Thursday, August 9, 2018

08:30 Lois and I get up. Lois has an appointment today at 1:15pm with Ursula, our dental clinic's hygienist - my appointment, which would have followed Lois's, has been cancelled because I unexpectedly had a tooth pulled out yesterday and my mouth and gums are still a little sensitive, to put it mildly.

It seems that I managed to escape Ursula's hands for a few weeks. Her methods are much more frightening than the dentist's in my opinion.

Dental appointments can be a useful excuse. I recall an interesting article from The Onion, the influential American news source, from a few years back. Rapper 'Lil' Wayne, who had been convicted of weapons offences, hit the headlines when he had his prison term postponed so that a dentist could fix a cracked tooth.

Some of the news source's most experienced commentators were asked to weigh in with their reaction, but opinions were mixed.

Marvin Allen, an insurance agent, was sympathetic: he said he had a similar experience, except that it was just a cavity and instead of imprisonment, it was an excursion to a water park that got deferred.

I like Marvin's style. He is not afraid to give rappers and criminals the benefit of the doubt, which makes a refreshing change.

In general, Marvin's approach is more acceptable to me than that of his fellow commentators, such as Mark Andrews, an outdoor sales representative who calls the dentist ploy "the oldest trick in the book". He believes that Lil Wayne's actual plan is to get hold of one of the dentist's free toothbrushes and whittle it down to a "shiv", a primitive homemade weapon very popular in prisons.

On the other hand the news source's perhaps most beloved commentator, Kari Marsh, a financial adviser, says she is beginning to suspect that Wayne does not really want to go to jail. This seems a little cynical, from my point of view, but I'm going to let that one slide.

09:00 Again today I'm being very cautious when it comes to eating and drinking, probably more cautious than necessary. I have been a little intimidated by our dentist, Daria's 2 pages of instructions, as well as the phone call I got at 5pm last night from the clinic asking me if I was still all right, as regards after-effects of the extraction etc. Yikes, scary!

According to Daria's instructions, I also have to avoid rinsing my mouth out for a few days. This is a little strange because the last time I got a tooth pulled out, my then dentist, Carolyn, recommended that I start using an antiseptic mouthwash as soon as possible. It's a bit surprising how often the official advice changes - what madness! Good grief!

But I decide to avoid hot food and drink again today, to be on the safe side.

10:00 I get going with clearing up and vacuuming all over the house because the fortnightly meeting of our U3A Danish Group is taking place here at 3 o'clock, 30 minutes later than usual, due to Lois's appointment with Ursula. Lois starts dusting in the living room. I move an extra chair into the living room - we are half expecting Scilla to come again, after several months of absence due to illness.

11:00 Lois and I relax on the couch and browse through the next 10 pages of "Svigtet", the Danish crime novella, which is our Danish group's current project.

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards Lois has to go to the dental clinic. I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap.

14:30 Lois comes back and we prepare for the group meeting. She puts the kettle on, etc.

15:00 Members ring at the door, including Scilla, who looks quite beautiful as usual. I don't have a clue how long she spends on doing her hair and makeup, etc. She says she's feeling much better, although she is lacking energy compared to before. Welcome to the club, Scilla!

We all chat a little, as usual, before we start reading pages from our crime novella. For some reason, we begin talking about maiden names, and we find out that both Scilla and Jeanette, our only genuinely Danish member, are divorced. Jeanette has a new partner, but has retained her ex-husband's last name. 

Scilla has also retained her ex-husband's last name, even though she says he "demanded it back" when they got divorced. Yes, he actually demanded that she and their children stop using it. What madness! It must have been something of an acrimonious divorce, no doubt about that.

There is a lot of talk about grandchildren, as usual. Scilla has the group's oldest grandchildren - one of them is already studying at university - her main subject is Chinese and she has moved to China for a year. Good luck with that one! 

Scilla is a true child of the 60s, and disapproves of the idea that you must study specifically to get a well-paid career - she thinks that fun is more important and I can see her point.

All of these are the kind of things you talk about when you are getting on in years - good grief!

16:30 The meeting ends, but members stay sitting and talking for another 30 minutes. Finally, Lois and I manage to persuade them to leave, and we relax with a cup of tea on the couch. We are exhausted. What a day!

17:00 The weather girl has said it may rain this evening, so we decide to postpone our usual watering, both in our garden and in our neighbor's garden, for a couple of hours. Our prayers are answered at 6 o'clock - hurrah!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. An interesting documentary is on, (3rd part of 3) all about Simon Reeve's travels in Australia.

This week Simon is in eastern Australia. An interesting episode, where he travels south from Queensland's "surfing paradises" to the metropolitan areas of Sydney and Melbourne. Lois and I know Melbourne a bit - in 2016 we spent a week there in the area when we visited Lois' cousin, Sylvia.

At one of the east coast's surfing resorts we also see Simon meeting two local beauties, who are both a strange kind of "meter maid" - but instead of imposing fines on motorists if their parking tickets have expired, they pay for new tickets on their behalf.

It all seems a little hard to believe, but it appears to be true.

It all seems a bit hard to believe, but it appears to be true.

Here in Cheltenham, since I started paying for parking through my smartphone, I have realized that if you are running late you can pay for further minutes using the parking app I have had installed. But this "two beauties" app seems much more convenient, and less worrisome in my opinion because you don't need to put your credit card number in. I search Google's "Play Store" and look for the "two beauties" app, but so far without success.

Damn! Just my luck!

In New South Wales we see Simon accompanying a park ranger who has to catch a koala, which was injured a few months ago but has now recovered, so he can remove the animal's radio tracking device.

We get the chance to see Simon's "koala face", which is nice, although I still think Lois' is the best - but others may think differently: the jury is still out on that one.

Tonight, we finally get the chance to see Simon's "koala face"

Sheldon's version in the "Big Bang Theory"

Lois's version - definitely still the best in my opinion

22:00 We go to bed and I read 12 pages of my bedtime book, Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", before I drift off to sleep - zzzzzzz !!!!!

Kundera's classic - and also my current bedtime book

Zzzzzzzzz  (again) !!!!!

Danish translation

08:30 Lois og jeg står op. Lois har aftale i dag kl 13:15 hos Ursula, vores tandlægekliniks hygiejniske specialist – min aftale, der ville have fulgt efter Lois’, er blevet aflyst, fordi jeg i går uforventede fik en tand trukket ud, og min mund og tandkød stadig er lidt følsømme, for at sige mildt.

Det lader til, at det har lykkes mig at slippe for Ursulas hænder i et par uger. Hendes metoder er meget mere skræmmende, end selve tandlægens efter min mening.

Tandlægeaftaler kan være en nyttig unskyldning. Jeg mindes en interessant artikel fra nogle år tilbage i The Onion, den indflydelsesrige amerikanske nyhedskilde. Rapperen Lil Wayne, der var blevet dømt for våbenladninger, fik sin fængselsstraf udskudt, så en tandlæge kunne fikse en revnet tand.

Nogle af nyhedskildens mest erfarne kommentatører blev bedt om deres reaktion, men meninger var blandede.

Marvin Allen, forsikringsagent, var sympatisk: han sagde, han havde haft en lignende oplevelse, bortset fra, at det bare drejede sig om et hul, og i stedet for fængselsstraf, var det et udflugt til en vandpark, der bleve udskudt.

Jeg kan godt lide Marvins stil. Han er ikke bange for, at lade rappere og kriminelle komme dem til gode, hvilket er en forfriskende forandring.

I det hele taget er Marvins tilgang mere acceptabelt, end sine medkommentatorer, for eksempel Mark Andrews, udendørs-repræsentant, der tror, at Lil Waynes forsæt er at få fat i en af tandlægens gratis tandbørster, og skære den ned til et ”shiv”, et primitivt, hjemmelavet våben, der er meget populært i fængsler, lader det til.

Tværtimod begynder  nyhedskildens måske mest elskede kommentator, Kari Marsh, en financiel rådsgiver, at mistænke, at Wayne ikke har lyst til at gå i fængsel. Dette synes lidt kynisk set ud fra mit syndspunkt, men det springer jeg over.

09:00 Igen i dag bliver jeg meget meget varsom, når det kommer til at spise og drikke, sandsynligvis mere varsom, end nødvendigt. Jeg er blevet lidt intimideret af vores tandlæge, Darias 2 siders anvisninger, samt telefonopkaldet, jeg fik kl 17 i går aftes fra klinikken, da de spurgte mig, om det stadig gik godt med udtryknings eftervirkninger osv. Yikes, skræmmende!

Ifølge Darias anvisninger må jeg også undgå at skylle munden i et par dage. Dette er lidt mærkeligt, fordi sidste gang jeg fik en tand trukket ud, anbefalede min daværende tandlæge, Carolyn, anbefalede mig at begynde så snart som muligt at bruge en antiseptisk mundskyldning. Det er lidt overraskende, hvor ofte det officielle råd ændrer sig – sikke et vanvid! Du godeste!

Jeg beslutter at undgå varm mad og drik igen i dag, for en sikkerheds skyld.

10:00 Jeg går i gang med at rydde op og støvsuge overalt i huset, fordi vores U3A danske gruppes fjortendags møde finder sted kl 15 hos os, 30 minutter senere, end normalt på grund af Lois’ aftale hos Ursula. Lois går i gang med at støve af i stuen. Jeg rykker en ekstra stol ind i stuen – vi forventer halvt om halvt, at Scilla kommer igen efter flere måneders fravær på grund af sygdom. 

11:00 Lois og jeg slapper af i sofaen og blader igennem de næste 10 sider af ”Svigtet”, den danske kriminovelle, der er vores danske gruppes nuværende projekt.

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter skal Lois til tandlægeklinikken. Jeg går i seng og tager en kort eftermiddagslur.

14:30 Lois kommer tilbage og vi forbereder os på gruppemødet. Hun sætter kedlen over osv.

15:00 Medlemmer ringer på, også Scilla, der ser smuk ud, som vanligt. Jeg har ikke den fjerneste anelse om, hvor lang tid hun bruger på håret og makeup osv. Hun siger, at hun har det meget bedre, selvom hun mangler energi i sammenligning til før. Velkommen i klubben, Scilla!

Vi snakker lidt, som vanligt, før vi går i gang med at læse sider fra vores kriminovelle. Af en eller anden grund begynder vi at tale om pigenavne, og vi finder ud af, at både Scilla og Jeanette, vores eneste ægte danske medlem, er skilt. Jeanette har en ny partner, men har beholdt sin eks-mands efternavn. Scilla har også beholdt sin eks-mands efternavn, selvom hun siger, han ”krævede det tilbage”, da de skilte sig. Han krævede nemlig, at hun og deres børn holder op med at bruge det. Sikke et vanvid! Det må have været lidt af en bitter skilsmisse, ingen tvivl om det.

Der er en masse snak om børnebørn, som vanligt. Scilla har gruppemedlemmers ældste børnebørn – en af dem studerer allerede på universitet – hendes hovedfag er kinesisk og hun er flyttet til Kina i et år. Tillykke med det! Scilla er et sandt barn af 60’erne, og misbilliger idéen om, at man skal studere specifikt for at få en velbetalt karriere – hun tror, at sjov er vigtigere, og jeg kan se hendes point.

Alt det her er de slags ting, man snakker om, når man er godt oppe i årene – du godeste!

16:30 Mødet slutter, men medlemmer bliver siddende og snakkende i endnu 30 minutter. Du godeste! Endelig lykkes det  Lois og mig at overtale dem at tage af sted og vi slapper af sammen med en kop te i sofaen. Vi er udmattede. Sikke en dag!

17:00 Vejrpigen har sagt, det kan komme til at regne i aften, så beslutter vi at udskyde vores sædvanlige vandning, både i vores have og i vores naboers have, i et par timer. Vores bønner bliver besvaret ved 18 tiden – hurra!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm (3. del af 3), der handler om Simon Reeves rejser i Australien.

Denne uge er Simon i det østlige Australien. Et interessant program, hvor han rejser sydpå fra delstaten Queenslands ”surfing-paradiser” til storbyerne Sydney og Melbourne. Lois og jeg kender Melbourne lidt – i 2016 tilbragte vi en uge der i området, da vi besøgte Lois’ kusine, Sylvia.

I nærheden af en af den østlige kysts surfing-badebyer ser vi også Simon møde to lokale skønheder, begge to en mærkelig slags ”meter maid”, der i stedet for at give bøder til bilister, hvis deres parkeringsbilletter er løbet ud, betaler for nye billetter på deres vegne.

Det hele virker lidt svært at tro, men det synes af være sandt.

Det hele virker lidt svært at tro, men det synes af være sandt.

Her i Cheltenham, siden jeg begyndte at betale for parkering via min smartphone, har jeg indset, at hvis man bliver forsinket, kan man betale for flere minutter ved hjælp af parkering-appen, jeg har fået installeret. Men denne ”to skønheder”-app virker meget mere belejligt, og mindre bekymrende efter min mening, fordi man ikke behøver at opgive sit kreditkortnummer. Men jeg søger i Googles ”Play Store” for at lede efter "2 skønheder"-appen, men hidtil uden succes. 

Pokkers! Bare mit held!!!!

I New South Wales ser vi Simon ledsage en park ranger, der skal fange en koala, som nogle måneder tilbage blev såret men nu er kommet sig, for at fjerne dyrets radio tracking-enhed.

Vi  får chancen for at se Simons ”koala-ansigt”, hvilket er rart, selvom jeg stadig mener, Lois’ er det bedste – men det kan være at andre synes anderledes:  det er juryen stadig ude om.

 I aften får vi endelig chancen for at se Simons ”koala-ansigt”

Sheldons version i ”Big Bang Theory”

Lois’ version – helt sikkert stadig det bedste efter min mening

22:00 Vi går i seng og jeg læser 12 sider af min sengetidbog, Milan Kunderas ”Tilværelsens ulidelige lethed”, før jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzz!!!!!

FilmposterKundera’s klassiker – og min nuværende sengetidbog

 Zzzzzzzz (igen) !!!!!!!