Sunday, November 11, 2018

09:00 Lois and I get up and take a shower. After breakfast, we get a text from Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia. She has not been very well since last week, but the antibiotics prescribed by the family doctor on Friday evening have begun to help her, she says, which is a bit of a relief. However, we suspect from her text that she is not yet well enough to chat to us this morning, which is quite understandable, we have to admit.

11:00 Lois has decided not to attend her sect's first (of 2) religious services today because of Tewkesbury's memorial day parade, which tends to create total traffic chaos - what madness! She will save her energy for today's second worship service, starting at 1:30 pm.

So we both settle down on the couch and watch on tv the national ceremony at the Cenotaph in London for the 100th anniversary of the 1918 armistice.

But we're watching the programme first and foremost to see the royal family, in particular Kate and Meghan - my god, we are so shallow, that's for sure! And I'm becoming just like my mother - help!

And it's nice to see a female bishop lead the service for the first time.

for the first time, a female bishop leads the worship service

Teresa May is also there of course - I suspect she is very happy to have a good excuse for not taking part in the ceremony in France with Macron, Merkel and Trump, and all that that brings with it, plus the nude streaker (the worst kind!). And I'm quite sure that May is not specially keen on getting her thigh or knee patted by Macron, that's for sure ha ha.

But back to London. The long list of representatives from our former British colonies is a reminder of our former status as the world's greatest superpower - good grief, what madness!

And now, in the last few years, we have acquired some extra countries: Mozambique, Cameroon and Rwanda. But in compensation, we have lost Hong Kong - damn!

Flashback to the 1980s: Hong Kong in happier times,

with Maggie and Denis  ...

Lois and I watched an interesting documentary film recently which highlighted the Australian and Canadians' great and very valuable contribution to Britain's World War I campaigns, not only in terms of soldiers but also through the influence of Australian and Canadian military leaders on Haig, the British military leader and relative of the American Alexander Haig. 

The Australian and Canadian commanders brought ideas of new methods, new approaches, etc., which Haig was persuaded to adopt: they were much better than the British at thinking outside the box, it seems.

We also heard that the Germans had a massive phobia about the Canadians for some reason, just as the Argentines feared the Gurkhas in the Falklands War in 1982.

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards Lois has to go out. She wants to attend the second of her sect's 2 religious services, taking place today in Tewkesbury library.

I have a little alone time, but I start it by going to bed and taking a short afternoon nap. The fact is that I do not have as many tasks on my to-do list as normal. Our U3A Danish group is taking a 2 month break and we will only be resuming our study of the Danish crime novel in January 2019. The next meeting of Scilla's Old Norse Group is 10 days away and Lynda's Middle English group's next meeting is almost 4 weeks away. And I have put the vegetable garden to bed for the winter.

Yikes - I have trouble coping with a lack of pressure, I have to admit - help! I will have to find some new hobbies apart from watching television, no doubt about that, at least until the gardening and all that stuff begins to kick in again in the spring.

But is it my fault that we happen to be living in a golden age of television (copyright Sheldon Cooper in the Big Bang Theory) ?

"Well I've had a lot on my plate: we happen to live

in a golden age of television" (copyright Sheldon Cooper)

14:00 I get up from my nap and naturally begin to watch television ha ha. An interesting documentary is on, all about the Austrian modern artist Egon Schiele.

To be honest, I have never heard of Egon Schiele before I see this program today. First we see a lot of his early drawings when he lived in Vienna: he could not afford to hire successful models so he mostly hired unknown models or prostitutes who in the drawings tended to stare brazenly back at the viewer. I am forced to look at enough hairy vaginas (also penises) to last me a lifetime - my god, what a crazy world we live in !!!

a typical example of Schiele's drawings, albeit slightly less explicit.

No one in Vienna was offended by his activities or by all the prostitutes who came and went in his building, but he later made the mistake of moving out into the country where he got in the habit of drawing naked or half-naked women in his garden : i.e. where passers-by - respectable local citizens and their children - could see what he was doing. He ended up in the town court and subsequently in the local prison as a result - no surprise there.

He had a long-standing "steady" mistress, called "Wally", who lived with him for many years and stood faithfully by him while he was languishing in prison, way out in the country. But it does not do himSchiele much credit that he dropped Wally as soon as he got the chance to marry a well-to-do bourgeois young woman called Edith.

Good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

15:00 I turn off the television and listen to the radio for a bit, an interesting program all about today's so-called cuddle therapists. The host of the program is the charming Nick Baker.

Nick points out that therapists do not have to get qualifications or certificates to become a therapist. Anyone can start their own business in the therapy world, although it helps if the form of therapy is new or strange, that's for sure. He gives as an example the therapy where the "patient" gets soaked in beer, which sounds a lot of fun, as long as beer is at least room temperature, I think: certainly not "ice cold" at least.

It's important to give your business an attractive name, no doubt about that. Some examples he talks to are: "The Nordic Cuddle Co." (with a Finnish woman), "Be Snuggled", and "Cuddle Professional International", and the like.

Nick tries a session with a female cuddle therapist, with both him and her lying on a bed cuddling, but he spoils the session in my opinion when he tells his therapist he would like to change sides: when cuddling with his wife, he is always on the left side, he says - a bit of a mood-killer, I suspect.

But is it really an antidote to stress, loneliness or alienation to be cuddled by a stranger who is doing it just for the money? Maybe yes, but only after a certain number of sessions, after you have got to know the therapist better. But that's when worries about the cost must start to kick in, leading to more stress, I suspect. But that's something I'm not entirely sure about - the jury is still out on that one.

My god what a crazy world we live in (again ha ha) !!!

15:30 Lois comes back from Tewkesbury and we relax with a cup of tea and a piece of bread with homemade apricot jam - yum yum!

16:30 I hop on my exercise bike and cycle 6 miles.

18:15 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching television. An interesting television reality show is on, "Escape to the Chateau", which we sometimes see. The series is about a British married couple, Dick and Angel, who are renovating an old French chateau and transforming it into a hotel.

Both Dick and Angel are a little overweight (which Lois and I like), despite the fact that they are both working long hours every day to renovate the castle. However, the program is not all that interesting, I have to say. Frankly, Lois and I think that the program's most interesting sight is Dick's huge belly and huge moustache and Angel's red hair and bright red lipstick - God, we're so shallow, that's for sure!

Angel and Dick in front of their French chateau

But like Alison Graham in the Radio Times magazine, we do not care that much for the couple's constant references to the deadlines they say they are working under the shadow of. These deadlines are obviously completely artificial and are used for the purpose of creating a little tension and excitement in the program. 

This evening, the couple are creating a new "glamping" area (ie luxury camping area) in the chateau grounds - but they say they are constantly working against the clock because they already have a reservation from guests for next week. Who would run a business in such a crazy way?

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

Danish translation

09:00 Lois og jeg står op og tager et brusebad. Efter morgenmad får vi en sms fra Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien. Hun har haft det meget dårligt sidste uge, men antibiotikerne, familiens læge fredag aftes ordinerede, er begyndt at hjælpe hende, siger hun, hvilket er lidt af en lettelse. Vi mistænker imidlertid fra hendes sms, at hun endnu ikke har det godt nok til at tale med os i formiddag, hvilket er helt forståeligt, det må vi indrømme.

11:00 Lois har besluttet ikke at deltage i sin sekts første (af 2) gudstjenester i dag på grund af byen Tewkesburys våbenstilstandsdagens parade, hvilket har tendens til at skabe totalt trafikkaos – sikke et vanvid! Hun vil spare sin energi til dagens 2. gudstjeneste, der starter kl 13:30 .

Så  sætter vi os begge to til rette i sofaen og ser på det nationale ceremoni foran Cenotaph i London i anledning af 100-året for våbenstilstandsdagens i 1918 i fjernsyn. 

Men vi kigger på det først og fremmest for at se den royale familie, i sær Kate og Meghan – du godeste, vi er så overfladiske, ingen tvivl om det! Og jeg er kommet til at blive ligesom min mor – hjælp!

Og det er rart at se en kvindelig biskop lede gudstjenesten for første gang.

for 1. gang leder en kvindelig biskop gudstjenesten

Teresa May er der også selvfølgelig – jeg mistænker, hun er meget glad for, at have en god udskyldning for ikke at deltage i ceremoniet i Frankrig sammen med Macron, Merkel og Trump, og alt der det medbringer, herunder den der nøgne streaker (hvilket er den værste slags!). Og jeg er helt sikker på, at May ikke er ret frisk på, at få sit låret eller sit knæ klappet af Macron, det er der ikke nogen tvivl om ha ha.

Men tilbage til London. Den lange liste over repræsentanterne fra vores tidligere britiske kolonier er en minde af vores tidligere status som verdens største supermagt – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Og nu har vi i de seneste få år fået nogle ekstra lande: Mozambique, Cameroun og Rwanda. Men som kompensation har vi tabt Hong Kong – pokkers!

Tilbageblik til 1980’erne : Hong Kong i lykkeligere tider...

med Maggie og Denis

Lois og jeg så en interessant dokumentarfilm for nylig, der fremviste de australierne og kanadiernes store og meget vædifulde bidrag til Storbritanniens kampagner i den 1. verdenskrig, ikke bare hvad angår soldaterne, men også den indflydelse, som de australske og canadiske militære ledere havde på Haig, den britiske militære leder og slægtning af amerikanske Alexander Haig – med nye metoder, nye tilgange osv, som Haig blev overtalt til at adoptere: de var meget bedre end briterne til at tænke udenfor boksen, lader det til.

Også vi hørte, at tyskerne havde en massiv fobi over for kanadierne af en eller anden grund, ligesom argentinerne frygte gurkhaerne i Falklandskrigen i 1982.

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter skal Lois ud. Hun ønsker at deltage i den anden af sin sekts 2 gudstjenester, der finder sted i dag på byen Tewkesburys bibliotek.

Jeg har lidt alenetid, men jeg starter den ved at gå i seng og tage en kort eftermiddagslur. Factum er, at jeg ikke så mange opgaver på min gøremålsliste som normalt. Vores U3A danske gruppe tager en 2-måneders pause for tiden, og vi først genoptager vores danske krimiroman til januar 2019. Scillas oldnordiske gruppes næste møde er 10 dage væk, og Lyndas middelengelske gruppes næste møde er næsten 4 uge væk. Jeg har puttet grøntsagshaven i seng til vinteren.

Yikes - jeg har svært ved at hamle op med en mangel på pres, det må jeg indrømme  – hjælp! Jeg må finde nogle nye hobbies bortset fra at se på fjernsynet, ingen tvivl om det, i det mindste indtil havearbejde og alt det der begynder igen til foråret.

Men er det min skyld, at vi lever i en af tvs guldaldre (copyright Sheldon Cooper)?

”Jeg har haft en masse for:  tilfældigvis lever vi i 

en af tvs guldaldre” (copyright Sheldon Cooper)

14:00 Jeg står op og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om den østrigske moderne kunstner Egon Schiele.

Ærligt talt have jeg aldrig hørt om Egon Schiele, før jeg i dag ser dette program. Vi ser en masse af sine tidlige tegninger, da han boede i Wien: han havde ikke råd til at hyre succesfulde modeller, så han for det meste hyrede ukendte modeller eller prostituerede, der stirrede dristigt tilbage på seeren.  Jeg bliver tvunget til at kigge på nok behårede vaginaer (også penisser) til at klare mig med i en levetid – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!

et typisk eksempel af Schieles tegninger, om end lidt mindre eksplicit.

Ingen i Wien blev stødt af hans aktiviteter eller af alle de prostituerede der kom og gik i hans etageejendom, men han gjorde fejlen af at flytte ude til landet, og kom i vane med at tegne nøgne eller halvnøgne kvinder i sin have, hvor forbipasserende respektable borgere og deres børn kunne se ham. Han havnede i byretten og efterfølgende i det lokale fængsel som resultat – ingen overraskelse der.

Han havde en langvarig, fast elskerinde, ”Wally”, der boede sammen med ham i mange år, og stod trofast ved sin side, da han sad i fængslet langt ude på landet. Men det gør ham ikke ære, at han droppede hende så snart han fik chancen for at gifte sig med en velhaver, borgerlig ung kvinde, Edith.

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

15:00 Jeg slukker for fjernsynet og lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program, der handler om nutidens såkaldte kramterapeuter. Programmets vært er den charmerende Nick Baker.

Nick påpeger, at terapeuter er ikke nødt til at få kvalifikationer eller certifikater til at blive terapeut. Nogen som helst kan starte deres egen forretning i terapi-verden, selvom det hjælper hvis formen for terapien er ny eller underlig, ingen tvivl om det. Han giver som eksempel, terapien hvor ”patienten” bliver blødt op i øl, hvilket lyder nydeligt, så længe øl i det mindste er rumtemperatur, synes jeg: sikkert ikke ”iskold” i hvert fald.

Det er vigtigt at give sin forretning en attraktivt navn, ingen tvivl om det. Nogle eksempler: ”The Nordic Cuddle Co.” (med en finsk terapeut), ”Be Snuggled”, og Cuddle Professional International eller lignende.

Nick afprøver en session med en kvindelig kramterapeut, hvor de ligger begge to på en seng og krammer hinanden, men han ødelægger sessionen efter min mening, da han fortæller sin terapeut, han ville gerne skifte sider: når han ligger med sin kone, er han altid på venstrehånd, siger han – lidt af en stemning-killer, mistænker jeg.

Men er det virkeligt en modgift mod stress, ensomhed eller fremmedgørelse at blive krammet af en fremmed, der gør det bare for pengene? Måske ja, men kun efter et vist tal sessioner, efter man godt har lært at kende terapeuten? Men på det tidspunkt, må bekymringerne over bekostninger starte at sparkes sig ind, hvilket fører til mere stress, mistænker jeg. Men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på – juryen er stadig ude om det.

Du godeste sikke en skør verden vi lever i (igen ha ha) !!!

15:30 Lois kommer tilbage fra Tewkesbury og vi slapper af med en kop te og et stykke brød med hjemmelavet abricosmarmelade – yum yum!

16:30 Jeg hopper på min kondicykel og cykler 6 miles.

18:15 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant tv-reality show, ”Escape to the Chateau”,  som vi nogle gange se. Serien handler om at et britisk ægtepar, Dick og Angel, der er i gang med at istandsætte et gammelt fransk slot og omdanne det til et hotel.

Både Dick og Angel er lidt overvægtige (hvilket Lois og jeg godt kan lide), på trods af, at de begge to hver dag arbejder længe på at renovere slottet. Programmet er imidlertid ikke frygtelig interessant.

Helt ærligt synes Lois og jeg, at programmets mest interessante syn er Dicks enorme mave og enorme overskæg og Angels røde hår og knaldrøde læbestift – du godeste, hvor er vi dog overfladiske, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

Angel og Dick foran deres franske slot

Men ligesom Alison Graham i Radio Times-tidsskriftet bryder vi os ikke ret meget om parrets konstante referencer til fristerne de arbejder under skyggen af. Disse frister er åbenbart helt kunstige, og bliver benyttet for det formål at skabe lidt begejstring og spænding i programmet.  I aften er parret i gang med at skabe et ny ”glamping”-området  (dvs luxuscamping) i slottets parken – men de arbejder konstant mod uret, fordi de allerede haren reservation fra gæster til næste uge. Hvem ville drive en forretningen på sådan en vanvittig måde?

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!