Tuesday, August 28 2018

08:00 Lois and I get up and go in the shower. After breakfast, we drive over to the town of Upton-on-Severn because Lois wants to visit Yvonne, a member of her sect, who recently moved into a local nursing home just outside the town, after her family decided she was no longer capable of living independently in her own home.

Yvonne suffers from dementia, so Lois and I decide that it will be better if I stay sitting in the car in the nursing home's car park - there is a chance that Yvonne will remember Lois, but my presence may confuse her. The visit takes approx. 30 minutes - Lois chats with Yvonne in the nursing home's big lounge, but after half an hour Lois can see that Yvonne is getting tired and in a bad mood. She finally stops answering Lois's questions, so easy decision - time just to say goodbye, no doubt about that!

The big question is whether either Lois or I will end up in a nursing home one day - the jury is still out on that one. The thought of it is all a bit of a nightmare, I must say. My father ended up in a nursing home and lived there for 3 years, but my mother and Lois' parents avoided this fate. So who knows?

Yikes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lois comes out of Yvonne's nursing home after her 30 minute visit

10:30 We drive into Upton-on-Severn. We have not been in the town for many many years, although in the past it was one of our favorite towns to go on outings to. It's an old town on the Severn River (needless to say ha ha), with many beautiful old houses and shops on the main street.

We see the old inn the White Horse, where Tom Jones in the famous novel was seduced by a certain "Mrs Waters" after a big dinner for two in the inn's dining room: Lois always comments when we see the movie, that she thinks the dinner was too lavish and the couple would in fact probably have been suffering from severe flatulence and indigestion afterwards and not at all in the mood for sex, but I'm going to let that one slide.

The "White Horse" inn, where Tom Jones in the famous

novel was seduced by the mysterious Mrs. Waters, who was actually Jenny Jones.

In the novel, Tom and Mrs Walters are surprised in bed by an angry man who is looking for someone else, another woman, it turns out - but why is this incident in the book, I ask myself.

There is a brief panic later - Mrs Waters is revealed as the alter ego of Jenny Jones, who was believed to be Tom's biological mother. Yikes - incest! But a happy ending - his real mother turns out to be Bridget Allworthy, who conceived him after a brief affair with the local school teacher. Good grief - such goings-on !

Happy days, when we had time to watch such movies - ie before we retired ha ha.

12:30 We look round this charming town and end up at Henry's bookstore / antique shop / cafe on the main street where we have lunch yum yum!

We take a little look round this charming town

We have lunch at "Henry's", a charming

bookstore and antique shop, which doubles as a cafe

13:30 We go home and go to bed for 3 hours - my god, what madness - and we forget all about our long, long to-do list: how lazy we are some days, but then we're just a couple of old crows, after all.

6:00 pm Dinner, and afterwards we watch a bit of television. The 5th part of a new documentary series is on, all about the Vikings.

An interesting program in some ways, but, like all the previous episodes, this documentary is a classic example of an hour long program with only about 15 minute of actual information. Also the title of the series - The Viking Dead, which sounds so creepy and exciting - is not really appropriate as far as this particular episode is concerned, which is all about the large number of 1000-year-old Viking ships which have been excavated in the fjord near Roskilde, Denmark over the past 60 years .

Lois and I are very interested in the Viking and Viking ships, etc., but this program reveals far more information about the work of reconstruction of the ships than the most fanatical history buff would ever want to know - my god, what a crazy world we live in!

However, it is nice tonight to see again the city of Roskilde's Viking Ship Museum, which Lois and I visited in 2014 with Alison, our oldest daughter, who was then living in Copenhagen. Happy times !!!

Flashback to April 2014: Lois and I visit the Danish city

of Roskilde's Viking Ship Museum together with Alison, our elder daughter

Lois and I have fun dressing up as vikings, but

would we in fact have succeeded in terrorising people in England's 

coastal North Sea towns? The jury is still out on that one.

21:15 We continue watching television, a tv reality show, "First Dates Hotel", where 3 pairs of potential lovers get to know each other in a hotel somewhere in central Italy.

I have one serious problem with this program - I do not like any of the participants, which is a pity for me (but I don't suppose they care too much about that ha ha). 

And I think the original idea for this franchise, where the potential lovers simply went out on a date to a restaurant in England, was much better.

There is a big problem, we both think, in sending the couples to a gorgeous hotel in Italy, where the weather is incredible, where every half-naked couple have many hours to spend with each other surrounded by unlimited quantities of alcohol, and where there is an easy opportunity to go to bed together after the first dinner (just like Tom Jones). 

The result is that serious conversations about likes and dislikes, about life stories and personalities, etc. are submerged and drowned out in an atmosphere of alcohol and quick holiday sex. Good grief, we are such prudes ha ha.

Is this too much (cleavage), asks Chloe.

Yes, darling, say Lois and I !!!!

22:00 I go to bed, but the program still has 15 minutes left to run, and Lois sees it to the bitter end. Afterwards she hops into bed with me and tells me the outcome from the three couples' viewpoints. It seems that only the gay couple actually went to bed together the first evening and that later when the two men returned to England they did not want to see each other again, which was a little disappointing.

Lois says that gay people are rumoured to have a tendency to be more promiscuous than heterosexuals, but we don’t know if that’s just a rumour, or just homophobic talk perhaps.

The two heterosexual couples were more cautious and have continued their relationship since they came back to England, which is nice. Good grief, what a crazy world we live in (again) !!!!!

ZZZZZZZZZZ !!!!

Danish translation

08:00 Lois og jeg står op og går i bad. Efter morgenmad kører vi over til byen Upton-on-Severn, fordi Lois ønsker at besøge Yvonne, et medlem af sin sekt, der for nylig flyttede ind i et lokalt plejehjem lige udenfor byen, efter hendes familie besluttede, hun ikke længere kunne leve uafhængigt i sit eget hjem.

Yvonne lider af demens, så Lois og jeg beslutter, at det vil være bedre, hvis jeg bliver siddende i bilen på plejehjemmets parkeringsplads – der er en chance for, at Yvonne vil huske Lois, men min tilstedeværelse kan måske forvirre hende. Besøget tager ca. 30 minutter – Lois snakker med Yvonne i plejehjemmets stor stue, men efter et halvt time, kan Lois se, at Yvonne bliver træt og i dårligt humør. Hun holder endelig op med at besvare Lois’ spørgsmål, så – det er på høje tid at sige farvel, ingen tvivl om det.

Det store spørgsmål er, om enten Lois eller jeg en dag vil ende på et plejehjem – det er juryen stadig ude om. Det er lidt af et mareridt – det må jeg nok sige! Min far havnede på et plejehjem og boede der 3 år, men min mor og også Lois’ forældre undgik denne skæbne. Så hvem ved?

Yikes!!!!!!

Lois kommer ud af Yvonnes plejehjemmet efter

sit 30 minutters besøg

10:30 Vi kører ind I  Upton-on-Severn. Vi har ikke været i byen i mange mange år, selvom det før i tiden var den en af vores favoritte byer til at tage på udflugt til. En gammel by, der ligger ved siden af floden Severn (unødvendigt at sige ha ha), med mange smukke gamle huse og butikker på hovedgaden.

Vi ser den gamle kro  White Horse, hvor Tom Jones, i den berømte roman, blev forført af  en vis ”fru Waters” efter en stor middag til 2 i kroens spisestue: Lois siger altid, når vi ser filmen, at hun synes middagen var for overdådig og parret i virkeligheden sandsynligvis ville have lidt af alvorlig flatulens og dårlig fordøjelsesbesvær derefter, og overhovedet ikke have været oplagt til sex, men det springer jeg over.

kroen ”The White Horse”, hvor Tom Jones i den berømte

roman blev forført af den mysteriøse fru Waters, i virkeligheden Jenny Jones.

I romanen bliver Tom og fru Walters overrasket i seng sammen af en vred man, der er på jagt efter nogen anden, en anden kvinde, viser det sig – men hvorfor er denne hændelse i bogen, spørger jeg mig selv.

Der er en kort panik senere – fru Waters bliver afsløret som alter egoet af Jenny Jones, som man troede var Toms biologisk mor. Yikes - incest! Men en lykkelig slutning – hans ægte mor viser sig faktisk at være Bridget Allworthy, der undfangede ham efter en kort affære med den lokale skolelærer. Du godeste – sikke en redelighed!

Lykkelige dage, da vi havde tid til at se sådanne film – dvs. før vi gik på pension ha ha.

12:30 Vi se os om lidt i denne charmerende by og ender på ”Henry’s” boghandel / antikvitetshandel / café på hovedgaden, hvor vi spiser frokost yum yum!

vi kigger lidt rundt omkring i denne charmerende by

vi spiser frokost på ”Henry’s”, en charmerende

boghandel-antikvaritetshandel, der fordobles som café

13:30 Vi kører hjem og går i seng i 3 timer – du godeste, sikke et vanvid, og vi glemmer alt om vores lange, lange gøremålsliste: hvor er vi dog dovne nogle dage, men vi er bare et par stykker gamle krager, når alt kommer til alt. 

18:00 Aftensmad, og bagefter ser vi lidt fjernsyn. De viser den 5. del af en ny dokumentarfilmserie, der handler om vikingerne.

Et interessant progam på nogle måder, men ligesom alle de forrige afsnit, er denne dokumentarfilm imidlertid et klassisk eksempel på en time lang program med ca. 15 minutters information. Også seriens titel – ”The Viking Dead”, som lyder så uhyggelig og spændende – er ikke rigtigt passende, hvad angår dette afsnit, der handler om den stor antal 1000 år gamle vikinge skibe, som i de seneste 60 år er blevet udgravet i fjorden nær Roskilde, Danmark.

Lois og jeg interesserer os meget for vikingetiden og vikinge skibe osv, men dette program afslører langt mere information om arbejdet af rekonstruktionen af skibene, end den gennemsnitlige historie-fan nogensinde ville har lyst til at vide – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !

Det er imidlertid rart i aften at se igen byen Roskildes vikingeskibsmuseum, som Lois og jeg besøgte i 2014 med Alison, vores ældste datter, der dengang boede i København. Lykkelige tider!!!

tilbageblik til april 2014: Lois og jeg besøger den danske by

Roskildes vikingeskibsmuseum sammen med Alison, vores ældste datter

Lois og jeg hygger os med at klæde os ud som vikinger, men

ville vi i virkeligheden have terroriseret folk i Englands kystlige Nord-sø byer?

Det er juryen stadig ude om.

21:15 Vi forsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, et tv-reality show, ”First Dates Hotel”, hvor 3 par, potentielle kærestepar,  lærer hinanden at kende i et hotel nogle steder i ”centrale Italien”.

Jeg har et alvorligt problem med dette program – jeg kan ikke lide deltagerne, hvilket er rigtig synd for mig ha ha. Og jeg synes, at den oprindelige program-idé til denne franchise, hvor de potentielle kærestepar simpelthen gik på en date på en restaurant i England, var meget bedre.

Der er et stort problem, synes vi, med at sende parrene til et pragtfuldt hotel i Italien, hvor vejret er utroligt, og hvor hvert halvnøgen par har mange timer til at tilbringe med hinanden over ubegrænset kvantiteter alkohol,  og hvor der er mulighed for at gå i seng sammen efter middagen, som er programmets hovedsagelige fokus. Resultaten er, at alvorlige samtaler om likes og dislikes, om livhistorier og personligheder osv bliver overdøvet af en stemning af alkohol og feriesex. Du godeste, vi er så snerpede ha ha.

Er dette for meget (kavalergang), spørger Chloe.

Ja skat, siger Lois og jeg !!!!

22:00 Jeg går i seng, men programmet har stadig 15 minutter tilbage og Lois ser det til den bitre ende. Bagefter hopper hun op i sengen til mig og fortæller mig udfaldet fra de tre pars synspunkt. Det ser ud som om, kun det bøsse par faktisk gik i seng sammen den første aften, og at senere, da de to mænd kom tilbage til England, havde de ikke lyst til at se hinanden igen, hvilket var lidt skuffende.

Lois siger, at rygtet går, at bøsse mennesker i gennemsnit er mere promiskuøse, end heteroseksuelle  mennesker, men vi ved ikke, om dette er sandt eller bare homofobisk sludder, eller ej.

De to heteroseksuelle par var mere varsom, og har fortsat med deres forhold siden de kom tilbage til England, hvilket er rart. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i (igen) !!!!!

Zzzzzzzzzz!!!!