Friday October 19 2018

08:00 Lois and I get up and after breakfast we head over to the Tesco supermarket in Bishops Cleeve, a small town located 3 miles north of Cheltenham. We like to go shopping in Tesco because there are also a lot of small shops just outside the supermarket where we can also pop in: a fruit and vegetable shop, a deli, a post office, a hardware store, etc.

I buy a big bottle of Gordon's Gin in Tesco to help me over the long months till Christmas - Lois has promised to make me a Christmas present of a bottle of Wicked Wolf Exmoor Gin, the best gin I have ever tasted.

Our daughter Alison and her family are visitng us on Wednesday but we have decided not to think about their visit yet food-wise. We will go shopping again on Tuesday to replenish our supplies of the foods Alison's family likes to have, including some good quality ready meals that we usually buy at CookShop. .

Lois and I are just a couple of old crows nowadays and we find that we cannot cope with planning too much in advance, so today we are only thinking about the next 4 days. when we are going to be on our own. My god, what will become of us?

10:45 Lois sits down at the computer to plan our next outing - we have decided tomorrow to go and look round the Oxfordshire villages where her Bowell family ancestors lived - Taston, Dean, Spelsbury, etc., near the town of Chipping Norton. She prints out a map of the area.

The area Lois' Bowell ancestors originated from

The area also contains a bunch of prehistoric monuments (standing stones, burial mounds, etc.), which we can also see if we have time, which is nice.

11:00 In the meantime I listen to the radio, an interesting program all about Trump's relationship with the US's evangelical Christians. The host of the program is the charming Tara McKelvey.

A fascinating program. I have always been interested in the question of why evangelical Christians support a president who is such an egotist, a thin-skinned, not very intelligent but fearsome bully, who tells so many lies, and who has been so unfaithful to his wives.

I realise during the program that I have been asking myself the wrong question. The evangelists do not care about Trump's moral failings because they think he can get them what it is that they want. A partial return to the United States of the 1950s is what Trump means when he talks about "making America great again", and this also means a return to the kind of society where the evangelists and their opinions are respected again.

He has so far given them  restrictions on transsexual participation in the armed forces, the relocation of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and greater access to public money (despite this being prohibited by the "Johnson amendment" of 1954). And in the future maybe he will give them  more restrictions on abortion and on same-sex marriages.

As a thank you, the evangelists are very good at persuading voters to turn out and vote, which helps Trump.

However, Trump has told them that he is their "last chance" and it is unclear whether he and they can really turn the clock back 60 years. History is not on their side, I suspect. And their current triumph may be short-lived. Let's hope so.

13:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. I get up at 4pm and we relax with a cup of tea and a homemade muffin on the couch.

18.00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television, an old episode of Top of the Pops from July 1986.

While I am watching the program, I suddenly realise that I recorded certain parts of this episode on VHS when I saw it for the first time in July 1986 . And I still have these recordings and look at them from time to time (converted to DVD). In short, a little spooky, all in all. And meanwhile, 32 years have gone by, almost without my noticing it - yikes, scary!

I think I had in July 1986 probably just bought my first British VHS recorder, after coming back from our 3 year residence in the US the previous year. 

21:00 We continue to watch a little television, the latest episode of Gogglebox.

Many Gogglebox "commentators" have become media stars, including our favourites: Giles, and Mary (or "Nutty", as Giles calls her).

Giles Wood and Mary Killen in "Gogglebox"

Lois says that Mary and Giles have just published their own book, "Diary of Two Nobodies". They have also published Mary's list of the books she's reads aloud in the car, to prevent Giles from falling asleep at the wheel.

Mary's list includes "Maestra", but she says she just summarises or skips over the book's sex scenes, which are a bit too graphic from her point of view. Good grief, what madness!

It all reminds me of my own responsibilities, as the leader of the local U3A Danish group - I have to skip or summarise the sex scenes in the Danish crime novels which the group reads, and sometimes it's hard work, to put it mildly. Dear god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

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

Danish translation

08:00 Lois og jeg står op og eftermorgenmad kører vi over til Tesco-supermarkedet i Bishops Cleeve, en lille by, der ligger 3 miles nord for Cheltenham. Vi kan godt lide at gå madindkøb i Tesco, fordi der også er en masse små butikker lige udenfor supermarkedet, hvor vi også kan smutte ind: en frugt- og grøntsagshandler, en delicatesseforretning, et postkontor, en isenkræmmerforretning osv.

Jeg køber en stor flaske Gordons Gin i Tesco, for at hjælpe mig over de lange måneder før jul – Lois har lovet at købe mig en flaske Wicked Wolf Exmoor gin, den bedste gin, jeg nogensinde har smagt, som julegave.

Vores datter Alison og hendes familie besøger os på onsdag, men vi har besluttet at gå madindkøb igen på tirsdag for at fylde op igen vores forsyninger af fødevarerne Alisons familie godt kan lide at spise og drikke, inklusive noglekvalitetsfærdigretter, som vi plejer at købe hos CookShop.

Lois og jeg er nu til dags bare et par gamle krager, og vi opdager, at vi ikke kan hamle op med at planlægge ret meget i forvejen, så i dag derfor tænker vi kun på de næste 4 dage, hvor vi vil være alene. Du godeste, hvad skal der blive af os?

10:45 Lois sætter sig med computeren for at planlægge vores udflugt –vi har besluttet at rejse til de landsbyer i grevskabet Oxfordshire, hvor hendes Bowell-familie forfædre boede – Taston, Dean, Spelsbury osv, der ligger i nærheden af byen Chipping Norton. Hun udprinter en kort over området.

området, hvor Lois’ Bowell-forfædre stammede fra

Området indeholder også en række forhistoriske monumenter (stående sten, gravhøje osv), som vi også kan se, hvis vi har tid til det, hvilket er rart.

11:00 I mellemtiden lytter jeg lidt til radio, et interessant program, der handler om Trumps forhold til USAs evangeliske kristne. Programmets vært er den charmerende Tara McKelvey.

Et interessant program. Jeg har altid interesseret mig i spørgsmålet – hvorfor støtter evangeliske kristne en præsident, der er så egoistisk, fortæller så mange løgner, er sine koner utro, er gået i seng med så mange kvinder.

Jeg indser, at jeg stiller det forkerte spørgsmål. De evangeliske er ligeglade med Trumps moralske fejl, fordi de tænker, han kan få dem, dét de ønsker: en tilbagekomst til USA af 1950’erne er det, Trump mener, når han taler om ”at gøre Amerika stor igen”, også en tilbagekomst til det slags samfund, hvor de evangeliske og deres meninger er respekterede igen.

Han har hidtil givet dem: begrænsninger om transseksuelle deltagelse i de bevåbnede styrker, flyttelse af den amerikanske ambassade fra Tel Aviv til Jerusalem, og større adgang til offentlige penge. Og i fremtiden måske flere begrænsninger om abort og samme-køn ægteskaber.

Som tak for det er de evangeliske meget gode til at overtale valgere til at stemme, hvilket hjælper Trump.

Trump har imidlertid fortalt dem, at han er deres ”sidste chance”, og det er uklart, om de virkelig kan nå at stille uret tilbage med 60 år. Historien er ikke på deres side, mistænker jeg. Og deres nuværende triumf vil måske være kortvarig. Forhåbentligt!

13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg stå op kl 16 og vi slapper af med en kop te og en hjemmelavet muffin i sofaen.

18.00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser et gamle afsnit af Top of the Pops fra juli 1986.

Mens jeg ser programmet, bliver jeg pludselig klar over, jeg optog visse dele af programmet, da jeg tilbage i juli 1986 så det for første gang. Og jeg har stadig disse optagelser og kigger på dem indimellem (konverterede til dvd). Kort sagt, lidt uhyggeligt, det hele. Og i mellemtiden er 32 år gået, næsten uden at, jeg bemærkede det – yikes, skræmmende!

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, Gogglebox’ seneste afsnit.

Mange af Gogglebox’ ”commentatorer” er blevet til media-stjerner, herunder vores favoritter Giles og Mary (eller ”Nutty”, som Giles kalder hende).

Giles Wood og Mary Killen i ”Gogglebox”

Lois siger, at Mary og Giles lige har udgivet deres egen bog, ”Diary of Two Nobodies”. De har også udgivet Marys liste over de bøger, hun læser højt i bilen, for at forhindre Giles i at falde i søvn bag rettet.

Marys liste inkluderer ”Maestra”, men hun siger, hun bare opsummerer eller springer over bogens sex-scener, der er lidt for grafiske set ud fra sit synspunkt. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Det hele minder mig om mit ansvar, som den lokale U3A danske gruppes leder – jeg selv må springe over eller opsummere sexscenerne i de danske krimiromaner, som gruppen læser, og nogle gange er det hårdt arbejde, for sige mildt. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i  !!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz!!!!