religion, men Lois er lidt af en ekspert om mange af verdens religioner, ingen tvivl om det.

Peter Dean, en 78-årig eks-sæbeoperaskuespiller (”Eastenders”) lægger ikke skjul på, at han håber at finde kærligheden på ny – han har boet alene i nogle år. Han arrangerer en date med en lokal kvinde, men hun viser sig at være ca. 20 år yngre, end ham, selvom han ser ganske godt og rask ud i betragtning af sin alder. Men da han beder hende om en 2. date, svarer hun, ”Undskyld” – hun skal til Calcutta, lader det til.

Peter Dean, 78-årig sæbeoperaskuespiller, lægger ikke skjule på,

at han håber at finde kærligheden på ny.

Jeg diskuterer denne scenario med Lois. Vi synes, at ”undskyld, jeg skal til Calcutta”, ville være en meget nyttig undskyldning hvor som helst, verden over (bortset fra i selve Calcutta), hvis man gerne ville afvise en invitation fra det modsatte køn.

Undskyldninger med udenlandske referencer er altid utroligt magtefulde, synes vi. I 1970’erne rapporterede det satiriske magasin Private Eye om en hændelse til en fest i journalisten Neil Aschersons hus, hvor en anden journalist, Mary Kenny, angiveligt havde "en betydningsfuld diskussion" med et tidligere medlem af Milton Obotes kabinet. Hun påstod senere, at hun var ovenpå på den 1. sal, og i gang med at diskutere ugandiske politik med manden. ”At diskutere Uganda” blev efterfølgende en af magasinets eufemismer for ” at have sex”.

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzzz!!!