Danskcolin: Tuesday, February 12 2019

08:00 Lois and I take a shower and after breakfast I start to prepare a Hungarian vocabulary test for my friend "Magyar" Mike, who is coming here at 10 am to study the language with me.

10:00 "Magyar" Mike arrives and we study Hungarian for an hour. A difficult hour, because Mike has unfortunately forgotten a lot of very basic Hungarian words.

"Magyar" Mike in happier times, in 2010 in France, before his recent decline:

from left to right: me, Lois, "Magyar" Mike, and "Magyar" Mary

next door to Chinon Castle.

And every time Mike arrives, he reports another new problem with the used car he bought 3 months ago - now he says the car starts emitting a strange noise a few minutes after he turns off the engine.

I'm not an expert, but I try to tell him that the noise could be the car's automatic cooling system, but I suspect he isn’t listening to me - Mike has always been better at talking than listening, I have to say.

He has also in general become a very nervous driver - and while driving his car, he is constantly worrying whether the car is about to break down. Good grief, sheer lunacy !!!!

11:00 Mike has to leave. Lois drives us to the local Wyevale garden centre, to buy a birthday present for Lois's friend and former work colleague, Rose, and afterwards to eat our Valentine's Day lunch in the garden centre’s restaurant, 2 days early: our Valentine's day itself is packed with tasks and appointments - damn!

Lois offers to drive us both over there and drive us home again so she can experiment with her new glasses and decide whether or not she still has a problem with them. Unfortunately, she now becomes quite sure that the glasses are faulty in some way or another - she decides to book a second appointment at Specsavers Opticians for next week - damn!

But we enjoy the lunch, I have to say. Lois chooses "hunter's chicken" with baked potato and salad, and jam roly-poly and custard for dessert, while I choose the gammon with fried egg and pineapple, and french fries, and apple crumble and custard for dessert - yum yum!

We have our Valentine's Day lunch 2 days early

because of pressure of household and other general tasks

– my god, what madness !!!!

Lois chooses "hunter's chicken" - who hunts chickens?

My choice is "a special", the gammon, which I happen to notice

on the restaurant’s attractive "blackboard"

14:00 We drive home and go to bed for a gigantic afternoon nap: we have become so lazy nowadays ha ha ha! Lois reads 20 pages of her current bedtime book - Georgette Heyer's "Bath Tangle", a historical romance that plays out in the city of Bath, a book she is currently reading for the 600th time – good grief, sheer lunacy !!!!!

17:00 We finally tumble out of bed and relax with a cup of tea on the sofa. Afterwards we have to go out. Lois wants to attend her sect’s weekly Bible seminar, taking place tonight in Brockworth library. She does not want to drive herself because of problems with her new glasses, so I drive her over to Alf and Mari-Ann's house. They will drive her the rest of the way to the library, and then all 3 will attend the seminar.

19:00 I come home and relax with a cup of coffee on the sofa. I have some alone time and spend the evening listening to the radio and watching a bit of television.

It’s fascinating to look again at a map of the earliest light of the universe, the cosmic background radiation that emerged just after the Big Bang event. It shows warmer spots and colder spots (orange and blue), and is a precise copy of the universe's present-day galaxies, their positions in space, and the spaces between them (except with much smaller distances because immediately after the Big Bang, the universe hadn’t expanded yet !!!!).

How interesting! Isn’t astronomy totally fascinating - who would want to study anything else?

But I did not know that scientists still do not agree on how fast the universe is expanding. In 1929, Edwin Hubble himself used so-called "cepheids" (extra bright stars) in a bunch of galaxies to measure the expansion rate of the universe, and came up with 72, the so-called "Hubble constant". That is to say, the universe expands at 72 km / sec per megaparsec (a megaparsec is defined as the distance from our galaxy to the Andromeda galaxy, or something like that, in other words, a place very far away).

In the 1990's, researchers used the Hubble telescope to measure the constant even more accurately, and arrived at 67 km / s. But now, a bunch of researchers at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, have come up with a new theory about the constant, based on studying the light from the Type 1a supernovae in galaxies: the constant they have calculated is 73 km / s.

Good grief, what madness! Everyone knows that the Hitchhiker’s Guide came up with the definite answer over 30 years ago - ie 42.

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

21:00 I switch off the TV and listen a little to the radio, an interesting episode in the series "Inside Health" - the host of the program is the charming Dr. Mark Porter.

A fascinating episode. Mark asks whether it is time to stop using the word "cancer" to describe low-risk tumours, some of which may in the past never have been discovered and diagnosed: tumours that are unlikely to threaten the health of anyone.

"Cancer" is an umbrella term that covers a wide variety of conditions, including problems that have less than 5% chance of worsening within a 20-year period. In the past, so-called "cancers" were only discovered after the patient reported symptoms, but now they are often discovered after studies designed either specifically to find them or to find anything at all that is abnormal, often as a result of completely routine scans. And symptoms may well be completely absent, because many of these conditions are harmless.

The word "cancer" terrifies patients, needless to say, and the diagnosis and the word itself leaves them with a lot of unnecessary dilemmas and uncertainties. Many doctors think we should use some kind of minimum threshold before using the word "cancer".

It is important for doctors to be open with their patients, says Dr. Mark, but one of the most frequent options - long-term monitoring with regular re-testing - is not without problems: it is expensive, takes resources away from other NHS responsibilities, and at the same time creates anxiety in the patients – my god, sheer lunacy !!!!

21:30 Lois comes back from the Bible seminar - Mari-Ann drops her off in front of the house. We see a little television, a funny sitcom, "Two Doors Down", all about some families living on the same street in a suburb of Glasgow, an episode we recorded on our YouView unit the other night.

More embarrassing moments tonight, when the young couple Michelle and Alan hold a house-warming party and invite all the neighbours, including Colin and his wife Cathy, the world's most insensitive people.

middle-aged Colin and Cathy, the street's most insensitive residents,

show up to the house-warming party organised by

young Michelle (right) and her partner Alan (not shown)

Michelle shows Beth and the embarrassing Cathy around the house, including the bedroom, and Cathy again drops hints that she and Beth had a lesbian one-night-stand when they were younger – good grief, how embarrassing in front of young Michelle!

Meanwhile, Cathy's insensitive husband, Colin, pops out into the backyard with Alan and Eric to have a few beers.

Colin knows that Alan and Michelle have been busy for many months on "project baby", and he creates more embarrassment by suggesting that the couple vary positions etc so that Michelle does not get bored – good grief, how embarrassing!

How embarrassing! Colin (centre) suggests to Alan (right)

that he pursues "project baby" by varying positions etc

so Michelle does not get bored.

Good grief, the most embarrassing episode yet, that’s for sure! Hell is other people, as Jean Paul Sartre once said!

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

Danish translation

08:00 Lois og jeg tager et brusebad og efter morgenmad går jeg i gang med at udarbejde en ungarsk ordforrådtest til min ven ”Magyar” Mike, der kommer hos os kl 10 for at studere sproget med mig.

10:00 ”Magyar” Mike ankommer og vi studerer ungarsk i en time. En vanskelig time, fordi Mike desværre har glemt en masse grundlæggende ungarske ord.

”Magyar” Mike i lykkeligere tider, i 2010 i Frankrig, inden sin nylige tilbagegang:

fra venstre til højre: mig, Lois, ”Magyar” Mike, og ”Magyar” Mary

tæt på slottet i Chinon.

Og hver gang han kommer, rapporterer han endnu et nyt problem med den brugte bil, han købte for 3 måneder siden – nu siger han, at bilen udsender en løjerlig støj, et par minutter efter han slukker for motoren.

Jeg er ikke nogen ekspert, men jeg prøver at fortælle ham, at støjen kunne være bilens automatiske kølesystem, men jeg mistænker, han ikke lytter til mig – Mike har altid været dygtigere til at tale, end at lytte, det må jeg nok sige.

Han er blevet en meget nervøs chauffør – og mens han kører bil, bekymrer han hele tiden over, om bilen er ved at bryde ned. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

11:00 Mike skal af sted. Lois kører os over til det lokale Wyevale-havecenter, for at købe en fødselsdagsgave til Lois’ veninde og tidligere arbejdskollega, Rose, og bagefter spise vores valentinsdag frokost i havecentrets restaurant, 2 dage tidligt,: selve valentinsdagen er propfyldt af opgaver og aftaler – pokkers!

Lois tilbyder at køre os derover og køre os hjem igen derefter, så hun kan eksperimentere med sine nye briller og beslutter, om hun stadig har et problem med dem, eller ej. Desværre er hun nu helt sikker på, at brillerne er fejlagtige på en eller anden måde – hun beslutter at bestille en 2. aftale hos Specsavers Optik til næste uge – pokkers!

Men vi nyder frokosten, det må jeg nok sige. Lois vælger ”Jægerens kylling” med bagt kartoffel og salat, og jam roly poly og custard til dessert, mens jeg vælger gammon med spejlæg og ananas, og pommes frites, og æblecrumble og custard til dessert – yum yum!

vi spiser vores valentinsdag frokost 2 dage for tidligt

på grund af pres af huslige og almindelige opgaver – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Lois vælger ”Jægerens kylling” – hvem jæger kyllinger?

Mit valg er ”et specielt”, som jeg tilfældigvis lægger mærke til på restaurants ”tavle”

14:00 Vi kører hjem og går i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur: vi er blevet så dovne nu til dags ha ha ha! Lois læser 20 sider af sin nuværende sengetidbog – Georgette Heyers ”Bath Tangle”, en historisk romantisk roman, der spiller sig ud i byen Bath, en bog hun for tiden er i gang med at læse for 600. gang – du godeste, sikke et vanvid !!!!!

17:00 Vi vælter endelig ud af sengen og slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Bagefter skal vi ud. Lois vil deltage i sin sekts ugentlige bibelseminar, der finder sted i aften på byen Brockworths bibliotek. Hun har ikke lyst til at køre sig selv på grund af problemer med sine nye briller, så jeg kører hende over til Alf og Mari-Anns hus. De vil køre hende resten af vejen til biblioteket, og så vil alle 3 deltage i seminaret.

19:00 Jeg kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen. Jeg har lidt alenetid, og bruger aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt fjernsyn.

Det er interessant, at et kort over universets tidligste lys, den kosmiske baggrundsstråling , der opstod lige efter Big Bang-begivenheden, viser varmere pletter og koldere pletter, hvilket er en præcis kopi af universets nuværde galakser, deres positioner i rummet, og rummene mellem dem.

Hvor interessant! Er astronomi ikke totalt fascinerende – hvem ville have lyst til at studere noget andet?

Men jeg vidste ikke, at forskere stadig ikke er enige om, hvor hurtigt universet udvider sig. Selve Edwin Hubble brugte i 1929 en række galaksers såkaldte ”cepheider” (ekstra lyse stjerner) for at måle universets udvidelseshastighed, og kom med 72, den såkaldte ”Hubble-konstant”. Det vil sige, at universet udvider sig med 72 km/s per megaparsec (en megaparsec er defineret som afstanden fra vores galaksi til galaksen Andromeda, med andre ord, et sted meget meget meget langt væk.

I 1990’erne forskere brugte Hubble-teleskopen til at måle konstanten mere akkurat, og kom med 67 km/s. Nu en flok forskere i John Hopkins University, Baltimore, har kommet med en ny teori om konstanten, ved hjælp af lys fra Type 1a supernovaerne: 73 km/s.

Du godeste, sikke et vanvid! Alle ved, at Hitchhikers Guide kom med et definitivt svar for over 30 år siden – dvs 42 km/s.

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

21:00 Jeg slukker for fjernsynet og lytter lidt til radio, et interessant afsnit i serien ”Inside Health” – programmets vært er den charmerende dr Mark Porter.

Et fascinerende afsnit. Mark stiller spørgsmålet, om det er tid til at holde op med at bruge ordet ”kræft” for at beskrive lavrisiko svulster, nogle af dem tilstander, der i fortiden måske aldrig ville være blevet opdaget og diagnosticeret: svulster, der er usandsynlige at true sundheden af nogen som helst.

”Kræft” er et paraplyudtryk, der dækker en stor vifte af tilstander, inklusive problemer, der har mindre end 5% chance for at forværre indenfor en periode af 20 år. I fortiden blev såkaldte ”kræfter” kun opdaget, efter patienten rapporterede symptomer, men nu bliver de ofte opdaget efter undersøgelser, der er designede specifikt til at finde dem eller til at finde noget som helst, der er unormalt, ofte som resultat af helt rutinemæssige scanninger. Det kan være, at symptomer er helt manglende, fordi mange af dem er harmløse.

Ordet ”kræft” forfærder patienter, unødvendigt at sige, og diagnosen og selve ordet efterlader dem med en masse unødvendige dilemmaer og uvisheder. Mange læger synes, at vi skulle anvende en eller anden slags minimumsgrænse, før vi bruger ordet ”kræft”.

Det er vigtigt for læger at være åbne med patienter, men en af de hyppigste optioner – langvarig overvågning, regelmæssige gentestninger - er ikke uden problemer: det er dyrt, tager ressourcer væk fra NHS’ andre ansvar og skaber samtidigt angst i patienterne – du godeste, sikke et vanvid !!!!

21:30 Lois kommer tilbage fra bibelseminaret - Mari-Ann sætter hende af foran huset. Vi ser lidt fjernsyn, en morsom sitcom, ”Two Doors Down”, der handler om nogle familier der bor på samme gade i en forstad til byen Glasgow, et afsnit vi optog på vores YouView-enhed i går aftes.

Flere pinlige øjeblikke, da det unge kærestepar Michelle og Alan, holder en indflydtningsfest og inviterer alle naboerne, inklusive Colin og hans kone Cathy, verdens mest ufølsomme mennesker.

De midaldrende Colin og Cathy, gadens mest ufølsomme indbyggere,

dukker op til unge Michelle (til højre) og Alans indflytningsfest

Michelle viser Beth og den pinlige Cathy rundt omkring i huset, herunder soveværelset, og Beth dropper antydninger igen om, at hun og Beth havde et lesbiske engangsknald, da de begge var yngre – du godeste, hvor pinligt foran den unge Michelle!

I mellemtiden smutter Cathys ufølsomme mand, Colin, tager et smut i baggården sammen med Alan og Eric. Colin ved, at Alan og Michelle har arbejdet i mange måneder på ”projekt baby”, og han skaber mere pinlighed ved at foreslå at parret varierer stillinger osv, så Michelle ikke keder sig – du godeste, hvor pinligt!