Monday, November 26, 2018

08:30 Lois and I get up and after breakfast we take the bus into town. Lois would like to buy some cropped long sleeved sweaters for the winter. We look for them in M & S, Monsoon and Oasis Warehouse without success. Almost all sweaters are full length or longer, which is a bit of a shame. Lois is shorter (at 5 foot 3) than most of today's young women, so she prefers the cropped style. She rarely wears trousers - she prefers skirts, so cropped sweaters look better on her.

10:30 We swing by the Everyman Theatre café. We have a cup of coffee and a piece of cake to recharge our batteries. Afterwards, we go in the Cavendish House department store, but the story is the same: cropped long sleeved sweaters are perhaps just not fashionable at the moment - what madness !!!!

She has tried on a number of sweaters this morning, in total 8-10 maybe, but they were all uncomfortable or did not suit her or did not match her skirts.

We take the bus home - we have spent 2 hours looking for the kind of sweater she likes, but all in vain. Damn! She decides to continue wearing her existing short-sleeved sweaters but also to buy some long-sleeved blouses to have underneath, which sounds sensible - I have to say.

It hasn't been a waste of time for me - it's fun to spend time with Lois in a cramped little fitting rooms and I like looking at women as they walk around clothes shops. To me, clothes shopping is a form of torture, but for women it's the meaning of life, and it's fascinating to watch them engaged with this (for them) so absorbing a hobby.

There has recently been a debate in the world's press about a clothing store in London that plays pre-recorded compliments in its various fitting rooms, but unfortunately, the idea has not reached Cheltenham yet. And there has been widespread sympathy in the Western world with the comments of Mary Clearwater, a curriculum designer, and one of the Onion news source's most experienced commentators, who thinks that innovation may be unnecessary for most women. But that's something I'm not entirely sure about - the jury is still out on that one.

13:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. While I lie in bed looking at my smartphone, I decide to order her a pink cropped long-sleeved sweater I come across on Amazon. It's not very expensive, so it won't matter if she does not like it when it's delivered. 

the pink sweater, I order for Lois on Amazon

15:30 I get up and we relax with a cup of tea on the couch. We listen a little to the radio, an interesting program all about the so-called "food and medicine" debate. The host of the program is the charming Sheila Dillon.

An interesting discussion, though all participants are genuine experts, so it is difficult sometimes for the ordinary listener, i.e. me, to understand the discussion to some degree.

Nowadays in view of the recent obesity epidemic, there is a new campaign to get doctors to educate their patients about good nutrition and other similar lifestyle advice (lifestyle medicine).

Unfortunately, most doctors say that they are unable to provide their patients with such information, except in the case of particular medical conditions (eg diabetes). In fact, they only receive limited education in this area (a total of 3 hours in a 6 year training course - yikes !!!). Doctors also say that there is not enough time in the routine NHS 10-minute appointment to provide adequate advice.

Social issues are also discussed. Some participants emphasise that there are many people who do not own the most basic kitchen equipment (or have the skills) to make a healthy meal. Grimsby, "The UK's Unhealthiest City", its streets packed with takeaway food outlets, receives special attention here - poor Grimsby !!!!

Schools try to serve healthy food, but unfortunately there is still a lack of consensus. State schools have been asked to provide only skimmed milk, for example, although there is not much scientific evidence that it is necessarily a 100% good idea.

We make serious mistakes sometimes - the recent popularity of low fat diets, accompanied by high carb consumption, all that refined type food, was a bit of a disaster and led to a lot of obesity and diabetes - yikes!

It is difficult to achieve consensus - science changes its mind every few years. And 10 years ago, we were unaware of the influence of the microbes in our guts, both physical and mental. But on certain areas there is a broad consensus - our microbes like fruit and vegetables, ie fibre and diversity, and they do not like a lot of chemicals, ultra-processed foods, sugary drinks, etc. Simples!

Participants warn about the constant risk of official advice being corrupted by experts on various official committees who are linked financially to the sugar industry - yikes, what madness !!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. Monday evening is TV quiz evening at our house. "Only Connect" and "University Challenge" are on.

Lois and I are always happy about the questions which we can answer, but which the fresh young minds on tv are striking out on, because we think it proves we are not yet suffering from dementia.

My performance tonight is a little disappointing, but Lois is firing on all cylinders. I think that two hours of clothes shopping this morning has excited and stimulated her, while it has made me act very stupid for some reason - damn!

Lois guesses the connection between the following four things, even though the three "tea-drinkers" who later won this evening's round of the quiz did not have the faintest idea of the right answer, which was in fact the long-running theatre production of "The Mousetrap" - go Lois !!!

As always, the program's charming host, Victoria Coren-Mitchell, starts the show with one of her amusing introductions.

21:00 We continue to watch a bit of television, an interesting documentary about children in their first 2 years of life.

A fascinating program and it's a bit of a revelation to me how much babies absorb the world around them and develop complex thoughts and ideas inside their heads, largely before they can even begin to formulate or express these concepts in words.

Two of the show's experiments stand out from the rest for me. In the first one, we see a white, fair-haired woman cheating in a simple game, while her Asian woman opponent plays fair and keeps to the rules.

A group of small white, fair-haired children watch the game and they can see that the Asian woman is playing fair while the white woman is not.

The children are then asked to choose between spending some playtime with the Asian woman or with the white, fair-haired woman. They tend to prefer the woman who looks like themselves, that is, the one who is white and fair-haired, just like they are, even though they know she's a cheater.

In the 2nd experiment, researchers give a group of young children 2 dolls, a "mummy doll" and a "daddy doll" and the children are asked to choose between the 2 dolls when it comes to assigning a number of domestic tasks. Twenty years ago in a similar experiment, children had the tendency to assign most household tasks (childcare, laundry, cooking, etc.) to the mummy-doll, but in this new experiment, the children assign these tasks to both mummy and daddy dolls equally, which is interesting - a sign of social change, perhaps. All tasks relating to the car - maintenance, repair, etc. - are still assigned to the daddy-doll however.

What a crazy world we live in !!!!!

For me, all in all, it's really a bit of a revelation to see how much these little children under 2 years old can handle complex concepts, at an age when they can hardly speak. Good grief, what a weird thing the human mind is !!!! 

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

Danish translation

08:30 Lois og jeg står op og eftermorgenmad tager vi bussen ind i byen. Lois vil gerne købe nogle beskårede langærmede sweaters til vinteren. Vi leder efter dem i M&S, Monsoon og Oasis Warehouse uden succés. Næsten alle sweatrene er fuld længde eller længere, hvilket er lidt af en skam. Lois er lavere (på 5 fods 3), end de fleste af nutidens unge kvinder, så foretrækker hun den beskårede stil. Hun går sjældent med bukser – hun foretrækker nederdele, så beskårede sweaters ser bedre ud på hende.

10:30 Vi smutter ind i Everyman-teatrets café. Vi drikker en kop kaffe og spiser et stykke kage for at genoplade vores batterier. Bagefter går vi ind i Cavendish House-stormagasinet, men historien er det samme: beskårede langærmede sweaters må ikke være på mode for tiden – sikke et vanvid!!!!

Hun har prøvet en række af sweaters, sammenlagt 8-10 måske, men de var alle ubekveme eller passsede hende ikke eller passer ikke med hendes nederdele.

Vi tager bussen hjem – vi har brugt 2 timer på at lede efter de slags sweatre hun godt kan lide, men alt forgæves. Pokkers! Hun beslutter at fortsætte med at gå i sine eksisterende kortærmeede sweaters men også at købe nogle langærmede bluser for at have indenunder, hvilker lyder fornuftigt – det må jeg nok sige.

Det har ikke været en spild af tid for mit vedkommende – det er sjovt at tilbringe tid med Lois i små, trange prøverum og jeg kan godt lide at kigge på kvinder, som de vandre rundt omkring i tøjbutikker. For mig er tøjindkøb en form for tortur, men for kvinder er det betydningen af livet, og det er fascinerende at kigge på dem blive beskæftiget med denne (for dem) absorberende hobby.

Der har for nylig været en debat i verdens presse om en tøjbutik i London, der spiller foroptagede komplimenter i dens forskellige prøverum, men idéen er desværre ikke nået Cheltenham endnu. Og der har været udbredte sympati i den vestlige verden med kommentarerne af Mary Clearwater, en curriculumdesigner, og en af Onion News nyhedskildens mest erfarne eksperter, der mener, at innovationen måske er unødvendig for de fleste kvinder. Men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på – juryen er stadig ude om det.

13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Mens jeg ligger i sengen og kigger på min smartphone, beslutter jeg til at bestille hende en pink beskåret langærmet sweater jeg falder over på Amazon. Den er ikke særligt dyr, så gør det ikke noget, hvis hun ikke kan lide den, når den bliver leveret.

den pinke sweater, jeg bestiller Lois på amazon

15:30 Jeg står op og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Vi lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program, der handler om den såkaldte ”mad og medicin” debat. Programmets vært er den charmerende Sheila Dillon.

En interessant diskussion, selvom  alle deltagere er ægte eksperter, så det er svært af og til for den almindelige tilhører at forstå diskussionen i vis grad.

Nu til dags i betragtning af den nylige overvægtighed-epidemi,  er der en ny kampagne for at få læger til at uddanne deres patienter om god ernæring og tilsvarende livsstilråd (livsstilsmedicin).

Desværre siger de fleste læger imidlertid, at de ikke er i stand til at forsyne deres patienter med den slags information, bortset fra i tilfældet af særlige medicinske  tilstander (fx diabetes). De har faktisk fået kun begrænset uddannelse i dette område (sammenlagt 3 timer i en 6-års forløb – yikes!!!). Lægerne siger også, at der ikke er nok tid i den rutinemæssige NHS 10-minutters aftale til at give tilstrækkeligt råd.

Sociale problemer bliver også diskuteret. Nogle deltagere understreger at der er mange folk, der ikke ejer det mest grundlæggende køkkenudstyr (eller færdigheder) til at lave et sundt måltid. Grimsby, ”Storbrittaniens usundste by” med dens gader propfyldte med takeaway restauranter, modtager særlig opmærksomhed her – stakkels Grimsby!!!!

Skoler prøver at servere sund mad, men desværre er der stadig en mangel på konsensus. Statsskoler er blevet bedt om at anrette kun skummetmælk, selvom der ikke er meget videnskabelige bevisse på, at det nødvendigvis er helt sikkert en god idé.

Vi tager alvorlige fejl af og til – den nylig popularitet af fedtfattige diæter, hvis ledsaget af forbrug af høj karb, raffineret mad, var lidt af en katastrofe, og førte til en masse overvægtighed og diabetes – yikes!

Det er svært at opnå konsensus - videnskaben skifter mening hver nogle år. Og for 10 år siden var vi uvidende om indflydelsen af mikrober i vores tarm, både en fysisk og en psykist indflydelse. Men om visse ting er der en bred konsensus – vores mikrober kan lide frugt og grøntsager, dvs fiber, og diversitet, og kan ikke lide en masse kemiker, ultra-forarbejdet mad, sukkersøde drikker osv. Simples!

Deltagerne advarer om risikoer for at officielt råd bliver korrumperet af eksperter på foreskellige udvalg, der er linkede financielt til sukkerbranchen -   yikes, sikke et vanvid!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Mandag aften er tv-quiz-aften hos os. De viser ”Only Connect” og ”University Challenge.

Lois og jeg er altid glad for de spørgsmål, som vi kan besvare, men som alle de friske unge hjerne har problemer med, fordi vi tror det beviser, at vi ikke endnu lider af demens.

Min præstation i aften er lidt skuffende, men Lois kører med klatten. Jeg synes, at to timers tøjindkøb i formiddags har begejstret og stimuleret hende, mens det har gjort mig meget dum – pokkers!

Lois gætter forbindelsen mellem de her 4 ting, selvom de tre ”tedrikkere”, der senere vandt aftenens omgang,  ikke havde den fjerneste idé om det rigtige svar, som faktisk var den længeløbende teaterstykke, ”The Mousetrap” – kom så Lois!!!

Som altid, programmets charmerende vært, Victoria Coren-Mitchell, starter showet med en af sine morsomme indledninger.

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om børn i deres første 2 år af livet.

Et fascinerende program, og det er lidt af en afsløring for mig, hvor meget babyer absorberer verdenen omkring sig og udvikle komplekse tanker og idéer inde i sine hoveder, i stor grad før de kan formulere eller udtrykke de pågældende koncepter med ord.

To af showets eksperimenter skiller sig ud fra resten for mit vedkommende. I det første, ser vi to kvinder, en hvid, lyshåret kvinde, der snyder i en simpel leg, og en asiatisk kvinde, der behandler andre med fairness i legen.

En gruppe af små, hvide, lyshårede børn kigger på legen, og de kan se, at den asiatiske kvinde viser fairness, mens den hvide kvinde gør det ikke.

Børnene bliver så bedt om at vælge mellem at spille med den asiatisk kvinde eller med den hvide, lyshårede kvinde. De har tendens til at foretrække den kvinde, der ligner dem selv, dvs den, der er hvid og lyshåret, ligesom de er.

I det 2. eksperiment, giver forskere en gruppe små børn 2 dukker, en ”mor-dukke” og en ”far-dukke”, og børnene bliver bedt om at vælge mellem de 2 dukker, når det kommer til at tildele en række af huslige opgaver.  For 20 år siden i et lignende eksperiment, havde børn tendens til at tildele de fleste huslige opgaver (børnepasning, tøjvask, madlavning osv) til mor-dukken, men i det nuværende eksperiment tildeler børnene disse slags opgaver ligeligt til både mor-dukken og far-dukken, hvilket er interessant – et tegn på social forandring, måske. Alle opgaver, der handler om bilen – vedligeholdelse, reparation osv, - bliver imidlertid stadig tildelt til far-dukken.

Sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!

For mit vedkommende er det lidt af en afsløring at se hvor meget disse små børn under 2 år gamle kan behandle komplekse koncepter, i en alder, hvor de næsten ikke kan tale. Du godeste, hvor er den menneskelige sind en underlig ting!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!!