Monday, September 3 2018

09:00 Lois and I get up and after breakfast we go into the backyard - Lois starts to do a little weeding in the flower beds while I finish cutting back the long hedge that we share with our neighbor Bob.

The entire back yard has become a real jungle and there is no chance of doing all the gardening tasks we have on our plates before Sylvia, Lois' Australian cousin from Melbourne, and Rod, Sylvia's new partner, arrive on a visit in 2 weeks' time. As a consequence we have decided on a strict priority list where we start with the backyard's most frightening disaster areas and work slowly on until we come to grips with the less intense scandals if we have time for them.

We operate a similar strategy in the house itself. We do not want Sylvia and Rod to think that Lois and I live like pigs (and enjoy doing so) - we have our pride ha ha.

And day in day out the deadline is moving closer - on Sunday, Sylvia gave this chlling warning on her Facebook page:

Yikes !!!!!

12:30 Lunch and afterwards a cup of tea on the couch. The postman delivers a bunch of letters, including a chilling message from the borough council.

We already knew that our local clinic which is only 3 doors away from us was going to be demolished: the doctors decided a couple of years back to build a new clinic 5 miles away on the other side of the village of Bishops Cleeve. The plan has been to move to the new clinic in November, even though Lois and I swung by the new building yesterday, and saw that it is still covered with scaffolding: it's hard to believe it will be finished on time, I have to say.

The council's letter today gives details of the plans for the land after the old clinic has been demolished. The doctors want to make as much a profit as possible, so they say they want permission for 6 new houses to be built on the land - good grief, those doctors are such bastards: they are not just moving 5 miles away from the majority of their patients, but they are also totally indifferent about whether they ruin the environment for their old neighbors, that's for sure.

Grrrrr !!!!

However the council is now giving all the clinic's neighbors 2 weeks to object to the plans, so now we have to put our thinking caps on - there's no doubt about that.

The 2 houses to be built on the street

The 4 houses to be located behind

The houses look quite big in the pictures, but they are actually very narrow. Those on the street are only about 26 feet wide (8m), compared to our house and our neighbors' houses, which are each about 40 feet wide (12m).

What madness !!!!

14:00 I go to bed and have a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 4pm and we relax with a cup of tea and a homemade muffin on the couch.

17:00 We drive over to the former local art college to post some letters in the mailbox at the side. On our way out of the house, we bump into Stephen, our neighbor from 2 doors down, and talk a little about the clinic's plans for the area after the old clinic has been demolished.

Stephen has lived here a little longer than us, and he says he believes the ground is not that good where the old clinic was built 30 years ago: the doctors wanted to build a multi-storey clinic, but the council told them they could only build single storey, and even that was to be on the condition that they put in some foundation piles: Stephen has doubts about whether the builders would be allowed to build 2 or 3-storey houses there. But we'll have to see.

18:30 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. University Challenge is on, a TV quiz for teams of university students, and one of the few television programs that are not suitable for very stupid people ha ha.

Tonight's is yet another program in the series that features a very talented team - this time St Edmund Hall, Oxford. This team will be hard to beat, that's for sure.

The quiz starts like this...

... ends like this.

And out of the 8 participants there are 4 who come from abroad. Two Dutch people, Nils Boender (York) and Marceline Bresson (St. Edmund Hall), a German - Freddy Leo, and an Indian who grew up in Switzerland - Agastya Pisharody (St. Edmund Hall).

Good grief - what madness! Where have all our home-grown geniuses got to ??? Needless to say, all four of these non-British people tonight speak perfect English, in addition to being very well informed. My god.

21:00 We continue to watch a bit of television. The 2nd part of a new classic drama series is on, based on Thackeray's famous novel, "Vanity Fair".

Another very enjoyable episode focussing on Becky Sharp's efforts to find some rich man to marry and thereby improve her social status.

Olivia Cooke as Becky Sharp

It's very nice to see that the series avoids many of the clichés of British classic dramas, thank god, including the annoying "Downton Abbey" voice which tends to characterize many actresses' speech when they take on Victorian roles.

The choice of music at the start and the end of the different episodes is also unusual to put it mildly. Each episode opens with a slow version of Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower", while we look at all the main characters "on horseback" riding in slow motion on a carousel.

A slow-motion "carousel", featuring all the main characters in the series

After that we see Monty Python's Michael Palin, as Thackeray himself, presenting the episode for us.

Michael Palin, as Thackeray himself, introduces each episode

It has been almost 50 years since the first Monty Python comedy program was broadcast. In an interview in the Radio Times magazine, Palin said that he was talking the other day with Shane Allen, the BBC Channel Comedy Program Commissioner, who said that Monty Python would never happen today: if they wanted to assemble a Monty Python-style team today, they wouldn't even consider inviting "6 white boys from Oxford / Cambridge".

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

22:00 We go to bed - I read about 10 pages of my bedside book, Milan Customers' "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" before I drift off to sleep - zzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

09:00 Lois og jeg står op og efter morgenmad går vi ind i baghaven – Lois går i gang med at luge lidt i blomsterbedene, mens jeg klipper færdigt den lange hæk, der er fælles med vores nabo Bob.

Hele baghaven er blevet til en sand jungle, og der er ikke den fjerneste chance for at klare alle de havearbejdeopgaver vi har for, inden Sylvia, Lois’ australske kusine fra Melbourne, og Rod, Sylvias nye partner, besøger os om 2 ugers tid. Dermed er vi besluttede på en streng prioriteringsliste, hvor vi starter med baghavens mest skræmmende katastrofeområder og arbejder langsomt videre indtil vi bare står over for de mindre intens skandaler, hvis vi har tid til dem.

Vi opererer en lignende strategi i selve huset. Vi vil ikke have at Sylvia og Rod mener, Lois og jeg lever som svin (og nyder det)  – vi har vores stolthed ha ha.

Og dag ud dag ind rykker fristen nærmere  –  i søndags lagde Sylvia denne nedslående advarsel op på sin Facebookside:

Yikes!!!!!

12:30 Frokost og bagefter en kop te i sofaen. Postbudet leverer en række breve, herunder et nedslående besked fra kommunen.

Vi vidste allerede, at vores lokale lægeklinik, der kun ligger venstre 3 døre væk skal nedrives: lægerne besluttede sig et par år tilbage til at få bygget en ny klinik 5 miles væk i den anden side af landsbyen Bishops Cleeve. Planen har været at flytte til november ind til den nye klinik, selvom Lois og jeg kørte forbi klinikken i går, og så, at bygningen stadig er dækket med stillads: det er svært at tro, at den vil være færdig i tide, det må jeg nok sige.

Kommunens brev i dag giver detaljer om planerne for jorden, efter den gamle klinik er blevet revet ned. Lægerne ønsker at  lave så stor en fortjenelse som muligt, så de siger, de vil have at 6 nye huse må bygges på jorden – du godeste, de lægerne er sådanne nogle sjufter: de flytter ikke bare 5 miles væk fra flertallet af deres patienter, men også de er bedøvende ligeglade med, at spolere miljøet for deres naboer, det er der ikke nogen tvivl om.

Grrrrr!!!!

Men kommunen giver alle klinikkens naboer 2 uger til at komme med indvendinger mod planerne, så vi skal lægge hovedet i blød – det ved jeg med sikkerhed.

De 2 huse, der ligger på gaden

De 4 huse, der ligger bagved

Husene ser ganske store ud i billederne, men de er faktisk meget smalle. Dem, der ligger på gaden er kun ca. 26 fods brede (8m), i sammenligning med vores hus og vores naboers huse, der hvert er ca 40 fods bredt (12m).

Sikke et vanvid!!!!

14:00 Jeg går i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 16 og vi slapper af med en kop te og en hjemmelavet muffin i sofaen.

17:00 Vi kører over til den tidligere lokale kunstakademi, for at lægge nogle breve i postkassen ved siden af. På vej ud af huset, støder vi Stephen, vores nabo fra venstre 2 døre væk og snakker lidt om lægeklinikkens planer for området, efter den gamle klinik er blevet revet ned.

Stephen har boet her lidt længere, end os, og han siger, han tror, jorden er ikke ret god hvorpå den gamle klinik for 30 år siden blev bygget: lægerne ønskede dengang at bygge en fleretagesklinik, men kommunen fortalte dem, de bare kunne bygge en etage, og oven i købet bare ved hjælp af fundamentpæle: han har tvivl om, at byggerne ville få tilladelse til at bygge 2- eller 3-etagers huse. Men vi får se.

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser University Challenge, en tv-quiz for hold bestående af universitetstuderende, og et af de få tv-programmer, der ikke er egnede til meget dumme mennesker ha ha.

Endnu et program i serien med et meget dygtigt hold – denne gang St Edmund Hall, Oxford. Dette hold vil være svært at slå, ingen tvivl om det.

Og ud af de 8 deltagere er 4, der kommer fra udlandet. To hollændere, Nils Boender (York) og Marceline Bresson (St. Edmund Hall), en tysker – Freddy Leo, og en inder, der voksede op i Schweiz – Agastya Pisharody (St. Edmund Hall).

Du godeste – sikke et vanvid! Hvad bliver alle vores hjemmedyrkede genier af??? Nødvendigt at sige, taler de alle perfekt engelsk, udover at være meget velinformerede !

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser den 2. del af en ny klassisk dramaserie, baseret på Thackerays berømte roman, ”Vanity Fair”.

Endu et meget nydeligt afsnit, der sætter fokus på Becky Sharps indsats for at finde en eller anden rig mand at gifte sig med, og at forbedre sin sociale status.

Olivia Cooke som Becky Sharp

Det er meget rart at se, at serien undgår mange af clicheerne af britiske klassiske dramaer, gudskelov, herunder den irriterende ”Downton Abbey-stemme”, der har tendens til at karaktisere mange skuespillerindes toner, når de indtager viktorianske roller.

Valget af musikken ved starten og enden af de forskellige afsnit er også usædvanligt for at sige mildt. Hvert afsnit åbner med en langsom version af Dylans ”All Along The Watchtower”, mens vi kigger på alle de hovedfigurer ”til hest” i slowmotion på en karrusel.

Karrusellen med alle seriens hovedfigurer

Bagefter ser vi Monty Pythons Michael Palin, som selve Thackeray, præsentere afsnittet for os.

Michael Palin som selve Thackeray

Der har gået nøjagti 50 år siden det første Monty Python komedieprogram blev sendt.  I et interview i tidsskriftet Radio Times, sagde Palin at han forleden snakkede med Shane Allen, BBC kanalens komedieprogramdirektør, der sagde at Monty Python i dag aldrig ville lade sig gøre: hvis de havde lyst til at samle et Monty-Python-stil hold i dag, ville de ikke engang overveje at invitere ”6 hvide fyre fra Oxford/Cambridge”.

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

22:00 Vi går i seng – jeg læser ca 10 sider af min sengetidbog,  Milan Kunderas ”Tilværelsens ulidelige lethed”, før jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzz!!!!!