08:30 Lois and I have a bath, and after breakfast, I carry
on clearing up our daughter Sarah's old room. I scan and label the photos she
took in 1995 in the first part of her great African safari (the East African part),
as the next stage in our mini-downsizing project. Afterwards I jump up on my exercise
bike and ride 6 miles.
Meanwhile, Lois starts on cleaning the bathroom
thoroughly as part of another of our projects: the annual spring clean. Busy
Busy Busy!
Lois and I like to carry out our spring cleaning projects
only in the spring - call us traditionalists if you like !
A local man Justin Buntz recently hit the headlines when
he admitted to local journalists (source: Onion News) that he did not like to
let dust and mess collect for too long and that he always gave his one-bedroom
apartment a thorough cleaning, once every relationship.
"I like to maintain a fairly regular cleaning plan,
so every time I start getting together with a girl, I set aside a solid half
hour to give the apartment a good and thorough makeover," explained the
28-year-old graphic designer to local journalists. .
He commented that, after emptying the refrigerator of expired
food, wiping his worktops off and throwing his sheets into the wash, he could
then leave his apartment untouched for "as long as it lasts between
us".
"I swept the whole apartment when Kelly and I
started dating in 2012. Then I touched it up and refreshed it just before
Alison saw it last spring. However, I must admit that I’ve been running a little late
with it recently, so I just head over to Jessica's apartment every night to
avoid having to deal with it."
Buntz added that his shower curtain only needs replacement
once every six relationships, which is a bit of a comfort. Poor Buntz!
For my part and Lois's part, this week is a good chance
to work on projects at home. Today is the first day of the annual 4-day Gold
Cup horse racing festival, and the streets around the house will soon be
crowded with cars, taxis, buses, limousines and pedestrians. Damn!
Spring is on the way, so for our spring-cleaning, the timing
could not be more perfect, which is nice.
12:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a
gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm - Lois has popped in at the neighbours’
(Bill and Mary) to talk a little with Mary who suffers from dementia.
I have some alone time and start watching the 7th episode
of the Danish drama series, "Ride upon the Storm", starring the
famous Danish actor Lars Mikkelsen, as Johannes, a provost (archdeacon) with
problems - to put it mildly. First of all, an alcohol dependency, and then a
tendency to have affairs - his most recent relationship was with his church's lovely grave-digger, Ursula, but Johannes's wife, Elisabeth, discovered the affair and
forced Johannes to fire Ursula, which was a bit of a shame.
Johannes is a leading "provost" or archdeacon in
the Danish Lutheran national church. The series revolves around Johannes's
personality, as a very dominant figure, both in the churches he is responsible
for, and also within his own family. He dominates everything, and he tends to throw a
tantrum when he doesn't get his way.
He loves his wife (Elisabeth) and his 2 sons (Christian
and August), but at the same time as loving them, he dominates and crushes them
all. Elisabeth, Christian and August are afraid of him, love him and hate him,
all at the same time.
In last week's (6th) episode, it was Good Friday, and
Johannes's wife, Elisabeth, had sex for the first time with her friend Liv, a
Norwegian violinist, upstairs in the bedroom in the matrimonial bed, while
Johannes was downstairs, supposedly overseeing an evening party he had
organised for his staff "to improve
their morale".
Unfortunately, the party became a bit of an orgy: Johannes’s
deanery staff had too much absinthe, and started taking off their clothes and frolicking in the garden, riding around
naked on Johannes's ride-on lawnmower, causing damage to the value of Kr. 90,000
(taxpayers' money because the Lutheran Church is the country’s national
church). And the weirdest thing is that Johannes just stood and watched all
this madness as if he were in a trance. He is a strange character, no doubt
about that.
The staff had too much to drink and took off their clothes, while Johannes just stared at
them.
My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!
Also during the evening, Johannes happened to walk up the master bedroom to chase after an
annoying wasp, when he saw his wife, Elisabeth, and her girlfriend, Liv, asleep
and naked face down side by side on the matrimonial bed. And again, Johannes just
stood at the bedroom door and stared, as if he were in a trance – my god, what madness
!!!!
Johannes stands and stares at his
wife, Elisabeth, and her friend, Liv,
lying asleep and naked on
top of the matrimonial bed
- Good grief, what madness!
In this 7th episode, the Church conducts an inquiry into
the party, and decides to put a news blackout on the whole event, to avoid
scandals. Johannes signs a document asserting that the mayhem only broke out
after he had left the party, and the church fired some of the staff involved: Simon,
the deanery secretary, Mathilde, the choir-mistress, and Jens, the creepy new
grave-digger.
Meanwhile, Elisabeth, Johannes's wife, takes her
Norwegian lover, Liv, the Norwegian violinist, on a 2-day break. We see them pitching
their tents in a nearby forest, where they bed down for the night.
Johannes knows about his wife's affair with Liv, and he
is not very happy about it, to put it mildly. He goes on a binge with a bottle
of something strong that he has hidden in the grass in his churchyard. He
empties the bottle and collapses in the grass. He begins to have hallucinations
in which his head is being caressed by his bishop, the lovely Monika.
Eventually he loses consciousness, staying lying in the grass as
it gets dark in the cemetery, and he isn’t discovered till the following day when
a group of children on a walk through the churchyard with their mothers stumble
over him. The mothers call an ambulance and Johannes is taken to the emergency
room. His heart stops but he is revived by the hospital staff using their
state-of-the-art equipment, thank God.
My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!
Meanwhile, we see Johannes‘s son August, who is also a
Lutheran priest, instructing a class of about 15 young people, all candidates
for an upcoming confirmation. One of them by the name of Caroline asks to speak privately with August
after a teaching session. She confesses that she recently got very drunk and
had sex with an older schoolboy at a party.
Later we find out that she has actually got pregnant. She
does not want to share the problem with her mother, so she confides in August about
the pregnancy instead. Later, she persuades her doctor to prescribe some
abortion pills, which she takes in August's house so her mother does not find
out about it all.
What madness !!!!!!
Monika, the diocese’s lovely bishop, finds out about both Johannes’s
deadly flirting with alcohol poisoning, and
also August's collusion with the underage Caroline and her abortion pills. I am
expecting her to fire them both, but she decides to give them a second chance,
which is nice.
And the episode has a positive ending when bishop Monika
agrees to let the young August become a so-called "street priest", helping
young people with problems. He seems to have a talent for understanding them
and their problems, and he always seems to have good chemistry with them.
All in all, a heartwarming episode without a shadow of a doubt!
17:30 We have dinner a little earlier than usual, and
afterwards we have to go out. Speaking personally I really don't want to get involved in tonight's traffic
jams following the end of the first day's horse racing, but Lois feels she can't miss
the bible seminar which her sect has arranged in Brockworth library. The subject is "The Gospel of
Isaiah's Book: God's Witnesses (2), the Messiah (2), a lesson from
history". Unfortunately, I cannot persuade her to miss out on the weekly
seminar for once, which is a bit of a shame to put it mildly, but such is life!
scene from a typical recent
seminar at the library
We choose a route through the town centre and we manage
to avoid the worst of the traffic jams, though unfortunately there are hundreds
of boisterous racegoers on foot everywhere in the streets, heading for the
town's pubs, crossing the streets as and when it suits them, which is a little
annoying - damn!
19:00 I come home. I have a little alone time which I
spend listening to the radio, an interesting programme in the series
"Inside Health". The host of the program is the charming Dr. Mark
Porter.
An interesting edition. The first feature of the programme is about so-called CBD oil, a cannabis-based product that you hear and read
many extravagant claims about, saying that it can help ease a lot of painful
states (these claims do not appear on the bottle labels, however, which tells
us something).
In fact, there have been insufficient studies and
insufficient evidence that it is either effective or harmless, says Mark, the
programme's charming host, and his team of experts. Because it exists in
nature, does not mean that it is harmless, he says. Good grief, what madness
!!!
Another feature is all about gout. I did not know that
this is a very frequent problem: in the United Kingdom there are 1 million
people suffering from it. There is actually a connection with so many foods in
the "fish and red meat" categories, that in my opinion one can forget
about making special efforts to avoid it !!!! When it comes to alcohol, beer is
the most dangerous drink, spirits are in the middle, and wine is the safest – good
grief, what madness !!! If it hits me then it hits me, I don't care!!!!! Old
age and overweight are also factors, however.
The most important point that Mark emphasises is that
doctors have changed their previous policy. In the past, they dealt with the
problem by first modifying the patient's diet and prescribing only mild medication, and only later did they
prescribed stronger stuff. Now they have decided to hit the problem hard with medication as soon as it occurs. In fact, gout can lead to much more serious problems:
cardiovascular conditions, kidney problems, etc. so it makes sense to hit it
hard from the start.
Gout is a treatable condition for the most part, though
the treatment takes time and one has to be persistent in taking the medication.
22:00 Lois comes back - Mari-Ann drops her off in front
of the house. I go to bed, but Lois needs to relax and wind down a bit after tonight’s
stimulating Bible seminar, and she decides to watch some television. She
doesn't wake me up when she jumps into bed at 11 o'clock. Zzzzzzzzzzz !!!!!!
Danish translation
08:30 Lois og
jeg går i bad, og efter morgenmad, går jeg i gang med at fortsætte med at rydde
op i Sarahs gamle værelse. Jeg scanner og etiketterer de fotos, hun tog i 1995 i
den 1. del af hendes store afrikanske safari (den øst-afrikanske uger), som den
næste fase i vores mini-downsize-projekt. Bagefter hopper jeg op på min kondicykel
og cykler 6 miles.
I mellemtiden
går Lois i gang med at gøre badeværelset grundigt rent, som en del af et andet
af vores projekter: den årlige forårsrengøring.
Travlt travlt travlt!
Lois og jeg
kan godt lide at gennemføre vores forårsgrengøring-projekter bare om foråret –
kald os traditionalister, hvis du gerne vil det!
En lokal mand
Justin Buntz ramte overskrifterne for nylig, da han indrømmede til lokale
journalister (kilde: Onion News), at han ikke kan lide at lade støv og rod samle
sig for længe, og, at han giver sin 1-værelses lejlighed en grundig rengøring
en gang hvert forhold.
"Jeg kan
godt lide at opretholde en temmelig regelmæssig rengøringsplan, så hver gang
jeg begynder at komme sammen med en pige, fastsætter jeg en solid halv time for
at give lejligheden en god og grundigt makeover," sagde den 28-årige
grafiske designer til journalisterne.
Han bemærkte
at efter at have tømt køleskabet for udgået mad, tørrer han pladeborde af og
smider sine lagner i vasken, kan han derefter forlade sin lejlighed uberørt indtil
"så længe tingene varer mellem os".
"Jeg
fejede hele lejligheden, da Kelly og jeg begyndte at gå på date i 2012. Så pyntede
og forfriskede jeg den igen, før Alison så den sidste forår. På det sidste
imidlertid må jeg dog indrømme, at jeg allerede er sent på den med at gøre det,
så jeg lige skal Jessicas lejlighed hver aften for at undgå at skulle håndtere
det. "
Buntz
tilføjede, at hans brusebad ikke nødvendigvis kun skal udskiftes en gang hvert
seks forhold, hvilket er lidt af en trøst. Stakkels Buntz!
For Lois’ og
mit vedkommende er denne uge er en god chance for at dyrke projekter herhjemme.
I dag er den 1. dag af den årlige 4-dages Gold Cup hestevæddeløbsfestival, og
gaderne rundt omkring huset vil snart blive propfyldt med biler, taxaer, busser,
limousiner og fodgængere. Pokkers!
Foråret er på
vej, så kunne timingen ikke være mere perfekt, hvilket er rart.
12:00 Vi
spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk
eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 – Lois er smuttet ind hos naboer (Bill og
Mary) for at snakke lidt med Mary, der lider af demens.
Jeg har lidt
alenetid og går i gang med at se det 7. afsnit af af den danske dramaserie,
”Ride upon the Storm”, stjernespækket den berømte danske skuespiller Lars
Mikkelsen, som Johannes, en provst med problemer – for at sige mildt. Først og
fremmest en alkoholafhængighed, og en tendens til at have affære – hans
nyligste forhold var til sin kirkes graver, Ursula, men Johannes kone,
Elisabeth, opdagede affæren og tvang Johannes til at fyre hende.
Johannes er en
førende ”provst” eller ærkediakon i Danmarks
lutheranske folkekirke. Serien kredser om
Johannes personlighed, som en meget dominerende figur, både i de kirker, han er
ansvarlig for, og i sin egen familie. Han dominerer alting, og han har tendens
til at have et raserianfald, når han ikke får sin vilje.
Han elsker sin kone
(Elisabeth) og sine 2 sønner (Christian og August), men samtidig med, at han
elsker dem, dominerer han og kvaser dem alle. Elisabeth, Christian og August er
bange for ham, elsker ham og hader ham, alt på samme tid.
I sidste uges (6.) afsnit, var det Langfredag, og Johannes
kone, Elisabeth, havde sex for første gang med sin veninde Liv, en norsk
violinist, oppe på soveværelset i den ægteskabelige seng, mens Johannes var
nedenunder, i gang med at overvåge en aftenfest, han havde organiseret til
fordel for provstiets personale ”for at forhøjne moralen”.
Desværre blev festen til lidt af en orgie: Johannes’ personale fik for meget at drikke,
startede at smide tøjet og boltrer sig i haven, ridende rundt nøgne på
Johannes’ ride-on græsslåmaskine, og forårsager skader på 90.000 kroner
(skatteydernes penge, fordi den lutheranske kirke er landets nationale kirke). Og
det underligste er, at Johannes bare stod og kiggede på alt det her vanvid, som
om han var i en trance. Han er en mærkelig figur, ingen tvivl om det.
Johannes’ aftenfest på Langfredag til fordele for
sine personaler i sognets kontor.
Personalet fik for meget at drikke og smedt tøjet,
mens Johannes bare stod og stirrrede på dem.
Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
Også i løbet af aftenen kom Johannes til at gå et smut op
på soveværelset på jagt efter en irriterende hveps, og han så sin kone,
Elisabeth, og hendes veninde, Liv, ligge og sove nøgne på maven side om side
ovenpå den ægteskabelige seng. Og igen stod Johannes og stirrede bare, ved
døren til soveværelset, som om han var i en trance – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!
Johannes står og stirrer på sin kone,
Elisabeth, og hendes veninde, Liv,
der ligger og sover nøgne omvendt og spejlvendt ovenpå
den ægteskabelige seng
– du godeste, sikke et vanvid!
I dette 7.
afsnit gennemfører kirken en undersøgelse om festen, og beslutter at mørkelægge
det hele for at undgå skandaler. Johannes underskriver et dokument, hvor han
påstår, at sjoven og balladen først brød ud efter han forlod festen, og kirken
afskediger nogen af de personaler, der var involveret: Simon, provstiets
sekretær, Mathilde, kantoren, og Jens, den uhyggelige nye graver.
I mellemtiden
tager Elisabeth, Johannes kone, sin norske elskerinde, Liv, den norske
violinist, med på en 2-dages ferie. Vi ser dem slå deres telt op i en
nærliggende skov, hvor de lægger sig ned for natten.
Johannes
kender til sin kones affære med Liv, og han er ikke særlig glad for det, for at
sige mildt. Han går på druk ved hjælp af en flaske af noget stærkt, han har
gemt i græsset i sin kirkegård. Han tømmer flasken og kollapser i græsset. Han
begynder at have hallucinationer, hvor hans hoved bliver kærtegnet af sin
biskop, den dejlige Monika.
Til sidst mister han bevidstheden,
liggende i græsset, mens det bliver mørkt i kirkegården, og han først bliver
opdaget den følgende dag af en gruppe børn på en tur gennem kirkegården med
deres mødre. Mødrene kalder en ambulans, og Johannes bliver taget til skadestuen. Hans hjerte
stopper men han bliver genoplivet af personalet
på hospitalet ved hjælp af deres
state-of-the-art udstyr, gudskelov.
Du godeste, sikke en skør
verden vi lever i !!!
I mellemtiden, ser vi Johannes søn August, der er også en lutheranske præst, styre en klasse af
ca.15 unge mennesker, alle kommende konfirmander. Én af dem, der hedder
Caroline, beder at tale privat med August efter en undervisning session. Hun
tilstår, at hun for nylig blev meget fuld og havde sex med en ældre skoledreng
til en fest.
Senere finder
vi ud af, at hun faktisk er blevet gravid. Hun har ikke lyst til at dele
problemet med sin mor, så betror hun August graviditetet i stedet for. Senere
overtaler hun sin læge at ordinere nogle abortpiller, som hun tager i Augusts
hus, så hendes mor ikke finder ud af det hele.
Sikke et
vanvid!!!!!!
Monika, bispedømmets
dejlige biskop, opdager både Johannes dødelige flirt med alkoholforgiftning,
også Augusts kollusion med en mindreårig pige og hendes abortpiller. Jeg
forventer, at hun vil fyre dem begge, men hun beslutter at give dem en 2.
chance, hvilket er rart.
Og afsnittet
har en lykkelig slutning, da Monika aftaler at lade den unge August blive en
såkaldt ”gadepræst”, der hjælper unge mennesker med problemer. Han virker at
have en talent for at forstå dem og deres problemer, og han virker altid at
have god kemi med dem.
I det hele
taget et hjertevarmende afsnit uden tvivl !
17:30 Vi
spiser aftensmad, lidt tidligere, end normalt, og bagefter skal vi ud. Jeg har
ikke lyst til at blive involveret i aftenens trafikpropper, der følger
slutningen af dages hestevæddeløb, men Lois føler, hun ikke kan gå glip af det
bibelseminar, sin sekt har arrangeret i byen Brockworths bibliotek. Emnet er ”Evangeliet
i Esajas bog: Guds vidner (2), Messias (2), en lektion fra historie”. Jeg kan
desværre ikke overtale hende at gå glip af den ugentlige seminar for engangs
skyld, hvilket er lidt af en skam, for at sige mildt, men sådan er livet!
et typisk nyligt seminar på biblioteket
Vi vælger en
rute igennem bymidten og det lykkes os at undgå de værste af trafikpropperne,
selvom der desværre er hundredvis af lykkelige fodgængere overalt i gaderne på
vej til byens pubber, krydsende gaderne
som det passer dem, hvilket er lidt irriterende – pokkers!
19:00 Jeg
kommer hjem. Jeg har lidt alenetid og lytter lidt til radio, et interessant
program i serien ”Inside Health”. Programmets vært er den charmerende dr. Mark
Porter.
Et interessant
afsnit. Programmets første indslag handler om den såkaldte CBD-olie, et
cannabis-baseret produkt, som man hører og læse mange ekstravagande påstande
om, dét, at den kan hjælpe med at lette en masse pinefulde tilstande (disse
påstande viser sig ikke på flaskernes etikette imidlertid).
Faktisk har
der været utilstrækkelige undersøgelser, og der er utilstrækkelig beviser på,
at den er effektiv eller harmløs, siger Mark, programmets charmerende vært, og
hans hold af eksperter. Lige fordi det findes i natur, betyder ikke, at den er
harmløs, siger han. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!
Et andet
indslag handler om urinsyregigt. Jeg vidste ikke, at den er et ganske hyppigt
problem: i Storbritannien er der 1 million mennesker, der lider af den. Der er
faktisk en forbindelse med så mange fodevarer i ”rødt kød og fisk”
kategorierne, at man efter min mening kan glemme om at gøre specille indsatser
for at undgå den !!!! Når det kommer til alkohol, er øl den mest farlige drik,
sprit er i midten, og vin er den sikreste – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!! Hvis
den rammer mig, så rammer den mig, jeg er ligeglad med det hele !!!!! Alderdom
og overvægt er også faktorer.
Det vigtigste
point Mark understreger er, at lægere har forandret deres forrrige politik. I
fortiden behandlede de problemet med at forandre patientens kost, og kun
senere, ordinerede de piller. Nu har de besluttet at ramme problemer hårdt med
piller så snart det opstår. Faktisk kan urinsyregigt fører til meget mere
alvorlige problemer: kardiovaskulære tilstande,
nyreproblemer osv, så det giver mening at ramme den hårdt fra starten.
Urinsyregigt
at en behandlelig tilstand for det meste, selvom behandlingen tager tid, og man
må være vedholdende med at tage medikamenterne.
22:00 Lois
kommer tilbage – Mari-Ann sætter hende af foran huset. Jeg går i seng, men
Lois trænger til at slappe af og geare lidt ned efter aftenens stimulerende
bibelseminar, og hun beslutter at se lidt fjernsyn. Hun vækker mig ikke, da hun
kl 23 hopper op i sengen til mig. Zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!
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