Friday, April 26 2019

09:00 Lois and I drive over to the local Longfield charity shop, in the small town of Bishops Cleeve, to donate a large black sack of soft toys that we collected over the past few days, garnered from all the unwanted belongings that our 2 grown-up daughters Alison and Sarah left with us when they moved out 15-20 years ago. Afterwards we swing by the local greengrocer’s and the Court Farm Shop, to buy vegetables, fruit, meat, cheese and bread - yum yum!

Lois sits on the couch with a selection of the many unwanted soft toys

I found in the attic dating from our 2 grown-up daughters’ childhood.

Poor soft toys !!!!

The LONGFIELD charity shop, where we donate the soft toys this morning

The Court Farm Shop, where we stock up 

We drive home and relax with a cup of coffee on the sofa. Afterwards, I go into the garage and collect up all the board games and jigsaw puzzles that our daughter Alison and her 3 children said they didn't want to take home with them, when they visited us a few days ago.

The pile of board games and puzzles we are considering donating to a charity shop,

if we find they are in good condition and not missing any pieces etc.

Lois starts checking out the board games and puzzles:  but those with missing pieces or the like, we throw out. And the others, that are ok, we plan to donate to the Longfield charity shop next week. Hoorah! Being free of unwanted soft toys, board games and jigsaw puzzles is an important part of our current downsizing mini-project.

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm and sit down with the computer. I devise a Danish vocabulary list which I want our U3A Danish group members to memorise before the group's next meeting here, which will take place on 23 May. I'm so demanding ha ha ha!

I also devise a test based on the list. The right answers to the test spell out another of stand-up comedian Tim Vine's famous one-liners:  "I said to the gym instructor: Can you teach me to do the splits?".   He said: "How flexible are you?".    I said : 'Well, I can't make Tuesdays.' “

One of his best, in my opinion, but the group members may decide otherwise – we’ll have to see!

A young woman doing a typical splits exercise

Incidentally, the correct answers to this vocabulary test are top secret until Thursday 3 pm, needless to say ha ha ha !!!

Tim Vine, our favourite stand-up comedian

15:30 I browse a couple of Danish news sites, and I get a bit of a shock, to put it mildly (www.dr.dk).

Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has just set a new record - no Danish prime minister has been sitting on "the throne” longer than he now has (1408 days). It’s the longest stint  since the constitution in its present form was inaugurated in 1953, over 65 years ago.

He is also the only Danish prime minister who has shaken my hand (and Lois’s), in June 2015 or so, in the middle of Copenhagen,  during his successful election campaign,  just before his current "reign" began.

Lois and I and our daughter Alison were sitting eating  at an outdoor Italian lunch place when we realised that there was some kind of commotion right around the corner, and Løkke suddenly appeared with some of his supporters, a couple of protesters, and a TV camera man.

Løkke approached us and shook all our hands, but when we said we were English tourists, he just said "Welcome to Denmark", politely in English, and then walked on, together with his "entourage", to look for some genuine  Danish voters.

flashback to June 2015: Lois, myself, and our daughter Alison

were sitting eating lunch in the middle of Copenhagen, when Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark's

future prime minister came around the corner and shook our hands

It is nice to know that Denmark's most long-standing prime minister has shaken all our hands, even though his "reign" does not compare with Margaret Thatchers, at 11.5 years, or Tony Blair’s 10 years, but the Danish political system depends on coalitions, which in the past have been relatively rare in Britain, I have to say. But who knows - in the Brexit era we may be forced to adopt a similar system - yikes, scary !!!!

16:00 Lois and I relax with a cup of tea on the sofa and we listen a little to the radio, an interesting programme called "The Last Word".

Lois and I have got into the habit of hearing this programme every week because we want to find out if anyone in the past 1-4 weeks has died or not (I’ve noticed that most weeks there are only 4- 5 deaths, which is a little comforting, to put it mildly). The host of the programme is the charming Matthew Bannister.

Doreen Spooner, the first woman to be hired as a staff photographer by a national British newspaper (Daily Mirror), recently died at the age of 91.

Flashback to the 1950’s: the famous press photographer,

Doreen Spooner, who sadly died recently

During the so-called "Profumo affair" in 1963, she took the famous "2 tarts in a bar" photo of Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies in a bar around the corner from the Old Bailey Courthouse during Stephen Ward's notorious trial.

In order to ensure her own anonymity, she took the picture while standing on the other side of a door that was just a little bit ajar, holding her camera out in the opening - she was hoping for the best, i..e. that the picture would clearly show the two young women, but she couldn't  be sure until the photo was developed a little later on. My god, what madness !!!!

flashback to 1963: Doreen's "clandestine" photo of

Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies

And Doreen was never afraid to get her feet wet: she was just a few feet away from Neil Kinnock and Glenys when a giant wave knocked Neil over, during a walk on the beach when he was just about to be appointed leader of the Labour Party during the party's annual conference (Brighton, 1983).

All the other photographers were 200 yards or more away on the Promenade, for fear that they would ruin their newly polished shoes, so unlike Doreen, they only got very blurred pictures  - good grief, what madness (again) !!!!

Flashback to summer of 1983: Neil Kinnock and Glenys

on the beach in the resort town of Brighton

And Doreen also became famous for having reprimanded Prince Philip on the Great Wall after he had just advised a group of English students not to stay too long in China, or they might start developing “slitty eyes” – my goodness , what a crazy world we live in !!!!

What a woman !!!!!

18:00 Lois and I have dinner and afterwards we stick our feet up in front of the TV. The latest episode of "Goggle Box" is on, a fun programme where various TV viewers look at some of the week's programmes and comment on them from the comfort of their sofas and armchairs etc.

From our point of view, the only disadvantage to this programme is that the participants usually do not watch the kind of programmes that Lois and I typically see, but I’m going to let that one slide.

Tonight, movie star Emma Thompson gets criticised in sharp terms for flying over from Los Angeles to participate in climate change demonstrations in London, thereby increasing her carbon footprint by a large amount. And my estimation of Emma has fallen sharply because of this obvious publicity stunt, I have to say, even though it backfired.

Meanwhile, tonight, we see a typical fight between Giles and "Nutty" (Mary). She accuses him of never wanting to go out to parties etc. - she always has to go alone and tell him about the parties after she gets back. She says that he never wants to leave the house, an attitude which she says is "life-negating".

I have the feeling that Giles and “Nutty” (Mary) are a bit like me and Lois. I'd rather not go out of the house at all if I had the choice. Fortunately, tonight, Giles has suggested a good excuse - carbon footprint, which could be helpful to me in the future. We will have to see.

22:00 We go to bed. I read about  20 pages of my bedtime book, Ben Elton's "Two Brothers" (Danish version), before I drift off to sleep - zzzzzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

09:00 Lois og jeg kører over til den lokale Longfield-velgørenhedsbutik i den lille by Bishops Cleeve, for at donere en stor sæk af bløde legetøj, som vi samlede gennem de seneste nogle dage fra alle de uønskede ejendele vores 2 voksne døtre Alison og Sarah efterlod hos os, da de for 15-20 år siden forlod hjemmet. Bagefter smutter vi ind i den lokale grøntsagahandlerforretning og Court Farm-gårdbutik, for at købe grøntsager, frugt, kød, ost og brød - yum yum!

Lois sidder i sofaen samme med et udvalg af de mange uønskede bløde legetøj,

jeg fandt i loftet, som daterer fra vores 2 voksne døtres barndom.

Stakkels bløde legetøj !!!!

Longfield-velgørenhedsbutik

Court Farm-gårdbutik

Vi kører hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen. Bagefter går jeg ud i garagen og henter alle de brætspil og puslespil, som vores datter Alison og hendes 3 børn sagde, de ikke havde lyst til at få med hjem, da de for et par dage siden besøgte os.

Den bunke brætspil og puslespil, som vi overvejer at donere til en velgørenhedsbutik,

hvis vi finder, de er i god stand og ikke mangler brikker osv.

Lois går i gang med at tjekke brætspillene og puslespillene:   dem, der har manglende brikker eller den slags, smider vi ud, og de andre, planlægger vi at donere til Longfield-velgørhedsbutik næste uge. Hurra!  Dét, at blive fri for uønskede bløde legetøj, brætspil og puslespil, er en del af vores nuværende downsize-miniprojekt.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur.  Jeg står op kl 15 og sætter mig med computeren. Jeg udtænker en dansk ordforrådliste, som jeg vil have vores U3A danske gruppes medlemmer til at lære udenad før gruppens næste møde på vores næste gruppemøder, der finder sted den 23. maj. Jeg er så krævende ha ha ha!

De rigtige svar til testen staver endnu en af standup komikeren Tim Vines berømte én-linje vittigheder, “I said to the gym instructor: ‘Can you teach me to do the splits?’  He said: ‘How flexible are you?’  I said: ‘I  can’t make Tuesdays.’”  Én af hans bedste, efter min mening. 

En ung kvinde i gang med at gå i spagat

I øvrigt er de rigtige svar på vores danske gruppes nye ordforrådtest tophemmelige indtil torsdag kl 15, unødvendigt at sige ha ha ha!!!

TimVine, vores yndlings-standupkomiker

15:30 Jeg blader igennem et par danske nyhedswebsteder, og jeg får lidt af et chok, for at sige mildt (www.dr.dk). Den danske statsminister Lars Løkke Rasmussen har sat en rekord – ingen statsminister har siddet længere på tronen i én valgperiode, end ham  (1408 dage), i hvert fald siden den seneste grundlovsændring i 1953, hvor danskerne  fik det Folketing, som de kender i dag.

Han er også den eneste danske statsminister, der har givet mig (og Lois) hånden, i juni 2015 eller deromkring, midt i København, i løbet af hans succesfulde valgkampagne, lige før hans nuværende ”regeringstid” startede.

Lois og jeg og vores datter Alison, sad og spiste på en udendørs italiensk frokoststed, da vi blev klar over, at der var en eller anden røre, der foregik lige rundt om hjørnet, og Løkke pludselig viste sig sammen med nogle af sine tilhængere, et par demonstranter, og en tv-kameramand. Løkke henvendte sig til os, og gav os aller tre hånden, men da vi sagde vi var engelske turister, sagde han høfligt, ”Welcome to Denmark” på engelsk, og gik videre, sammen med sin ”entourage”, for at finde nogle ægte danske valgere.

tilbageblik til juni 2015 (eller deromkring): Lois, jeg, og vores datter Alison

sad og spiste frokost midt i Københaven, da Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Danmarks

kommende statsminister, kom rundt om hjørnet og gav os hånden

Det er rart at vide, at Danmarks mest langvarige statsminister har givet os hånden, selvom hans ”regeringstid” sammenligner ikke med Margaret Thatchers på 11,5 år, eller Tony Blair på 10 år, men det danske politiske system afhænger af koalitioner, der i fortiden har været forholdsvis sjældne i Storbritannien, det må jeg nok sige. Men hvem ved – i Brexit-æra kan det være, at vi bliver tvunget til at adoptere et lignende system – yikes!!!!

16:00 Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop te i sofaen og vi lytter lidt til radio, et interessant program, der hedder ”Det sidste ord”. Lois og jeg er kommet i vane med at høre dette program hver uge, fordi vi ønsker at finde ud af, om nogen i de seneste 1-4 uger døde eller ej (jeg har bemærket, at der i de fleste uger kun sker 4-5 dødsfald, hvilket er lidt trøstende, for at sige mildt). Programmets vært er den charmerende Matthew Bannister.

Doreen Spooner, den første kvinde til at blive ansat som pressefotograf af en landdækkende britisk avis (Daily Mirror) døde desværre for nylig på 91 år.

Dsonbeach: tlbageblik til 1950’erne: den berømte pressefotograf, Doreen Spooner,

der desværre døde for nylig

Under den såkaldte ”Profumo-affære” i 1963, tog hun den berømte ”2 tøser i en bar”-foto af Christine Keeler og Mandy Rice-Davies i en bar rundt om hjørnet fra Old Bailey-domstolen under Stephen Wards notoriske rettergang.

For at sikre sin anonymitet, tog hun billedet mens hun stod på den anden side af en dør, der stod lidt på klem – hun håbede på det bedste, dvs på, at billedet ville klart vise de to unge kvinder, men det kunne hun ikke være sikker på, indtil det blev fremkaldet lidt efter. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

tilbageblik til 1963: Doreens ”klandestine” foto af

Christine Keeler og Mandy Rice-Davies

Og Doreen var aldrig bange for at få fødderne våde: hun stod bare et par meter væk fra Neil Kinnock og Glenys, da en massiv bølge slog Neil omkuld, mens han gik en tur på stranden, da han var i begreb med at blive udnævnt leder af arbejderpartiet under partiets årlige konference (Brighton, 1983). Alle de andre fotografer var 200m væk på Promenade-vejen, af frygt for, at de ville ødelægge deres nypolerede sko – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Tilbageblik til sommeren 1983: Neil Kinnock og Glenys

på stranden i feriebyen Brighton

Og hun blev kendt for at have irettesættet Prins Philip på den Kinesiske Mur, efter han anbefalede til en gruppe engelske studerende, at de ikke skulle opholde sig for lang tid i Kina, ellers ville de udvikle sprækkeformede (”slitty”)  øjne – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Sikke en kvinde !!!!!

18:00 Lois og jeg spiser aftensmad og bagefter smækker vi benene op foran fjernsynet. De viser det seneste afsnit af ”Goggle Box”, et morsomt program, hvor forskellige tv-seerne ser på nogle af ugens programmer og kommenterer dem i deres sofaer og lænestole osv.

GoggleListing

For vores vedkommende er den eneste ulempe ved dette program, at programmets deltagere sædvanligt ikke de slags programmer, som Lois og jeg typisk ser, men det springer jeg over.

I aften bliver filmstjernen Emma Thompson kritiseret  i skarpe vendinger for at flyve over fra Los Angeles for at deltage i klimaforandring-demonstrationer i London, og dermed øge sit CO2-aftryk med et stort beløb. Og min vurdering af Emma er dalet massivt på grund af denne åbenbare stunt for at sikre sig lidt mere opmærksomhed, det må jeg nok sige.

I mellemtiden ser vi i aften et typisk skænderi mellem Giles og ”Nutty” (Mary). Hun anklager ham for ikke at have lyst til at gå til fester osv – hun må altid  gå alene og fortælle ham om festerne,  når hun kommer hjem. Hun siger, at han aldrig har lyst til at komme ud af huset, hvilket hun siger er ”livsbenægtende” – du godeste, sikke et vanvid !!!

Jeg har på fornemmelse, at Giles og Nutty/Mary er lidt som mig og Lois. Jeg ville hellere ikke komme ud af huset overhovedet, hvis jeg havde valget. Heldigvis har Giles i aften forslået en god undskyldning – CO2 aftryk, hvilket kunne være nyttigt. Vi får se.

22:00 Vi går i seng. Jeg læser ca. 20 sider af min sengetidbog , Ben Eltons ”To brødre” (danske version), før jeg glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!