Sunday, November 18, 2018

10:00 After a shower and breakfast, Lois and I talk a little on whatsapp with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia. She was not well last week - the family doctor diagnosed bronchitis and she was off sick for 5 days. She will be back at work tomorrow (Monday).

Sarah and Francis's 5-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie, start school in February, and Sarah says how expensive it is over there. And everything costs double if you have twins. She has already spent $400 (Australian) on stationery, pens etc: good grief, what madness! She asks us if we can contribute financially to the cost of the school uniforms, which of course we are very happy to do.

Flashback to September: Sarah and Francis's 5-year-old twins,

Lily and Jessie. How cute they are !!!

10:30 I hurry into the kitchen and prepare 2 servings of lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwiches with small tomatoes - yum yum! I store them in the refrigerator for later.

10:45 Lois's back is still giving trouble, but she thinks she's strong enough to teach Sunday school as long as I can drive her over to Tewkesbury where the Sunday school takes place in the town library.

We are a little worried about possibly encountering traffic jams - the racing festival that started Friday is actually a 3-day festival, not a 2-day as we originally believed, and the route we usually take when driving to Tewkesbury, takes us right past the racetrack - damn! We decide to switch routes and drive through Cheltenham town centre instead.

Most of all we are anxious about the risk of duplicating the fate of local man, Doug Belson, who recently hit the headlines when friends, family and acquaintances revealed to journalists that Doug was the only person in the world who had trouble with traffic jams and other issues, and expressed the sadness they felt for the beleaguered young man (source: Onion News).

Reports indicated that the 34-year-old accounts administrator who had suffered from this unique disorder for most of his life was entirely alone in experiencing such phenomena, which from time to time made him unhappy and prevented his life from going as smoothly as he would like.

"It's hard to understand, but for some reason, Doug's life does not go his way 100 percent of the time. It's just so tragic," said Doug's colleague Elizabeth Waite, explaining that she, like everyone else on earth apart from Belson, had never encountered an unexpected situation that prevented her from pursuing a desired outcome. "And it's not just that he has had one or two of these problems. He's had quite a few. Just the other day he got stuck in traffic and just had to stay there, trapped inside the car, even though he had somewhere he had to be. Can you imagine how that would have felt? "

"And imagine, it was only a few months ago that his car actually broke down without any warning, and he had to get it repaired," she continued. "I don't even know what to say to someone who has been through something like that."

According to people familiar with Belson's personal hardships, during the previous week he had had problems that he and he alone had to solve: including for example, having to drag himself out of bed to go to work even though he had not slept so well and felt trapped in a boring and unchallenging job; also having to endure a feeling of loneliness while watching television alone in his apartment in the evening - all terrible experiences, which Belson's acquaintances said they struggled even to fathom.

While expressing a desire to support the unhappy man through his debilitating predicaments, the concerned sources said that because none of them had ever been affected by a seasonal cold, and never felt occasional tiredness at work, never suffered a romantic rejection or been uncomfortably hungry, it was hard to do anything more than express their deep sorrow for his baffling circumstances and offer any comforting words they could.

"It's hard to believe that things actually occur during his life that hamper his plans and make his day more difficult. I just do not know how anyone can handle that."

"Last week, I saw Doug trying to use the office printer, when he had to deal with a sudden malfunction just before a meeting - it took me some time to figure out what was going on, because I had no idea that kind of thing could happen "said Peter Banks, Belson's supervisor at work. "Then I thought: 'My God, this poor man. Look at this obstacle in his way, that he has to overcome. How terrible!' Since then, I've got in the habit of stopping by his desk to pat him on the back and ask if there's anything I can do to help him out."

"It's hard to believe that things occur during his life that actually hamper his plans, and make his day more difficult," added Banks. "I just do not know how anyone can handle that."

A friend told reporters she was deeply shaken after Belson mentioned that he was having problems with his landlord and then a week later told her that the issue was not resolved yet. While many of Belson's problems reportedly go away by themselves or become moot over time, sources explained that some of them apparently need to be solved in some proactive kind of way. In fact, several visibly aghast acquaintances confirmed that certain obstacles in Belson's life may last for months or even years, as has been the case with his chronic lower back pain and his emotionally distant relationship with his father.

In addition, those closest to Belson said that they were completely shocked after discovering that he is sometimes beset with multiple problems at the same time, making him the only person in existence that has to struggle in a single day with such problems as making a student loan payment on time, the inconvenience of a long line at his favourite lunch place, and anxiety over whether he is drinking too much.

Poor Doug !!! He has become a bit of a celebrity here in the neighbourhood because of his incredibly difficult life, but some people also tend to avoid getting too close to him in queues, etc., as if his bad luck was somehow contagious - what madness!

11:00 I drive Lois over to Tewkesbury and drop her off in front of the library. Then I drive on to the local Morrison's supermarket to buy a few things: fruit, lettuce, tomatoes, a cucumber, a loaf of bread, a half pound of butter and 2 bottles of lime-flavored tonic water for my daily glass of gin.

My shopping list today

12:30 I drive back to the library and pick up Lois - she has been teaching Sunday School for an hour, and her lesson about Gideon, one of Israel's so-called "judges", was a rip-roaring success, as I had predicted. Lois always takes trouble when she prepares her lessons to make them interesting for children, with lots of pictures and fun activities related to the subject.

We drive home and have lunch. Afterwards Lois sits down at the computer and participates in her sect's online worship service, with a small glass of red wine and a piece of bread in her hand, which I find incredibly touching for some reason.

Lois' little glass of wine and piece of bread - how touching!

In the meantime I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm and we relax with a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit - yum yum!

16:00 I sit down at the computer and take a little look online. I see an interesting article about language problems and misunderstandings between Americans from one area and Americans from another area when it comes to ordering food at drive-through fast-food restaurants.

This encourages me because when Lois and I lived in the USA in the 1980s, we had huge problems with ordering food via the microphone and speaker at the local drive-through McDonalds restaurant, and finally we got our little children Alison and Sarah to voice our order: and they always managed to get through to the waitress.

Flashback to 1983: Our 8-year-old daughter Alison in a McDonalds, Denver, Colorado

where she has just ordered the family 4 Big Macs and fries, at the counter

(but no cole slaw!)

The article's author, Stephen Taylor, who originates from southern Indiana wanted to order a serving of coleslaw at a drive-through restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin. Both states, Indiana and Wisconsin, are in the mid-west, but Taylor ended up having to spell the word before the waiter (not an immigrant) understood it. And coleslaw is not in the least an exotic dish, to put it mildly, and of course it was right there on the (limited) menu - my god, what madness !!!

Taylor also says that the waiters in Boston frequently misunderstand his pronunciation of the word "coffee". I followed a link and listened to Taylor's voice, and he pronounced the word "coffee" 99.99% the same way as me - I have to say.

But when you think of how many people around the world speak English as their mother tongue, it's perhaps not surprising that we sometimes cannot understand each other.

Taylor's "borderline" between southern and northern accents

18:00 Lois and I have our neighbour Bob's pheasant breasts for dinner, and then spend the rest of the evening watching television. We see another 30 minutes of Peter Jackson's interesting but harrowing documentary about the First World War, "They Shall Not Grow Old". However, it's so harrowing that Lois and I cannot bear looking at more than 30 minutes of dead, dismembered bodies, half buried in the mud, and other scary sights - yikes !!!!

An extraordinary documentary film, by any standards. The way Jackson has added colour, sound and natural film speed to these old movie sequences completely transforms our image of life in the trenches, that's for sure. They really bring the war back to life, we think.

Lois and I only had one relative who took part in World War I, Lois's Uncle George (Cox). He was injured twice and ended up having an artificial leg and a metal plate in his head for the rest of his life. But he was a quiet, patient and cheerful man who was over 90 years old when he died.

It's hard to reconcile the character of quiet men like Uncle George, often farm workers who lived in quiet English villages, with the terrible experiences they must have gone through in France. Lois says that George never spoke much about the war, which is quite understandable, I have to say.

Flashback to the 1920s: Uncle George (2nd from the right) 

with siblings and family members

 

Uncle George, behind the happy couple, on the occasion of his brother Cyril's wedding.

Lois's mother (Ruth Cox) is in the foreground.

20:00 We watch an interesting documentary about George Gershwin's wonderful work, Rhapsody in Blue (1924). The host of the program is the charming Josie D'Arby.

A relaxed, cheering program about this piece of music, which was initially composed in a half-notated, half-improvised form. It was composed in a hurry and was not fully scored when it was first performed - Gershwin himself played piano and partially improvised. And it was clarinettist Ross Gorman who improvised the work's opening glissando, which Gershin loved so much that he decided to keep it in.

21:00 We see the opening sequences of this reality show that plays out in the Australian jungle, "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here". The program's hosts are the charming Dec Donnelly and the gorgeous Holly Willoughby.

But we turn off the TV when we realise that we have never heard of any of the so-called "celebrities" taking part in this year's competition. Yikes, now we're nothing more than a couple of old crows, no doubt about that!

22:00 We go to bed. I read about 10 pages of my bedtime book before I drift off to sleep - zzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation

10:00 Efter et brusebad og morgenmad snakker Lois og jeg lidt på whatsapp med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien. Hun havde det ikke ret godt sidste uge – familiens læge diagnostiverede bronkitis, og hun var sygemeldt i 5 dage. Hun vil være tilbage på arbejde i morgen (mandag).

Sarah og Francis’ 5-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie, starter i skole til februar, og Sarah siger, hvor dyrt det er derovre. Og alt koster dobbelt, hvis du har tvillinger. Hun har allerede brugt 400$ (australske) på papirvarer, penner osv: du godeste, sikke et vanvid! Hun beder os om vi kan bidrage financielt til omkostningen af skoleuniformer, hvilket vi selvfølgelig er helt glade for at kunne gøre.

Tilbageblik til september: Sarah og Francis’ 5-årige tvillinger,

Lily og Jessie. Hvor er de dog søde!!!

10:30 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og forbereder 2 portioner frokost: ost og agurk sandwich med små tomater - yum yum! Jeg gemmer dem i køleskabet til senere.

10:45 Lois’ ryg giver stadig problemer, men hun tror, hun i dag er stærk nok til at undervise søndagsskole, så længe jeg kan kører hende over til Tewkesbury, hvor søndagsskolen finder sted, i byens bibliotek.

Vi er lidt bekymret over, om vi møder trafikpropper – den væddeløbsfestival, der startede i fredags er faktisk en 3-dages festival, ikke en 2-dages, som vi oprindeligt troede, og ruten, vi normalt tager, når vi kører til Tewkesbury, fører os lige ved siden af væddeløbsbanen – pokkers! Vi beslutter at skifter ruter og kører gennem bymidten af Cheltenham i stedet for.

Først og fremmest er vi ængstelige over risikoen for at dele skæbnen af en lokale mand, Doug Belson, der for nylig ramte overskrifterne, da venner, familie og bekendte afslørede til journalister, at Doug var den eneste person i verden der havde problemer med trafikpropper og andre spørgsmål, og de med én stemme udtrykkte de tristheden, de følte for den hårdt trængt unge mand.

Rapporter angav, at  den 34-årige kontoadministrator, der havde lidt af denne unikke lidelse for det meste af sit liv, var helt alene i at opleve sådanne fænomener, som fra tid til anden fik ham til at være ulykkelig og forhindre sit liv i at gå så godt som han gerne vil.

"Det er svært at forstå, men af en eller anden grund går det ikke som Doug gerne 100 procent af tiden vil have. Det er bare så tragisk, "sagde Dougs kollega Elizabeth Waite og forklarede, at hun som alle andre på jorden bortset fra Belson aldrig havde stødt på en uventet situation, der forhindrede hende i at tilstræbe et ønsket resultat. "Og det er ikke bare, at han har haft en eller to af disse problemer. Han har fået mere, end et par stykker. Ligesom i dag sad han fast i trafikken og måtte bare forblive der, spærret inde i bilen, selv om han havde et eller andet sted, han måtte være. Kan du forestille dig, hvordan det må have føltes? "

"Og forestil dig, det var for kun et par måneder siden, at hans bil faktisk brød sammen uden nogen form for advarsel, og han måtte få den repareret," fortsatte hun. "Jeg ved ikke engang, hvad jeg skal sige til en person, der har været igennem noget sådan."

Ifølge folk, der var fortrolige med Belson's personlige trængsler, havde han i løbet af den forrige uge problemerne han og han alene havde været nødt til at løse for eksempel inkluderede det, at være nødt til at trække sig ud af sengen for at gå på arbejde, selv om han ikke havde sovet så godt og følte sig som om fanget i et kedeligt og ikke-krævende job; også det, at skulle tåle en følelse af ensomhed, mens han så fjernsyn om aftenen alene  i sin lejlighed - alle forfærdelige oplevelser, som Belsons bekendte sagde, at de havde svært bare ved at kunne fatte.

Mens de udrykte et ønske om at støtte den ulykkelige mand gennem sine kniber, sagde de berørte kilder, at fordi ingen af dem nogensinde var blevet ramt af en sæsonmæssig forkølelse, havde aldrig føltet lejlighedsvis træthed på arbejdspladsen, havde aldrig lidt romantisk afvisning eller var blevet ubehageligt sulten, var det svært at gøre noget mere end at udtrykke deres dybe sorg for hans forvirrende omstændigheder og tilbyde hvilke som helst trøstende ord, de kunne.

"Det er svært at tro på, at ting faktisk opstår i løbet af sit liv, der hæmmer hans planer, og gør hans dag vanskeligere.  Jeg ved ikke, hvordan nogen kan klare det. "

"I sidste uge så jeg Doug prøve at bruge kontorprinteren, og han måtte faktisk stå overfor en pludselig funktionsfejl lige før et møde - det tog mig et stykke tid endda at finde ud af, hvad der foregik, for jeg havde ingen anelse om noget sådant kunne ske" sagde Peter Banks, Belsons chef på arbejde. "Derefter tænkte jeg: "Min Gud, denne stakkels mand. Kig på denne hindring i vejen, han skal overvinde. Hvor forfærdeligt. "Siden da er jeg kommet i vane med at standse ved hans skrivebord for at klappe ham på ryggen og spørge, om der er noget, jeg kan gøre for at hjælpe ham med."

"Det er svært at tro på, at ting faktisk opstår i løbet af sit liv, der hæmmer hans planer, hvilket gør hans dag vanskeligere," tilføjede Banks. "Jeg ved ikke, hvordan nogen kan klare det."

En ven fortalte journalister, hun blev dybt rystet, efter at Belson nævnte, at han havde problemer med sin udlejer og derefter for en hel uge senere fortalte hende, at spørgsmålet  endnu ikke var løst. Mens mange af Belson's problemer angiveligt går væk af sig selv eller bliver uddateret med tidenes forløb,  forklarede kilder, at nogle tilsyneladende skal løses på en eller anden aktiv måde. Faktisk bekræftede flere synligt forfærdede bekendter, at visse hindringer i Belsons liv kan vare i måneder eller endda år, som det har været tilfældet med hans kroniske lændesmerter og hans følelsesmæssigt fjerne forhold til sin far.

Derudover sagde de, der var tætte på Belson, at de blev helt chokeret efter at have opdaget, at han undertiden er besat af multiple problemer på samme tid, hvilket gør ham til den eneste, der eksisterer, som i en enkelt dag skal kæmpe med sådanne problemer som at lave et studielåns betaling til tiden, ulejligheden af en lang linje på hans foretrukne frokoststed og angst over, om han drikker for meget.

Stakkels Doug !!! Han er blevet lidt af en berømthed her i nabolaget på grund af sin utrolig vanskelige liv, men der er nogle også, der undgå at stå for tæt på ham i køer osv, som om hans uheld på en eller anden måde var smitsomt – sikke et vanvid!

11:00 Jeg kører Lois over til Tewkesbury og sætter hende af foran biblioteket. Bagefter kører jeg videre til det lokale Morrisons-supermarked for at købe nogle ting: frugt, en salat, tomater, en agurk, et brød, et halvt pund smør og 2 flasker limearomatiseret tonikvand til mit dagligt glas gin.

min indkøbsliste i dag

12:30 Jeg kører tilbage til biblioteket og henter Lois – hun har undervist søndagsskole i en time, og hendes lektion, der handlede om Gideon, en af Israels såkaldte ”dommere”, blev en larmende succés, som jeg forudsagde. Lois gør sig altid umage, når hun forberederer sine lektioner, for at gøre dem interessante for børn, med masser af billeder og sjove aktiviteter i forbindelse med emnet.

Vi kører hjem og spiser frokost. Bagefter sætter Lois sig med computeren og deltager i sin sekts gudstjeneste på nettet, med et lille glas rødvin og et stykke brød i hånden, hvilket jeg finder utrolig rørende af en eller anden grund.

Lois’ lille glas vin og stykke brød – hvor rørende!

I mellemtiden går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og vi slapper af med en kop te og en chokolade kiks – yum yum!

16:00 Jeg sætter mig med computeren og kigger lidt på nettet. Jeg ser en interessant artikel, der handler om sprogproblemer og misforståelser mellem amerikanere fra det ene område og amerikanere fra et andet område, når det kommer til at bestille mad på drive-through fastfood-restauranter.

Dette opmuntrer mig, fordi da Lois og jeg boede i USA først i 1980’erne, havde vi enorme problemer med at bestille mad via mikrofon og højtaler på den lokale drive-through McDonalds-restaurant, og endelig fik vi vores små børn Alison og Sarah til at give udtryk for vores bestilling: og det lykkedes dem altid at få hvad de sagde ind hos servitricen.

Tilbageblik til 1983: vores 8-årige datter Alison i McDonalds, Denver Colorado

hvor hun netop har bestilt familien 4 Big Macs ved disken

Artiklens forfatter, Stephen Taylor, der stammer fra det sydlige Indiana ville gerne bestille en portion coleslaw på en drive-through restaurant i Madison, Wisconsin. Begge delstater, Indiana og Wisconsin, ligger i midtvesten, men Taylor endte med at skulle stave ordet, før tjeneren forstod det. Og coleslaw er ikke i det mindste en eksotisk ret, og var selvfølgelig på spisekortet – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Taylor siger også, at tjenerne i Boston hyppigt misforstår hans udtale af ordet ”coffee”. Jeg fulgte en link og lyttede til Taylors stemme, og han udtalte ordet “coffee” på 99.99% den samme måde som mig – det mår jeg nok sige.

Men når man tænker på, hvor mange folk verden over taler engelsk som modersmål, er det måske ikke overraskende, at vi nogle gang ikke kan forstå hinanden.  

Taylors "grænse" mellem de sydlige og nordlige accenter

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad, de 2 bryster, alt, der er tilbage fra den fasan, vores nabo Bob for nogle dage siden skød – yum yum!  

Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Vi ser endnu 30 minutter af  Peter Jacksons interessante men sindsoprivende dokumentarfilm om den 1. verdenskrig, ”They Shall Not Grow Old”. Den er imidlertid så sindsoprivende, at Lois og jeg ikke kan holde ud at se mere end endnu 30 minutter af døde, sønderlemmede kroppe, der ligger halvt begravede i pløret, og andre skræmmende syn  – yikes!!!!

En ekstraordinær dokumentarfilm, ved enhver standard. Den måde, Jackson har tilføjet farve, lyd og naturlig filmhastighed til disse gamle filmsekvenser på, omdanner fuldstændigt vores billede af livet i skyttegrave, det ved vi med sikkerhed. De bringer virkelig krigen helt tilbage til livet, synes vi.

Lois og jeg havde kun 1 slægtning, der deltog i den 1. verdenskrig, Lois’ Onkel George Cox. Han blev såret to gange, og endte med at have et kunstigt ben og et metalplade i hovedet i resten af sit liv. Men han var en stille, tålmodig og munter mand, der var over 90 år gammel, da han døde.

Det er svært at få til at forsone stilfærdige mænd som Onkel George, ofte landbrugsarbejdere, der boede i stille engelske landsbyer, og de forfærdelige oplevelser, de må være gået igennem i Frankrig. Lois siger, at George aldrig talt meget om krigen, hvilket er helt forståeligt, det må jeg nok sige.

Tilbageblik til 1920’erne: Onkel George (nr 2 fra højre) med søskende og familier

Onkel George i anledning af sin bror Cyrils bryllup.

Lois’ mor er i forgrunden.

20:00 Vi ser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om George Gershwins vidunderlige værk Rhapsody in Blue (1924). Programmets vært er den charmerende Josie D’Arby.

Et afslappet, opløftende program om dette stykke, der i begyndelsen blev komponeret i en halvt udsat, halvt improviseret form. Det blev skyndsomt komponeret, og var ikke fuldstænidg udsat, da det først blev foredraget – Gershwin selv spillede klaver, og improviserede delvis. Og det var klarinetisten Ross Gorman, der improviserede værkets åbende glissando, som Gershin elskede så meget, at han besluttede at holde den.

21:00 Vi ser de åbnende sekvenser af reality-showet, der spiller sig ud i den australske jungel,  ”I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here”. Programmets værter er den charmerende Dec Donnelly  og den pragtfulde Holly Willoughby.

Men vi slukker for fjernsynet, da vi bliver klar over, at vi aldrig har hørt om nogle af de såkaldte ”kendisser”, der deltage i årets konkurrence. Yikes, nu er vi bare  2 gamle krager, ingen tvivl om det!

22:00 Vi går i seng. Jeg læser ca 10 sider af min sengetidbog, før jeg glider over i søvnene – zzzzzzz!!!!