Sunday, January 13 2019

08:00 I jump back into bed with Lois and we drink our morning tea. She says she unfortunately did not sleep very well last night. She suspects that the cause was her 3-hour visit yesterday with Mary, our neighbour, who suffers from dementia. Bill, Mary's husband, had asked Lois to look after Mary while he was away at the local football stadium - he wanted to see the match between Cheltenham Town and Tranmere Rovers.

Unfortunately, during her visit with Mary, Lois managed to drink 3 cups of non-decaffeinated tea, which she is no longer used to, to put it mildly. Another factor might be that Lois and I have started a new diet since the beginning of the year, and we are consuming significantly fewer calories at the moment - especially at dinner-time. She finds that she cannot fall asleep quickly if her stomach feels empty when she goes to bed.

Yesterday's dinner:  crispy bacon potato cakes - yum yum!

But it left Lois unfortunately with an empty stomach at bedtime, it seems.

Lois and I still have slightly different patterns of sleep. I tend to fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. But I wake up very early, often at 5 am or earlier. Lois has to read a little before she can fall asleep and she usually sleeps longer, until 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning.

It is not uncommon for married couples to have different sleep patterns from each other. A local woman recently hit the headlines, after she admitted she just couldn't be the kind of night owl that her husband tended to be.

Local woman Andrea Harris stressed to journalists three years ago that “we’re all different” and that she’d just always been the way she is, adding that she was not much of a morning person, afternoon person or night person.

“I know that some people can start their morning with a big burst of energy and get so much done before 12 noon, while others start more slowly and do not really hit their stride till later in the day. I'm definitely in neither of those categories," Harris said, adding that she was normally at her most proactive and most productive at no time during the day.

"My husband is a real night owl, but I just feel so exhausted by the end of the day that I just fall right to sleep. Then in the morning I am nowhere near refreshed and ready to start my day.

"It's like I always say to my husband:  Don't talk to me until I've had my morning caffeine, and then continue not speaking to me the rest of the day. "

Harris added that now that she would soon be having a big project on her plate at work and that she would probably need to pull an "all dayer".

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in! Lois and I are very pleased that we are now retirees and do not have Harris's work problems and insane lifestyle, that’s for sure !!!!

09:00 We take a shower. Lois says she would rather not go to church today because she needs to relax - she has a little back pain on top of her lack of sleep last night, the poor thing.

10:00 After breakfast, we wait for Sarah, our younger daughter, who lives in Perth, Australia, to call us on whatsapp, which she usually does about 10am. But today she doesn't call - later she sends me a text message: her husband Francis's sister has arrived unexpectedly (???) to visit them, and the whole family has been very busy today. No more details - we have to wait and see. But as far as we know, this visit is the first by any of Francis's close relatives since he and Sarah moved to Australia in December 2015.

But it seems a little unlikely that Shirley would arrive "unexpectedly" in Australia - you can't jump on a plane the way you can jump on a bus. A bit of a mystery, to say the least. You can't jump a jet plane like you can a freight train - who said that? [You did, just now - Ed]

11:30 We go for a short walk around the local football field. There are not many people in the area - just 2 couples playing doubles on the nearby tennis court.

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3:30 pm and Lois and I relax with a cup of tea and a biscuit on the couch.

16:00 I call my sister Gill, who lives in Cambridge. The whole family is well, apart from Gill's severely disabled husband, Peter, who has a part-time job as a Catholic priest. Peter has had various health problems recently, and has had to take a few ECG tests, though it turns out there doesn’t so far appear to be anything seriously wrong, thank goodness.

flashback to Gill and Peter's silver wedding in May 2015:

(left to right) Tom, Maria, Chris, Zoe, Lucy (Gill and Peter's youngest daughter), 

Gill, Gill's friend from schooldays Jill, Jill's husband, and Peter (in wheelchair)

The couple's eldest daughter Zoe and her partner Chris are now buying their first house in Cheadle. And Gill and Peter's youngest daughter Maria is planning to marry her partner Tom in April 2020 - they are looking for a wedding complex in the Newmarket area where the ceremony and reception can take place under one roof, a system that apparently is in vogue today among today's young millennial generation-style people - yikes, it was different when Lois and I got married, to say the least:  church and afterwards cups of tea and sandwiches with the bride's parents - yikes (again) !!!!

18:00 Lois and I have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. The latest episode of "The Sky at Night" is on, a series that centres on the latest developments in the world of astronomy. This episode is all about NASA's "New Horizon" mission and especially the "Ultima Thule" object where there’s just been a long-anticipated fly-by. The host of the program is the charming Chris Lintott.

NASA's "New Horizon" is the first of many missions called New Frontier Missions. The probe was launched on January 19, 2006 (exactly one month before I retired, which is a little spooky to say the least).

The probe's primary mission was to map Pluto in 2015 and to take high-resolution images of parts of Pluto's surface, and to achieve  a better understanding of Pluto's structure.

Between 2016 and 2020, New Horizon will be passing through the Kuiper Belt, where it will examine various rocks and other objects. There is not much spare energy to maneuver the probe towards particular objects, so NASA has identified a number lying on the probe’s route.

In fact, the first object was the so-called "Ultima Thule" where there was the recent fly-by, on January 1. 2019, ie 2 weeks ago. After the Kuiper Belt, the probe will continue out of the Solar System towards the constellation Sagittarius. And then it’s “Bye bye probe!”.

The Kuiper belt is a bit of a mess in my view. Masses of small objects in a large belt far out on the edge of the solar system. The belt was probably formed when the planet Neptune flew out of its original position in the solar system, creating a lot of chaos in the process.

What madness! It's the kind of thing that happens when planets aren't satisfied with staying peacefully where they are, and generally behaving sensibly. I suppose Neptune felt too hot one day and decided to move to a slightly cooler orbit.

I assume that planets are like humans in a lot of ways. The orbits of other planets always look more comfortable than one’s own. But it often ends up with tears at bedtime, I suspect!

Interestingly, Ultima Thule hadn’t even been discovered when the New Horizon probe was launched in 2006: it was first seen in 2014 with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope.

the first image of the Ultima Thule object ...

... and it's nice to see the rock band Queen's guitarist Brian May (right) taking

part in the fun at New Missions headquarters in Maryland, USA

The first pictures of Ultima Thule show an object that looks like a snowman, although later it turns out to be red, like potting soil, according to the researchers, rather than white.

It looks as if two originally separated round objects approached each other very very slowly (less than 10 miles per hour ie walking pace) and melted together very very gently. If the two objects had collided a little bit faster, they would have smashed each other to smithereens, or bounced off from each other like two snooker balls.

Ultima and Thule (the object's once separate parts) must have hooked up 
very very slowly, to say the least. Here we see the programme's charming host 
Chris Lintott, flirting a bit, and discussing the moment “When Ultima Met Thule”, 
with NASA's charming Australian astronomer, Dr Carly Howett.

And the combined object has been in place for 4 billion years, a bit like an old married couple in their matching  armchairs, in a part of the solar system where nothing ever happens, seemingly on hold, until the New Horizons probe passed by on New Year's Day 2019.

It's all a little touching  in a way, a bit like Lois and me, who also hooked up slowly ha ha! And Ultima and Thule are both a bit lumpy - we can relate to that too, to put it mildly.

It must have been a bit of shock for Ultima and Thule after 4 billion years, to see the New Horizon probe suddenly appear out of the blue, hurtle past and quickly disappear. I thought of the shock felt by Henry and Min, the elderly married couple in the Goon Show, when after 20 years of sitting in their armchairs in the quiet village of Upper Dicker (Sussex) there was a sudden knock on the door.

Henry (right) and Min - and the first knock on their door after 20 years in Upper Dicker

Henry and Min are thought by their neighbours in Upper Dicker village to be close to 4 billion years old themselves.

Isn’t astronomy totally fascinating? Who would want to study anything else?

20:30 Halfway through the programme our elder daughter Alison calls us from Haslemere. Her husband, Ed, has been unemployed since his company laid him off 9 months ago, after nearly 6 years of work in Copenhagen. Lois and I suspect, however, that he received a very generous amount of compensation from his former company: the family does not seem to be short of cash, I have to say.

Ed has a job interview tomorrow in the city of Birmingham - it's just a part-time job (maybe 6 - 9 months maybe) but he would get involved in a high profile situation, and this attracts him - it would look good on his resume, no doubt there. The job is with a coffee shop chain that currently has serious problems and hit the headlines with them recently.

Alison, Ed and their 3 children - Josie (12), Rosalind (10) and Isaac (8) - plan to spend Easter in Paris with an English family they first met in Copenhagen, which is nice.

22:00 Lois and I go to bed - zzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

08:00 Jeg hopper tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté. Hun siger, at hun desværre i nat sov ikke ret godt. Hun mistænker, at årsagen var sit 3-timers besøg i går hos Mary, vores nabo, der lider af demens. Bill, Marys mand, havde bedt Lois om at passe på Mary, mens han var på det lokale fodboldstadium – han havde lyst til at se kampen mellem Cheltenham Town og Tranmere Rovers.

Desværre under sit besøg hos Mary, lykkedes det Lois at drikker 3 kopper ikke-koffeinfri te, hvilket hun ikke længere er vænnet til, for at sige mildt. En anden faktor kunne være, at Lois og jeg er påbegyndte en ny slankekur siden starten af året, og vi forbruger betydeligt mindre kalorier for tiden – især ved aftensmad. Hun finder, at hun ikke kan falde hurtigt i søvn, hvis hendes mave føles tom, når hun går i seng.

Gårsdagens aftensmad: kartoffelkager med sprød bacon – yum yum!

Men den forlod Lois desværre med en tom mave ved sengetid, lader det til.

Lois og jeg har alligevel lidt anderledes søvnmønstrer. Jeg har tendens til at falde i søvn, så snart mit hoved rammer puden. Men jeg vågner meget tidligt op, ofte kl 5 eller tidligere. Lois skal læse lidt, før hun kan falde i søvn, og hun plejer at sove længere, indtil kl 7 eller 8.

Det er ikke ualmindeligt at ægtepar har anderledes søvnmønstrer fra hinanden. En lokal kvinde ramte overskrifterne for nylig, på grund af, at hun ikke var den slags natteravn, hendes mand har tendens til at være.

Andrea Harris, en lokal kvinde, fortalte journalister for 3 år siden, at alle er anderledes, og således har jeg altid været. Hun tilføjede, at hun ikke er meget af en morgenmenneske, eftermiddagmenneske eller natmenneske.

”Jeg ved, at nogle mennesker kan starte deres morgen med en stor energiudbrud og få så meget gjort før kl. 12.00, men andre begynder langsomt og kommer ikke i sving til senere på dagen. Jeg er helt sikkert i ingen af disse 2 kategorier, "sagde Harris og tilføjede, at hun plejede at være på sit mest proaktive og mest produktive på intet tidspunkt i løbet af dagen.

”Min mand er en ægte natteravn, men jeg føler mig lige så udmattet i slutningen af dagen, at jeg falder med det samme i søvn. Så om morgenen er jeg ikke nært forfrisket og klar til at starte min dag.

”Det er som jeg altid siger til min mand:  Tal ikke til mig, før jeg har haft min morgen koffein, og fortsæt så med ikke at tale med mig resten af dagen. "

Harris tilføjede, at nu hvor hun havde et stort projekt for på arbejde, som netop nu var overhængende, ville hun sandsynligvis være nødt til at trække en ”hele dagen”.

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i ! Lois og jeg er meget glade for, at vi er blevet pensionister og ikke har Harris’ arbejdsproblemer, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

09:00 Vi tager et brusebad. Lois siger, at hun hellere ikke vil gå i kirke i dag, fordi hun trænger til at slappe af – hun har lidt ondt i ryggen udover sin mangel på søvn i nat, staklen.

10:00 Efter morgenmad venter vi på, at Sarah, vores yngste datter, der bor i Perth, Australien, ringer til os på whatsapp, som hun plejer at gøre ved 10-tiden. Men i dag ringer hun ikke – senere sender hun mig en sms: hendes mand Francis’ søster er ankommet uforventet (???) for at besøge dem, og hele familien er været meget beskæftiget i dag. Ingen flere detaljer – vi må vente og se. Men så vidt vi ved, er dette besøg det første aflagt af en Francis’ slægtninge, siden han og Sarah flyttede til Australien i december 2015.

Det virker lidt usandsynligt at Shirley ville ankomme ”uforventet” til Australien – man kan ikke hoppe på et fly som man kan hoppe på en bus. Lidt af et mysterium, for at sige mildt.

11:30 Vi går en kort tur omkring den lokale fodboldbane. Der er ikke ret mange mennesker i området – bare 2 par, i færd med at spille doubles på den nærliggende tennisbane.

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15:30 og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te og en kiks i sofaen.

16:00 Jeg ringer til min søster Gill, der bor i Cambridge. Hele familien har det godt, bortvist fra Gills alvorligt handicappede mand, Peter, der har en deltidsjob som katolsk præst. Peter har haft forskellige problemer for nylig, og har taget et par ECG-test, selvom det viser sig, at han ikke fejler noget meget alvorligt, gudskelov.

Tilbageblik til maj 2015: (fra venstre til højre) Tom, Maria, Chris, Zoe, Lucy

(Gills yngste datter), Gill, Jill (Gills veninde fra skoletiden), Jills mand,

og Peter (i kørestol)

Parrets ældste datter Zoe og hendes partner Chris er i gang med at købe deres første hus i Cheadle. Og Gill og Peters yngste datter Maria planlægger at gifte sig med sin partner Tom i april 2020 – de leder efter et bryllupscenter i Newmarket-område, hvor ceremoniet og receptionen kan finde sted under et tag, et system, der tilsyneladende nutildags er meget på mode blandt nutidens unge millennielle generations folk – yikes, det var anderledes, da Lois og jeg giftede os, for at sige mildt: kirken og bagefter kopper te og sandwiches hos brudens forælder – yikes (igen) !!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det seneste afsnit af ”The Sky at Night”, en serie, der kredser om de seneste udviklinger i astronomiverden. Dette afsnit handler om NASAs ”New Horizons” mission og især objektet ”Ultima Thule”. Programmets vært er den charmerende Chris Lintott.

”New Horizons” fra NASA er den første af mange missioner under navnet New Frontiers Missions. Den pågældende sond blev opsendt den 19. januar 2006 (præcis 1 måned før jeg gik på pension, hvilket er lidt uhyggeligt for at sige mildt).

Sondens primære mission var at kortlægge Pluto i 2015 samt at tage højopløsningsbilleder af dele af Plutos overflade for at få en bedre forståelse af Plutos opbygning. 

Fra 2016-2020 vil New Horizons passere Kuiperbæltet, hvor den skal undersøge diverse objekter. Der er ikke meget energi til at manøvrere sonden hen mod objekterne, så NASA har fundet nogen der ligger på ruten.

Første objekt var faktisk den såkaldte ”Ultima Thule” den 1. jan. 2019, dvs for 2 uger siden. Efter Kuiperbæltet vil sonden forsætte ud af Solsystemet mod stjernebilledet Skytten.

Kuiperbæltet er lidt af en rod i min optik. En masse små objekter i et bælte, langt ude på kanten af solsystemet. Det blev formet, da planeten Neptun fløj ud af dens oprindelige stilling i solsystemet og skabte en masse kaos i processen.

Sikke et vanvid! Det er dét slags, der sker, når planeter ikke er tilfredse til at holde sig stille og roligt, og generelt opføre sig fornuftigt. Jeg formoder, at Neptun havde det for varmt en eller anden dag og besluttede at flytte til et kredsløb, der var lidt køligere.

Jeg mistænker, at planeter er ligesom mennesker på nogle måder. Andre planeters kredsløb ser altid mere behagelige ud, end deres egne. Men det ender ofte med tårer ved sengetid, det må jeg indrømme!

Det er interessant, at Ultima Thule ikke engang var blevet opdaget endnu, da New Horizons sonden blev opsendt i 2006: det blev set for første gang i 2014 ved hjælp af Hubble-rumteleskopet.

det første billede af Ultima Thule-objektet...

... og det er rart at se rockgruppen Queens guitarist Brian May (til højre) deltage

i løjerne på New Missions-hovedkontoret i Maryland, USA

De første billeder viser et objekt, der ligner en snemand, selvom senere viser det sig at være rød, ligesom pottejord, ifølge forskerne. Det ser ud som om to oprindeligt adskillede runde objekter nærmede sig meget meget langsomt (mindre end 4 miles i timen dvs gå-tempo) og smeltede sammen meget meget blidt. Hvis de to objekter havde kollideret en lille smule hurtigere, ville de have eksploderet hinanden i tusind stykker, eller sprunget tilbage fra hinanden som to snooker-bolder.

Ultima og Thule (objektets engang separate dele)

må være kommet sammen meget meget langsomt, for at sige mildt.

Her ser vi programmets vært Chris Lintott, i færd med at diskutere missionen

med NASAs charmerende australske astrom, Dr Carly Howett.

Og den kombinerede objekt har været på plads i 4 milliarder år, lidt som en gammelt ægtepar i tilhørende lænestole, i en del af solsystemet hvor intet nogensinde sker, i venteposition, indtil New Horizons-sondet kom forbi på nytårsdag 2019. Det er lidt rørende, på en måde, lidt som Lois og mig, der også kom sammen langsomt ha ha! Og Ultima og Thule er lidt klumpede – det kan vi relatere til også for at sige mildt.

Er astronomi ikke helt fascinerende? Hvem ville have lyst til at studere noget andet?

20:30 Halvvejs i programmet ringer vores ældste datter Alison til os. Hendes mand, Ed, har været arbejdsløs, siden hans firma afskedigede ham for 9 måneder siden, efter næsten 6 års arbejde i København. Lois og jeg mistænker imidlertid, at han fik et meget generøst erstatningsbeløb fra sin tidligere firma: familien virker ikke at være i bekneb for skillinger, det må jeg nok sige.

Ed har en jobsamtale i morgen i byen Birmingham – det handler bare om et deltidsjob (6 – 9 mdr måske) men han ville blive involveret i en høj profil situation, hvilket tiltrækker ham – det ville se godt ud på hans cv, ingen tvivl om det. Jobbet er hos en cafékæde, der for tiden har alvorlige problemer og for nylig rammede overskrifterne.

Alison, Ed og deres 3 børn – Josie (12), Rosalind (10) og Isaac (8) – planlægger at  tilbringe påske i Paris hos en engelsk familie, de først mødte i København, hvilket er rart.

22:00 Lois og jeg går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!!