Saturday, December 15 2018

09:30 The weather girl says it’s going to rain heavily and be very windy all day – so Lois and I decide to stay at home and start clearing up in the house and preparing ourselves  for Christmas. I go up the stairs to the attic and bring down the plastic Christmas tree (made in China) we have used for more than 25 years, and the box of Christmas decorations, some of which were made by our 2 daughters - Alison (now 43) and Sarah (now 41 and living in Perth, Australia). My Goodness!

Lois gets going with decorating the tree, etc., while I go out on the terrace to  make sure that the garden furniture and the tarpaulins are not blown away by the wind.

11:30 We take a short break and drink a cup of coffee to recharge our batteries. Lois tells me of an interesting new book that has just been published, all about blood: the title is "Nine Pints" and the author is Rose George, the famous journalist.

To put it mildly, it's a bit of a revelation to me at the age of 72 to find out that all of us have as much as 9 pints of blood inside us. I wonder how many people in mine and Lois’s generation mistakenly believe that we only have 8 pints, simply because of the famous "blood donor" episode of the Tony Hancock sitcom dating back to the early 1960's.

I guess people are just that bit more affluent now, and they can afford to carry around an extra pint.

Rose George's book reveals, among other things, that our blood is produced in our  bone marrow – my goodness, who knew that?    [Doctors, biologists etc maybe? - Ed.]

Throughout time there have been a lot of rumours and myths circulating about blood, it seems, and women have always got a lot of bad press for theirs. Pliny the Elder believed that menstruating women could scare thunderstorms away, which was a plus, but Rose George visits a cowshed in rural Nepal, to which menstruating women are banished, for fear they may contaminate their families.

Rose George, journalist and author

Rose George is a bit of a fan of blood, to put it mildly. She calls it a "wonderful substance": it travels 12,000 miles a day apparently, and it regulates the temperature, removes waste and protects us from infection. Thanks for that, blood!

Rose is known to specialise in writing about "unmentionable" topics in an unpretentious and refreshing manner. One of her previous books was about human faeces, and had the title "The Great Necessity."

She is particularly keen on tackling taboo subjects: both blood and fæces evoke fear and disgust. But I suppose she may feel a little relieved to be known now as a blood expert, rather than a fæces specialist, but that’s something I’m not completely sure about. The jury is still out on that one.

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a huge afternoon nap. I wake up at 3 o'clock but I stay lying in bed. I listen a bit to the radio, the 3rd episode of the 4th season of a fun radio series, "The cold Swedish winter".

"The Cold Swedish winter": main characters in the series

The series is all about an English stand-up comedian, Geoff, who is partners with a nice Swedish woman, Linda (Andersson). The couple move to northern Sweden and buy a house in the countryside, close to Linda's scary parents, her negative father, Sten, and her horny mother, Gunilla. Geoff has had a lot of trouble getting used to Swedish "social-democratic" society.

Geoff and Linda

Gunilla, Linda's horny mother

In this episode, Danny's in-laws, Sten and Gunilla, decide to host a music festival in their small town. The town is called Yxsjo (a name that nobody English can pronounce - no surprise there!). Stone tells Danny that some world-famous artists have agreed to perform in the festival, including NWA, ELO and ACDC.

To start with Danny is very surprised and impressed at this line-up, but the snag with  Sten's list of headline artists becomes obvious a bit later on, when it is revealed that the “NWA” = Norwegian Woodwind Assembly, “ELO” = Estonian Lute Orchestra, and “ACDC” is a typographical error - the correct name is DCAC = Danish Clarinet and Accordion Club.

What madness! It's no wonder that the festival is looking already to be something of a fiasco – my god!

16:00 I get up, and Lois and I relax with a cup of tea and a piece of bread with homemade, homegrown gooseberry jam - yum yum! I notice that Lois has been working during the afternoon on hanging the Christmas cards we have had so far on little bits of string along the walls.

18.15 We have dinner and afterwards, Lois wants to see another of her Christmas-themed romcom DVDs: “Love Actually”, starring Hugh Grant.

Lois's "Love Actually" DVD

Romcom movies are not really my bag, so I settle down in the living room with my laptop and look a little online while Lois watches the movie.

How interesting!  Advocates for standing desks claim that they bring all sorts of benefits, from reduced back pain to slimmer physiques. But have these claims been exaggerated? 

When researchers at the University of Bath asked 46 adults to sit or stand for 20 minutes, they found that the standers burned only 12% more calories than the sitters - an amount not totally insignificant but not enough to give "clinically significant reductions in body fat". Using a standing desk for 60 minutes burns only nine calories, a bit the same as a celery stick, researchers estimated.

In fact, most of the evidence for standing desks looks a bit unreliable on closer inspection, says the New York Times. While studies have found a connection between sitting for a long time and an increase in the risk of cardiovascular problems, it's not clear that the sitting is the problem: it could merely be the result of other risk factors. For example, unemployed people who typically have worse than average health, also tend to spend more time sitting. So in other words, the bottom line is, we can stand up at work if we prefer - but we must not imagine that we’re taking some form of exercise.

Goodness me - what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

I suppose that means I can go back to sitting down all day.

21:00 "Love Actually" is over, and we settle down to watch an interesting review of 1985's most popular television shows. The host is the charming Matthew Kelly.

An interesting program, although it reminds Lois and me that we do not tend to watch the most popular TV shows, which in our opinion are mostly a bunch of crap: we are a little bit elitist, no doubt about that.

1985 was a bit of a strange year for us - at the beginning of the year we were still living in the United States, but we moved back to England in August.

Flashback to August 1985: we moved back to England

after 3 years’ residence in the United States

Flashback to 1985 and our first Christmas back home in England:

my late brother, Steve, along with our younger daughter,

Sarah, then 8 years old - happy times !!!!!

It is nostalgic tonight to see again the famous Live Aid rock concert event at Wembley stadium in Matthew’s list of tv hits:  but it reminds Lois and me that we were still in the United States at that time: the concert actually took place in July of that year. At that time we were packing up all our belongings in preparation for moving back to England.

Another 1985 television show we see clips of tonight  is an interview with Charles and Di, including charming pictures of the two young princes playing the piano.

When it comes to Alastair Burnett's interview with Charles and Di, it seems now that all the signs of later marital problems were already there. Charles seems a little detached and shows a lack of enthusiasm for the interview until he is asked about his "eccentric" interests, and then he comes alive.

Diana talks about how scary their wedding was from her point of view. Unlike Di’s bad memories, Charles says he enjoyed it all from start to finish, but later in the interview, it turns out that what he enjoyed most was organising the whole event. Oh dear!

Aren't the royal family fascinating! Who would want to study anything else??!!!!

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

Danish translation

09:30 Vejrpigen siger, det vil regne og blæse kraftigt hele dagen – Lois og jeg beslutter at blive hjemme og går i gang med at rydde op i huset og forberede os på juletid. Jeg går op ad trappen til loftet og henter det plastik juletræ (lavet i Kina), vi har brugt i mere end 25 år, samt kassen med juledekorationer, hvoraf nogle blev lavet af vores 2 døtre – Alison (nu 43 år) og Sarah (der nu er 41 år og bor i Perth, Australien). Du godeste!

Lois går i gang med at pynte træet osv, mens jeg går et smut ud på terrassen for at sikre at havemøblerne og deres presenninger ikke bliver blæst væk af vinden.

11:30 Vi tager en kort pause og drikker en kop kaffe for at genoplade vores batterier. Lois fortæller mig om en interessant ny bog, der lige er blevet udgivet, som handler om blod: titlen er ”Nine pints”, og forfatteren er Rose George, den kendte journalist.

For at sige mildt er det lidt af en åbenbaring for mig på 72 år, at finde ud af, at alle af os har 9 pints blod i vores kroppe. Jeg spekulerer på, hvor mange folk i min og Lois’ generation tror fejlagtigt, at vi kun har 8 pints, på grund af den berømte ”bloddonor” afsnit af Hancock-sitcommen, der daterer fra først i 1960’erne.

Rose Georges bog afslører blandt andet, at blodet bliver genereret i knoglemarven – du godeste, hvem vidste det der? [Lægere, biologer osv måske? – red.]

Der har været en masse rygter og myter om blodet, lader det til. Pliny den ældre troede, at menstruerende kvinder kunne skræmme tordenvejr væk. Og forfatteren besøger en kostald ude på landet i Nepal, hvor menstruerende kvinder bliver sendt af frugt for, at de vil forurene deres familier.

Rose George, journalist og forfatterinde

George er lidt af en fan af blod, for at sige mildt. Hun kalder det et vidunderligt stof: det rejser 12.000 miles om dagen tilsyneladende, og det regulerer temperaturen, slipper af affald og beskytter os mod infektion.

Hun er kendt for at specialisere sig i at skrive om ”unævnlige” emner på en uhøjtidelig  og forfriskende måde. En af hendes tidligere bøger handlede om menneskelig afføring, med titlen, ”Den store nødvendighed”.

George er specielt ivrig efter at takle tabuer: både blod og afføring vækker frygt og afsky. Men jeg formoder, at hun må føle sig lidt lettet for at være kendt for at være en blod-ekspert, snarere, end en afføring-specialist.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg vågner op kl 15 men jeg bliver liggende inde i sengen. Jeg lytter lidt til radio, det 3. afsnit af den 4. sæson af en morsom radio-serien, ”Den kolde svenske vinter”.

Cast: ”Den kolde svenske vinter”: seriens hovedfigurer

Serien handler om en engelsk standup komiker, Geoff, der er partnere med en dejlig svensk kvinde, Linda (Andersson). Parret flytter til det nordlige Sverige og købe et hus ude på landet, helt tæt på Lindas skræmmende forældre, hendes negative far, Sten, og hendes liderlige mor, Gunilla. Geoff har haft en masse problemer med at vænne sig til det svenske ”socialdemokratiske” samfund.

Geoff og Linda

Gunilla, Linas liderlige mor

I dette afsnit beslutter Dannys svigerforældre, Sten og Gunilla, at arrangere en musikfestival i deres lille by, der hedder Yxsjo (et navn som ingen englænder kan udtale – ingen overraskelse der!). Sten fortæller Danny at nogle verdensbekendte artister har aftalet at optræde, herunder NWA, ELO og ACDC.

I begyndelsen er Danny meget overrasket og imponeret, men hagen ved Stens liste over deltagende artister kommer frem bare  og senere, når det bliver afslørt, at NWA = Norwegian Woodwind Assembly, ELO = Estonian Lute Orchestra, og ACDC er en typografiske fejl – det rigtige navn er DCAC = Danish Clarinet and Accordion Club.

Sikke et vanvid! Det kan ikke undre, at festivalen bliver til noget af en fiasko – du godeste!

16:00 Jeg står op og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te og et stykke brød med hjemmedyrket, hjemmelavet stikkelsbærmarmelade – yum yum! Jeg ser, at Lois i løbet af eftermiddagenhar beskæftiget sig med at hange vores julekort på små stykker snor på væggene.

18.15 Vi spiser aftensmad, og bagefter vil Lois gerne se endnu en af sine juletematiserede romcom-dvd’er: Love Actually, stjernespækket Hugh Grant.

Lois’ ”Love Actually”-dvd

Romcomfilm er ikke egentlig min ting, så jeg sætter mig til rette i stuen og kigger lidt på nettet, mens Lois ser filmen.

Advokater for stående skriveborde hævder, at de bringer alle mulige fordele, fra nedsat rygsmerter til slankere fysik.

Men har disse været overdrevet? Da forskere ved University of Bath bad 46 voksne om at sidde eller stå i 20 minutter, fandt de, at dem, der stod, brændte kun 12% mere kalorier, end dem, der sad - et beløb, der ikke er helt ubetydeligt, men det er ikke nok at give "klinisk betydningsfulde reduktioner i kropsfedt". Det, at bruge et stående skrivebord i 60 minutter, brænder kun ni kalorier, svarende til en selleripind, anslog forskerne.

Faktisk ser hovedparten af beviserne for stående skriveborde lidt upålidelige ud, når man ser nærmere på dem, siger The New York Times. Mens undersøgelser har fundet en sammenhæng mellem det, at sidde lang tid, og øget risiko for kardiovaskulære problemer, er det ikke klart, at det er det, at sidde, hvor man har problemet: det kunne kun være resultatet af andre risikofaktorer. For eksempel arbejdsløse mennesker, der typisk har værre end gennemsnitlig sundhed, har også en tendens til at bruge mere tid på at sidde. Så med andre ord kan vi godt stå for at arbejde, hvis vi foretrækker - men vi må ikke forestille os, at det er en form for motion.

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

21:00 ”Love Actually” er slut og vi ser et interessant gennemgang af året 1985s mest populære tv-programmer. Værten er den charmerende Matthew Kelly.

Et interessant program, selvom det minder Lois og mig, at vi har tendens ikke at se de mest populære tv-serier, som efter vores mening er noget lort – yikes, vi er så elitistisk, ingen tvivl om det!

1985 var lidt af et underligt år for os – i begyndelsen af året boede vi stadig i USA, men vi flyttede tilbage til England i august.

 tilbageblik til august 1985: vi flyttede tilbage til England

efter 3 års ophold i USA

Tilbageblik til 1985 og vores første tilbage hjem i England:

min afdøde bror, Steve, sammen med vores yngste datter,

 Sarah, dengang 8 år gammel – lykkelige tider !!!!!

Det er nostalgisk i aften at se under Matthews tv-hitliste den berømte Live Aid rock-koncert-begivenhed i Wembley-stadiet:  men det minder Lois og mig, at vi var stadig i USA på det der tidspunkt:  koncertet fandt sted i juli måned. Vi var da i gang med at pakke alle vores ejendele i forberedelse på at flytte tilbage til England.

Et andet tv-program fra 1985 var et interview med Charles og Di, inklusive charmerende billeder af de to unge prinser, der var i gang med at spille klaver.

Når det kommer til Alastair Burnets interview med Charles og Di, virker det nu indseende – alle de tegn på den senere ægteskabelige problemer var allerede der. Charles synes lidt frigjort og viser en mangel på entusiasme overfor interviewet, indtil han bliver spurgt om sine ”ekcentriske” interesser.

Diana taler om, hvor skræmmende deres bryllup var fra sit synspunkt. I modsætning til Dis dårlige minder, siger Charles, at han nød det hele vældigt fra start til slut, men det viser sig under interviewet, at hvad han mest nød var at organisere hele begivenhed. Oh dear!

 Hvor fascinerende!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!