Sunday, August 19 2018

Lois did not sleep well overnight and she ended up jumping out of the bed and getting into our 2nd double bed so she could read a little and get sleepy. But she wakes up with a bad stomach anyway. She decides not to take part personally in her sect's religious services today - instead she will log in to the sect's website and listen online.

According to the church's rota it's Lois's responsibility today is to make a packed lunch for the visiting preacher and his wife: she bought a couple of things yesterday to help with that, but Lois and I can eat all that ourselves - it's an ill wind ha ha! Lois calls Andy, the sect's local secretary and asks him to swap her date and name with someone else on the rota.

10:00 Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, calls us on whatsapp. The family are in the car on their way home after a day high up on the hills surrounding Perth, and near the town of Chittering, where there are a lot of wineries - mm mm !!!

Sarah's husband, Francis, is behind the wheel. Sarah turns her smartphone round every now and again so that the phone's camera can see out through the windscreen, which is nice. It feels like Lois and I are actually in the car driving back down to the family home in Ocean Reef on the coast.

Lily and Jessie, our 5 year old twins, are very excited to talk to us after a stimulating day out - they have played at a brand new playground which they found high up on the hills. They also had the chance to pick oranges, something that cannot really be done here in Cheltenham except in a supermarket, no doubt about that. And Jessie has turned into a real chatterbox, which is nice.

Jessie, picking oranges today,

near Chittering out in the countryside in Western Australia

Perhaps because they are twins, they seem already to be very competitive, especially Lily, and they usually pick in competition with each other, just like everything else they do - and always struggle to pick more than each other and more than the other customers - yikes, scary!

11:00 I get going with mowing the lawn in front of the house and the one immediately behind the house, but I soon get sweaty - it's surprisingly warm. There's a breeze, but it's a warm breeze, not the normal sort haha. I decide to leave our other lawns for another day. The condition of the lawns is not that great - there's no doubt about that. Bare patches and awful tall weeds that have popped up here and there. But all our neighbors' lawns look more or less the same, which is reassuring.

I come back into the house and grab a quick shower.

12:30 Lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. Lois picks up her little glass of wine and a piece of bread and sits down in front of my laptop. She logs in to her sect's website to take part in today's worship service, but as so often, the president of the day has forgotten to turn on the sect's internet connection - after about 15 minutes he realizes the mistake and after that everything goes well, thank goodness. Lois says that most members of the local church are way too relaxed and would turn up late for their own funerals if they could (and other similar criticisms!). Good grief, what madness !!!

18:00 We eat dinner: roast lamb with roast potatoes, carrots and home-grown green beans - yum yum!

19:30 We spend the rest of the evening watching television, an interesting documentary about John Crichton Stuart, the 3rd marquis of Bute.

An interesting man, to say the least. Lois and I did not know that the city of Cardiff, now the Welsh capital, where the principality's parliament is based, would just have been an insignificant village if Bute had not decided to make it a "second Liverpool" by building and developing the harbor and building a lot of impressive streets and houses during the 19th century.

John Crichton Stuart, the 3rd marquis of Bute

He was also a sympathetic man who loved his wife, which was unusual among the aristocracy of the time, and the couple had 4 children. Bute and his wife, Gwendolen, shared a bed to the end of their lives, which was very unconventional among aristocratic circles: most couples had separate rooms, which apparently made adultery easier - my god, what a crazy world we live in!!!

He died relatively early at 51 after a massive stroke. He had an irrational fear of being buried alive for some reason or other. He insisted that, after the doctors were sure that he was dead, they should take out the heart from his body, mummify it, put it in a special box made of silver and then transport it to the Holy Land. 

So after his death his heart was taken out of the box on the Mount of Olives, and buried in the ground over there - yikes how spooky !!!

The box made of silver, which Bute's heart was put in,

ready for its long journey to the Mount of Olives - good grief, how spooky !!!!

I am absolutely sure that when I die, I will not have the slightest desire for my heart to be removed from the body. Why bother about doing that? If it's too late to recharge it, then forget it - that's what I say.

Not only that, but it would nowadays be most unconventional to bury somebody alive, to put it mildly, and it has not happened to anyone I know personally. So no need to be worrying about that sort of thing at all ha ha!

Poor old Bute !!!!!

20:30 We continue to watch television. The evening's BBC Proms concert is on, featuring Mozart's lovely clarinet concerto, and Mahler's 5th symphony.

The soloist for the Mozart concerto is the gorgeous Belgian clarinetist Anneline Van Wauwe (wow - ha ha), a very lively young woman with sparkling eyes. She gets excited even during her preliminary interview with BBC's Lloyd Coleman, the program's presenter, who looks like a 12 year old schoolboy.

 the gorgeous Belgian clarinetist, Anneline Van Wauwe

When it comes to the performance, we like Anneline's low-cut dress, although the cleavage is mostly hidden behind her instrument, which is a bit of a shame.

We like Anneline's deeply low-cut dress ...

Lois says she is glad that female soloists do not care overly much about their weight and often have very generous curves, which is a refreshing change when thinking about today's anorexic fashion models, that she says tend to make her feel overweight.

We notice that Anneline treats the audience to a very lively and passionate performance: she does not stand stiffly but moves about in a very charming way while playing the piece, which is nice.

... and she has a lovely set of moves, which is nice.

21:00 The orchestra begins on Mahler's 5th symphony, and Lois and I both fall asleep on the couch (as you do, with Mahler). I'm the first to wake up and I tiptoe up the stairs at about 10 o'clock. Lois finally wakes up and jumps into bed about 11. My god, what a day !!!

Danish translation

Lois har ikke sovet godt i nat, og hun endte med at hoppe ud af sengen og lægge sig i vores 2. dobbeltseng, så hun kan læse lidt og blive søvnigt. Men hun vågner op med en dårlig mave også. Hun beslutter ikke at deltage personligt i sin sekts 2 gudstjenester i dag – hun vil i stedet for logge ind til sektens hjemmeside og lytte på nettet.

Ifølge kirkens turnus er det Lois’ ansvar i dag at lave en madpakke til den besøgende prædiker og hans kone:  hun købte et par ting i går for at hjælpe med det, men det kan Lois og jeg spise selv – intet er så galt, at det ikke er godt for noget ha ha! Lois ringer til Andy, sektens lokale sekretær og beder ham om at bytte datoer og navne med nogen anden på turnussen.

10:00 Sarah, vores datter i Perth,  Australien, ringer til os på whatsapp. Familien er i bilen på vej hjem efter en dag højt oppe på de bakker, der omgiver Perth, og nærheden af byen Chittering, hvor der er en masse vingårde – mm mm!!!

Sarahs mand, Francis, sidder bag rettet. Sarah drejer hendes mobil engang i mellem, så mobilens kamera har udsigt gennem forruden, hvilket er rart. Det føles som om, Lois og jeg er i bilen og i gang med at køre ned ad bakkene tilbage til familiens hus i Ocean Reef på kysten.

Lily og Jessie, vores 5-årige tvillinger, er meget begejstrede at tale med os  efter en stimulerende dags udflygt – de har leget på en splinterny legeplads, som de fandt højt oppe på bakkerne. De fik også muligheden for at plukke appelsiner, noget, man ikke kan gør i Cheltenham, ingen tvivl om det. Jessie er blevet til et sandt sludrechatol, hvillket er rart.

Jessie, i gang med at plukke appelsiner i dag,

i nærheden af Chittering ude på landet i Western Australia

Måske på grund af, at de er tvillinger, synes de at være allerede meget konkurrencedygtige, især Lily, og de plejer at plukke om kap, ligesom med alt andet de gør – og bestræber sig altid for at plukke mere, end hinanden, og mere, end de andre kunder – yikes, skræmmende!

11:00 Jeg går i gang med at slå græsplænen foran huset og den, der ligger umiddelbart bag huset, men jeg bliver snart svedig – det er overraskende varmt. Der en en brise, men det er en varm brise, ikke den normale haha. Jeg beslutter at overlade vores andre græsplæner til en anden dag. Tilstanden af græsplænerne er ikke ret smuk – det er der ikke nogen tvivl om. Store bare pletter og forfærdelige høje ukrudt der har poppet op her og der. Men alle vores naboers græsplæner er stort sat det samme, hvilket er beroligende.

Jeg kommer tilbage ind i huset og snupper et hurtigt brusebad.

12:30 Frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Lois henter sit lille glas vin og et stykke brød, og sætter sig foran min bærebare. Hun logger ind til sin sekts websted for at deltage i dagens gudstjeneste, men som så ofte, har dagens formand glemt at tænde sektets internetforbindelsen – efter ca. 15 minutter indser han fejlen og derefter går alt godt, gudskelov. Lois siger, at de fleste medlemmer er alt for meget afslappede, og ville komme sent for deres egne begravelser, hvis de kunne (og andre lignende kritikker!). Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad: stegte lam med stegte kartofler, gulerødder og hjemmedyrkede grønne bønner – yum yum!

19:30 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om John Crichton Stuart, den 3. marquis af Bute.

En interessant mand, for at sige mildt. Lois og jeg vidste ikke, at storbyen Cardiff, nu den walesiske hovedstad, hvor fyrstendømmens parlament har til stede, bare ville have været en ubetydelig landsby, hvis Bute ikke havde besluttet at gøre den til ”en 2. Liverpool”, ved at bygge og udvikle havnen og en masse imponerende gader og huser i løbet af det 19. århundrede.

Han var også en sympatisk mand, der elskede sin kone, hvilket var usædvanligt blandt det daværende aristokrati, og parret fik 4 børn. Bute og hans kone, Gwendolen, delte seng til deres dages ende, hvilket var meget ukonventionelt bland aristokratiske kredse: de fleste par havde adskilte værelser, hvilket tilsyneladende gjorde utroskab lettere – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Han døde forholdsvis tidligt på 51 år efter et massivt slagtilfælde . Han havde en irrational frygt for at blive begravet levende, af en eller anden grund. Han insisterede på, at, efter lægerne var helt sikre på, at han var død, skulle de fjerne hjertet fra kroppen, mumificere det og lægge det i en speciel æske lavet af sølv, og så transportere den til det hellige land. Og senere blev hans hjerte taget ud af æsken på Oliebjerget, og begravet i jorden derovre – yikes uhyggeligt!!!

den æske lavet af sølv, som Butes hjerte blev lagt ind,

klar til dets lange rejse til Oliebjerget – du godeste, uhyggeligt !!!!

Jeg er helt sikker på, at når jeg dør, vil jeg ikke har den fjerneste ønske om, at mit hjerte bliver fjernet fra kroppen. Hvorfor gøre sig umage for at gøre den slags? Hvis det er for sent til at genoplade det, så glem det – det siger jeg ha ha!

Derudover, er det nu til dags i hvert fald for det meste helt ukonventionelt at begrave folk levende, for at sige mildt. Det er ikke sket med nogen, jeg personligt kender. Så ikke nogen grund til at blive bekymret over den slags ha ha!

Stakkels Bute!!!!!

20:30 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser aftenens BBC Proms koncert, der fremviser Mozarts dejlige klarinetkoncert, og Mahlers 5. symfoni.

Soloisten i Mozarts koncert er den pragtfulde belgiske klarinetist Anneline Van Wauwe (wow – ha ha), en meget livlig ung kvinde med strålende øjne. Hun bliver allerede begejstret selv under sit foreløbige interview med BBCs Lloyd Coleman, programmets vært, der ser ud som om, han kun er en ca 12 år gammel skoledreng.

den pragtfulde belgiske klarinetist, Anneline Van Wauwe

Når det kommer til selve forestillingen, kan vi godt lide hendes dybt nedringede kjole, selvom kavalergangen er for det meste skjult bag sit instrument, hvilket er lidt af en skam.

vi kan godt lide Annelines dybt nedringede kjole...

Lois siger, hun er glad for, at kvindelige soloister ikke for meget bekymrer sig over deres vægt og ofte har meget generøse former, hvilket er en forfriskende forandring, når man tænker på nutidens anorektiske modemodeller, der gør hende til at føle sig lidt overvægtig.

Vi bemærker, at Anneline under publikummet en meget livlig og passioneret præstation: hun står ikke stivt, men bevæger sig på stedet på en meget charmerende måde, mens hun spiller stykket, hvilket er rart.

… og hun har et dejligt sæt bevægelserne, hvilket er rart.

21:00 Orkestret begynder på Mahlers 5. symfoni, og Lois og jeg falder begge to i søvn på sofaen (som man gør). Jeg er den første at vågne op og jeg lister op ad trappen ved 22-tiden. Lois vågner endelig og hopper op i sengen til mig ved 23-tiden. Du godeste, sikke en dag!!!