Sunday October 14 2018

08:00 Lois and I get up and take a shower. She has had back pains for several days, but is feeling better today.

10:00 After breakfast, we talk on whatsapp with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, and with her 5-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie. The girls are very much enjoying their 2-3 mornings a week at the local kindergarten, where the latest project is to incubate a bunch of baby chicks: Jessie, who for some reason speaks quite a bit better than Lily, pronounces the English word "incubator" without difficulty, we notice. Lily tends to speak less clearly and a bit too quickly. But how cute they are, both of them!

10:30 The call ends and I chat a little with Lois. I remind her of a recent web article that I read a couple of years ago, dealing with a similar incubator used in the chambers of the American Supreme Court (Source: Onion News).

A heartwarming story. It seems that all nine members of the American Supreme Court gathered around a small glass incubator in their personal chambers to get a better view, as a group of baby justices hatched out of their eggs.

According to the web article, the young justices penetrated out through the hard outer membranes of the eggs using their little gavels, and emerged from the shells screaming unanimous opinions about the sanctity of the fifth amendment.

Several reports also indicated that the Supreme Court bailiff had to forcibly remove Justice Scalia from the scene to prevent the conservative textualist from eating the smaller, weaker baby justices, who, he noticed, were already expressing personal viewpoints on public policy.

Lois and I discuss the story. We think there is nothing more charming (also more instructive) than seeing newborn youngsters, whether they be chicks or judges, coming into the world. It gives one the courage to believe in life again - that's one of the few things we really have no doubts about!

11:00 Lois has to leave. She drives over to Tewkesbury because she wants to attend her sect's two worship services taking place today in the town's library.

I spend my resulting 5 hours of alone time mainly in ironing my shirts and my underwear, having lunch and taking a gigantic afternoon nap.

I also exchange whatsapp messages with Alison, our eldest daughter. She plans to visit us 24th-26th, together with Ed and their 3 children: Josie (12), Rosalind (10) and Isaac (8), during the local schools' autumn vacation.

Alison asks me if it's okay to bring the family's dog, Sika. He will have to spend most of the day in a small cage, so as not to frighten Minx, our cat. I give Alison the green light for this, even though inside I am a bit worried about the effect that Sika's presence will have on Minx.

Minx is 18 and a half years old. Her mental and physical condition has deteriorated significantly in recent months - we noticed the differences in her as soon as we returned from Australia and picked her up from the cattery after her 2 month stay there.

She looks confused and spends most of the day wandering around the house or staring at the walls. Lois and I are not at that stage yet, but how far in the future is it? The jury's still out on that one.

Minx suffers from arthritis, we believe, and has trouble with curling up and with jumping up on the couch (and jumping down). She tends to follow Lois and me around the house and stands very close to our feet so we are constantly at risk of treading on her. Poor Minx !!!

The unexpected presence of a dog (Sika) in the house will not do much for Minx's mental health, that's for sure. But it will only be for a short period of 2-3 days and we cannot let Minx's problems dominate our lives or prevent us from seeing our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren - we are sure about that.

16:00 Lois returns home and we relax with a cup of tea on the couch. She says that earlier in the day she was chatting a little with her friend, Mari-Ann, who on Wednesday and Thursday took part in a nationwide television program "Lorraine" - Lorraine Kelly's long-running morning show.

Thursday morning's program included a feature about viewers who had won previous competitions / lotteries organised by the program. Mari-Anne's sister-in-law, Helena, along with a bunch of other people, was invited to take part in the program because she won one of the program's competitions earlier this year, and Mari-Ann was also invited as Helena's "Plus One".

Lorraine Kelly, as seen on Thursday's program

Mari-Ann with Andi Peters

Mari-Ann in the GMTV studios

Lois found it interesting to hear Mari-Anne's take on the experience. The organisation was terrible, she said. Taxis did not show up on time or did not come at all. The invited guests expected lavish "help yourself" food tables, groaning with delicious dishes etc, but in fact the few snacks that were available had to be snatched pretty fast before they disappeared, and the group began to feel a bit faint from hunger at times.

Good grief, what madness !!!!

18:30 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a little television, a documentary about an interesting subject, the human body clock (which is almost identical to all other animals' body clocks, including that of the humble fruit-fly.) My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!

The purpose of the program is to help us sleep well, and unfortunately this works a bit too well, and I find myself drifting off to sleep intermittently during the program - damn!

Ella Al-Shamahi, the host of the program, takes a confusing approach, jumping from one aspect to another, whilst what we really want is clear advice about the best way to organise our day. And the program includes a lot of wasted time.

It turns out that about 25% of the population in their 20s and older are out-and-out morning people and about 25% are dyed-in-the-wool night-owls: the rest are somewhere in between. Our DNA mostly determines which group we belong to.

At night, "damage" to our system and brain gets repaired, and our temperature and blood pressure stay low to save energy, which makes us a bit sluggish, so the morning is not the best time to go in for either physical exercise or complicated mental activities.

Morning is a good time to eat a big meal because our stomachs are more active and our metabolism is more efficient. Late in the morning is the best time to do things that require a lot of brain power, such as writing or planning.

Late afternoon is the best time to go in for exercise. We can summon up more speed and strength at that time of day.

In the evenings big meals are not a good idea because our stomachs have begun to slow down in preparation for the night.

Our body clock is corrected and reset every day by the light that comes into our brains.

If the weather is good, light comes in at a level of 614,000 lux. When we spend all day outdoors, we get a large amount of daylight: we become more active during the day and we often sleep very well at night.

In comparison to outdoors, the light inside a car, for example, is only about 500 lux, so much much less than in the open air (1000 times less!), despite the car's windows. And something similar applies to houses, buildings, etc. So many of us spend most of the day in car, train, bus, office etc that we do not get the right amount of light that evolution has conditioned our bodies to expect, and this interferes with our body clocks.

If night-owls would prefer to sleep earlier, they should expose themselves to as much daylight as possible, which will allow them to get up earlier the following day. They should also avoid blue light in the evenings, although here it helps, for example, to put blue light blocker glasses on or to use similar methods or apps.

blue light blockers

It is best for such people to sleep in rooms with thin curtains or open curtains and try to get 2 hours bright daylight every day.

On the other hand, if morning people want to sleep later, they should get bright light in the afternoon and sleep in rooms with heavy curtains or put on eye masks to block the early morning light.

Program presenter, Ella Al-Shamahi, in her eye mask - so cool!

Now I just have to decide if I'm happy to be a morning person or if I want to turn into a night owl - it seems I have the power to change if I want - simples ha ha!

However, at the end of the program, I have one problem that has not been resolved, one question that has not been answered: does the television radiate as much blue light as, for example, smart phones or tablets? Nobody ever tells us this. Why this silence ??? 

What madness !!!!

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

Danish translation

08:00 Lois og jeg står op og tager et brusebad. Hun har i flere dage haft ondt i ryggen, men har det lidt bedre i dag.

10:00 Efter morgenmad taler vi lidt på whatsapp med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, og med hendes 5-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie. Pigerne nyder meget deres 2-3 formiddage om ugen i den lokale børnehave, hvor det seneste projekt er at inkubere en flok babykyllinger: Jessie, der af en eller anden grund bedre taler engelsk, end Lily, udtale det engelske ord ”incubator” uden besvær, bemærker vi. Lily har tendens til at tale mindre klart og lidt hurtigt. Men hvor er de dog søde, begge to!

10:30 Opkaldet slutter, og jeg snakker lidt med Lois. Jeg minder hende om en nylig webartikel som jeg læste for et par år siden, som handlede om en lignende inkubator, der blev brugt i kamrene af den amerikanske højesteret (kilde: Onion News).

En hjertevarmende historie. Det lader til, at alle ni medlemmer af den amerikanske højesteret samlede rundt omkring en lille inkubator af glas, der stod i deres personlige kamre, for at få et bedre udsigtspunkt, idet en gruppe babydommere sprang ud fra deres æg.

Ifølge webartiklen trængte de unge dommere ind i æggenes hårde ydre membraner ved hjælp af  

deres små hamre, og kom ud fra skallerne skrigende enstemmige meninger om det femte tilføjelses helhed.

Flere rapporter indikerede også, at højesterets bailiff  tvangsfuldt fjernede Justice Scalia fra scenen for at forhindre den konservative textualist i at spise de mindre, svagere babydommere, som han bemærkede, allerede var i gang med at udtrykke personlige synspunkter om den offentlige politik.

Lois og jeg diskuterer artiklen. Vi synes, der er ikke noget mere charmerende (også belærende), end at se nufødte unge, uanset de er kyllinger eller dommere, komme til verden. Det giver én mod til at tro på livet igen – det har vi ikke nogen tvivl om !

11:00 Lois skal af sted. Hun kører over til Tewkesbury, fordi hun ønsker at deltage i sin sekts to gudstjenester, som holder sted i dag i byens bibliotek. Jeg bruger min resulterende 5 timers alenetid på at stryge mine skjorter og mit undertøj, spise frokost og tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.

Jeg udveksler whatsapp-beskeder med Alison, vores ældste datter. Hun planlægger at besøge os den 24-26, sammen med Ed og deres 3 børn: Josie (12), Rosalind (10) og Isaac (8), under de lokale skolers efterårsferie.

Alison spørger mig, om det er okay at medbringe familiens hund, Sika. Han skal tilbringe det meste af dagen i et lille bur, for ikke at forskrække Minx, vores kat. Det giver jeg hende det grønne lys til, selvom jeg inderst inde bekymrer mig lidt over effektet, Sikas tilstedeværelse vil  have hos Minx.

Minx er 18,5 år gammel. Hendes mentale og fysiske stand er betydeligt forværres i løbet af de seneste måneder – vi bemærkte forskellerne på hende, så snart vi i april kom tilbage fra Australien og hentede hende fra kattehotellet efter hendes 2 måneders ophold derovre.

Hun ser forvirret ud og bruger hovedparten af dagen på at vandre rundt i huset eller stirre på væggene. Hun lider af gigt, tror vi, og har svært ved at krølle sig sammen, og ved at hoppe op på sofaen (og at hoppe ned). Hun har tendens til at følge efter Lois og  mig rundt i huset, og stå meget tæt på vores fødder, så vi konstant er i fare for at træde på hende.  Stakkels Minx!!!

Den uforventede tilstedeværelse af en hund (Sika) i huset vil ikke være godt for Minx’ psykiske helbred – ingen tvivl om det! Men det vil bare være i en kort periode, 2-3 dage, og vi kan ikke lade Minx’ problemer dominere vores liv og forhindre os i at se vores datter, svigersøn og børnebørn – det er vi helt sikre på.

16:00 Lois kommer hjem igen og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Hun siger, hun tidligere på dagen snakkede lidt med sin veninde, Mari-Ann, der i onsdag og torsdag deltog i et landsdækkende tv-program, ”Lorraine” – Lorraine Kellys langvarige morgenprogram.

Torsdag formiddags program inkluderede et indslag om seere, der havde vundet forrige konkurrencer/lotterier organiserede af programmet. Mari-Anns svigersøster, Helena, sammen med en flok andre folk, blev inviteret til at deltage i programmet på grund af, at hun vandt en af programmets konkurrencer tidligere på året, og Mari-Ann blev inviteret også som Helenas ”plus 1”.

Lorraine Kelly, som set under torsdags program

Mari-Ann sammen med Andi Peters

Mari-Ann i GMTV-studiet

Lois fandt det interessant at høre Mari-Anns take på oplevelsen. Organisationen var frygtelig, sagde hun. Taxaer dukkede ikke op til tiden eller kom overhovedet ikke.  De indbudte gæster forventede overdådige ”tage selv” madborde, bugnende med lækre retter osv, men faktisk de få snacks, der var til rådighed, måtte blive snuppet med hastighed, og gruppen begyndte en gang imellem  at føle svimle af sult.

Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, en dokumentarfilm, der handler om et interessant emne, det menneskelige kropsur (som faktisk er næsten identisk med alle andre dyrs kropsure, inklusive den ydmyge bananflue. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!

Programmets formål er at hjælpe os med at sove godt, og desværre virker dette lidt for godt, og jeg finder, jeg glider over i søvnen af og til under programmet – pokkers!

Ella Al-Shamahi, programmets vært, tager en forvirrende tilgang, springende fra det ene aspekt til det andet, mens hvad vi egentlig vil have er klart råd om, den bedste måde at organisere vores dag på. Og programmet inkluderer en masse spildt tid.

Det viser sig, at ca 25% af befolkningen i 20’erne og ældre, er vaskeægte morgenmennesker og ca 25% er vaskeægte natteravne: resten ligger et eller andet sted indimellem. Vores DNA determinerer for det meste hvilken gruppe vi hører til.

Om natten bliver ”skader” i vores systemet og hjerne repareret, og vores temperatur og blodtryk bliver lave, for at spare energi, hvilket gør os lidt sløve, så formiddagen ikke er den bedste til at dyrke enten motion eller komplicerede mentale aktiviteter.

Formiddager er en god tid til at spise et stort måltid, fordi vores maver er mere aktive og vores metabolisme mere effektiv. Sidst på formiddagen er den bedste tid til at lave ting, der kræver en masse hjernekraft, som for eksempel at skrive eller at planlægge.

Sidst på eftermiddagen er den bedste tid til at dyrke motion. Vi kan finde mere hastighed og styrke.

Om aftenen er store måltider ikke en god idé, fordi vores maver er begyndt at sænke farten i forberedelse på natten.

Vores kropsur bliver rettet og gendannet hver dag af lyset, som kommer ind i vores hjerner.

Hvis vejret er ganske godt, kommer lyset ind med niveauet på 614.000 lux. Når vi tilbringer hele dagen udendørs, får vi en stor mængde dagslys: vi bliver mere aktive om dagen og vi sover ofte meget godt om natten.

I sammenligning til udendørs er lyset inde i en bil kun ca 500 lux, så meget meget meget mindre (1000 gange!), på trods af bilens ruder. Og noget lignende gælder i husene, bygningerne osv. Så mange af os tilbringer hovedparten af dagen i en bil, en tog, en bus, en kontor, så vi ikke får den rigtige mængde lys, som evolution har udviklet vores kroppe til at forvente, hvilket forstyrrer vores kropsure.

Hvis natteravne gerne vil sove tidligere, bør de udsætte sig for så meget dagslys som muligt, hvilket vil tillade dig at stå tidligere op den følgende dag. De bør også undgå blåt lys om aftenen, selvom det hjælper hvis man eksempelvis tager blå-blokkerende briller på eller bruge lignende metoder eller apps.

blå-blokkerende briller

Det er bedst at sove i værelser med tynde gardiner eller åbne gardiner og prøve at få 2 timers skærpe daglys hver dag.

Hvis morgenmennesker gerne vil sove senere, bør de få skarpt lys om eftermiddagen og sove i værelser med tunge gardiner eller tage øjemasker på for at blokke morgenlyset.

Programmets vært, Ella Al-Shamahi, i sin øjemaske – så sejt!

Nu skal jeg bare beslutte, om jeg er tilfreds med at være morgenmenneske, eller om jeg gerne vil blive en natteravn – simpelt ha ha!

Ved slutningen af programmet har jeg imidlertid ét problem, der ikke er blevet løst, ét spørgsmål, der ikke er blevet besvaret: udstråler fjernsynet så meget blåt lys som for eksempel, smartphones eller tabletter? Ingen fortæller os. Hvorfor denne tavshed??? Sikke et vanvid !!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzz!!!