Monday, April 8 2019

Today is another day of destiny for me: I have an appointment at 12 noon with one of our new surgery’s nurses, so she can tell me the results of last Monday's blood test, and give me my annual review.

I comb my hair, put on a white shirt and tie, in case she tells me I'm doomed to die from some terrible disease. It will be less annoying if I am not dressed too casually, or that’s what I think at least!

10:00 Lois and I take the bus into town. We get off the bus at the stop in front of Marks & Spencers and walk round  to the Regency shopping mall, the so-called "quiet" end, now that both the BHS (British Home Stores) department store and the Drukkers café have gone bankrupt.

We swing by the Thornton's luxury chocolate shop, and buy 3 huge chocolate Easter eggs for our 3 grandchildren:  for Josie (12) a cupcake-themed egg, for Rosalind (10) a butterfly-themed egg, and for Isaac (8), a football-themed egg. The grandchildren will be visiting us in 11 days’ time, along with their parents: our elder daughter Alison, and Ed, Alison's husband.

We ask the assistant  to write the children’s names on the eggs in coloured icing, as an extra flourish. We are so thoughtful ha ha ha!

the 3 specially-themed Easter eggs we have bought today

for our 3 grandchildren in Haslemere, Surrey.

Alison's Family: A Recent Picture at Wembley Stadium - left to right

Josie, Alison, Rosalind, Isaac og Ed

Then we go up the shopping mall's escalator to the 1st floor. We have a cup of tea and a piece of cake in the Bridge Cafe, located on the bridge between the Regency Mall and the Cavendish House department store, to recharge our batteries.

"The Bridge cafe"

We have a cup of coffee and a piece of cake to recharge our batteries. 

I have combed my hair, and have a white shirt, jacket and tie on for once,

in case I am told later in the morning that I am doomed to die of some terrible disease ha ha!

11:30 We walk up the road to our new doctor’s surgery. On the way we swing by the museum to find out if there are any special activities planned for children during the Easter weekend, when our 3 grandchildren will be visiting us. We come to the conclusion that the council has not organised anything for children and is not advertising anything either, which is quite typical of the town, I have to say !

12:00 We step into the doctor's waiting room, and the nurse calls my name. She is a very sweet woman. She measures my blood pressure, which is slightly higher (at 140) than when I measured it at home, but fortunately I am able to show her my measurements from the past 2 weeks, ranging between 115 and 130.

She tells me that my blood test results are fine - my kidneys and liver are working well. She can't see any signs of diabetes, which is nice. My cholesterol count is approx. 5.0, which is satisfactory, she says, and slightly lower than in the past 2 years, which is soothing. How they get all that from a drop of blood, I can’t imagine.

I tell her that we eat healthily and that I cycle a total of about 80 minutes a week on my fitness bike, but I do not go for many walks - I promise her that I will definitely try harder on that one ha ha! And I say I'm trying to reduce the number of gin and tonics I have per week.

The review ends after about 15 minutes, and Lois and I take the bus home again. It is very comforting to hear that I am not yet suffering from some terrible disease, even though I feel it is just a matter of time before I run out of luck. Such is life ha ha!

13:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. In the meantime, Lois goes to start on the second phase of our downsizing mini-project. The 1st phase (getting rid of unwanted books) is almost done - we still have two small suitcases full of books that we plan to donate to the local Red Cross charity bookshop later this week.

In this second phase we will mostly be focusing on unwanted board games - we have dozens of them. Many of them we bought second-hand in the US between 1982-1985 at local garage sales somewhere in our neighbourhood (Columbia Md), as our two young daughters were still small then (about  9 and 7 years old or so, respectively), including the New York version of Monopoly, with its American street names - nostalgic!

In the case of most of these old board games, our 3 grandchildren in Haslemere, Surrey, are now too old to enjoy many of them, or the games  look too worn and frayed or have vital pieces missing. Some of the unwanted board games we decide to donate to a charity sale, and the others we shall throw out for recycling or just throw out, depending.

We decide to keep just 4-5 board games and other games, and these I stick on the top of the unit  we use for keeping our bottles of alcohol and our nice  glasses and the like.

The 4-5 board games we have decided to keep

Lois and I have mostly given up playing board games. We prefer to watch TV documentaries and sitcoms, I have to say. We know other older couples who play Scrabble every night to stave off the onset of dementia, but they tell us that the practice can lead to fights, which is a bit of a shame.

A local couple, Evan Riedel and Amy Vanderploeg, recently hit the headlines when Amy complained to the world's press that Evan kept bringing up a recent Scrabble game that he won (source: my go-to local news site, Onion News).

Evan Riedel has referred to his recent [December 20 - Ed.] Scrabble victory over his girlfriend Amy Vanderploeg  "about 200 friggin’ times", Vanderploeg reported Monday.

"Evan won't let that Scrabble game drop," said Vanderploeg, 23. "He’ll constantly say stuff like, ‘Do you need help reading this magazine article? I know your vocabulary isn't the best, judging by the game of Scrabble we played!’.  Give it up already, Evan!"

The oft-alluded-to game that took place in the Vanderploeg's apartment was a decisive 382-183 victory for Riedel, who needed less than an hour to dispatch his girlfriend of  three years. After winning he performed a short victory dance and began verbally mocking his defeated opponent, a pattern of behaviour, which was continuing unabated nearly two weeks later.

"He works  the word ‘esteemed’  into conversations whenever possible, and then he says:" Gee, I really like that word ‘esteemed’", says Vanderploeg. "He was SOOOO proud that he had used the four E's in one word and used all seven tiles."

Vanderploeg added that by placing ‘esteemed’ over a triple word bonus square on the board and earning a 50-point bonus for using  all of his tiles, Riedel was able, in his own words, "to rack up a sweet 77" on the turn.

According to the respected local psychologist Dr. Eli Wasserbaum, however, Riedel's behaviour stems from his outsider status in childhood.

"As a boy ungainly  and awkward, Evan never excelled at athletics," Wasserbaum said. "However, he found compensation in the academic world. It is natural that he feels most comfortable when he asserts his male competitive instincts in this arena. His frequent allusion to the Scrabble victory is comparable to a male peacock extending his colourful tail plumage in front of the female bird. With his constant boasting, Evan isn’t actually trying to annoy his girlfriend, but is rather attempting to impress her and win her approval."

My god, what madness! I myself never boast about, for example, winning board games or about being able to answer questions in TV quizzes and suchlike. That kind of behaviour is simply not acceptable in today's world, I have to say.

16:00 We relax with a cup of tea on the sofa, and chat a bit about our previous Scrabble games.

Flashback to Decembr 2017 - one of our more memorable

Scrabble games - happy times !!!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television. Monday night is TV quiz night at our place. "Only Connect" and "University Challenge are on. The programme hosts are respectively the charming Victoria Coren-Mitchell and Jeremy Paxman.

Lois and I are always happy about  the questions that we can answer, but with which all the fresh young brains strike out on,  because we believe it proves that we are not yet suffering from dementia. And tonight, for some reason, our performance is relatively good, I have to say.

The first Only Connect quiz question is one I can answer right away, but it seems to disorient all the 6 young brains participating in the quiz, which is nice and a good omen for the evening. Contestants have to identify the connection between the four following things:

I immediately notice that these terms all refer to organisations that no longer exist under the same name:

(1) OBE - "Order of the British Empire", a British decoration or “gong”, but the British Empire is now called the British Commonwealth, or Commonwealth of  Nations to be politically correct ha ha.

(2) Woolworth Building NYC - the Woolworth Company no longer exists (except in Australia of course!)

(3) MOT test - an annual vehicle test for car owners, but the "Ministry of Transport" is now called "Department of Transport".

(4) The Middlesex County Cricket Club still exists, but the County of Middlesex has now disappeared - it has been absorbed by some nearby county, I expect.

"Simples" ha ha!

But Lois and I haven't heard the term "zombie names" before, I have to admit.

21:00 We switch off the television and listen a while to the radio, a nostalgic programme made up of the Melbourne-born comedian Barry Humphries's choice of popular songs from the first half of the 20th century.

BarryListing

Barry is even older about me, at 85 years of age – whereas I'm just a kid, although I turned 73 thirteen days ago), so that's why it's safe for me to call Barry a bit of an old crow. But old crows have a lot to teach us younger old crows about life, and Barry is no exception.

Humphreys says that when he was growing up in Melbourne in the 1930’s, the whole culture, including music and literature, was overwhelmingly anglocentric: and in school history lessons, only British history was studied - it was thought that Australian history was too short to deserve the name "history".

It is nostalgic to hear again one of the most iconic humorous songs of the 2nd World War, sung by Florence Desmond, a song that reflected the years that London's underground tube stations were used as mass bomb-shelters.

A typical underground tube station in London during World War II,

used as a mass bomb shelter

The charming singer Florence Desmond

Don’t run away, mister,
Oh stay and play, mister.
Don’t worry if you hear the siren go.
Though I’m not a lady of the highest virtue,
I wouldn’t dream of letting anything hurt you.
And so before you go,
I think you ought to know

I got a cosy flat,
There’s a place for your hat.
I’ll wear a pink chiffon negligee gown.
And do I know my stuff?
But if that’s not enough,
I’ve got the deepest shelter in town….

Ev’ry modern comfort
I can just guarantee.
If you hear the siren call,
Then it’s probably me.

And sweetie, to revert,
I’ll keep you on the alert.
I won’t even be wearing a frown.
So you can hang around here
Until the “all clear,”
In the deepest shelter in town….

So, honey, don’t get scared,
It’s there to be shared!
And you’ll feel like a king with a crown.
So please don’t be mean,
Better men than you have been
In the deepest shelter in town.

22:00 A good programme, and a good song, to go to bed on.

Zzzzzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

I dag er endnu en skæbnesvanger dag for mig: jeg har aftale kl 12 ved en af vores nye lægehus’ sygeplejersker, til at hun fortæller mig resultaterne af sidste mandags blodprøve, og giver mig min årlige gennemgang.

Jeg tager en hvid skjorte og et slips på, for det tilfælde af, at hun fortæller mig, jeg er dømt til at dø af en eller anden forfærdelige sygdom. Det vil være mindre irriterende, hvis jeg ikke har klædt mig afslappet, eller det synes jeg i hvert fald.

10:00 Lois og jeg tager bussen ind i byen. Vi står af bussen ved busstoppestedet foran Marks & Spencers-stormagasinet og går hen til Regency-indkøbscentret, den såkaldte ”rolige” ende, nu hvor både British Home Stores-stormagasinet og Drukkers-caféen begge to er gået i konkurs.

Vi smutter ind i Thorntons-luksuschokoladebutik, og køber 3 kæmpe chokolade-påskeæg, til vores 3 børnebørn, til Josie (12) et cupcake-tematiseret æg, til Rosalind (10) et sommerfugl-tematiseret æg, og til Isaac (8), et fodbold-tematiseret æg. Børnebørnene vil besøge os om 11 dages tid, sammen med deres forældre: vores ældste datter Alison, og Ed, Alisons mand.

Vi spørger ekspeditricen om at skrive deres navne med farvet glasur, som en ekstra forsiring. Vi er så betænksomme ha ha ha!

de 3 specielt tematiserede påskeæg, vi i dag har købt

til vores 3 børnebørn i Haslemere, Surrey.

Alisons familie: et nyligt billedepå Wembley-stadiet – fra venstre til højre

Josie, Alison, Rosalind, Isaac og Ed

Så går vi op ad indkøbscentrets rulletrappe til 1. sal. Vi drikker en kop te og spiser et stykke kage i Bridge-caféen, der ligger på broen mellem Regency-indkøbscentret og Cavendish House-stormagasinet, for at genoplade vores batterier.

"The Bridge"-caféen

Vi drikker en kop kaffe og spiser et stykke kage for at genoplade

vores batterier. Jeg har en hvid skjorte, jakke og slips på for en gangs skyld,

for det tilfælde af, at jeg senere på formiddagen får at vide,

at jeg er dømt til at dø af en eller anden forfærdlige sygdom ha ha!

11:30 Vi går hen til vores nye lægehuset. På vej smutter vi ind i museet, for at finde ud af, om der er nogle specielle aktiviter planlagte for børn i påske-weekenden, når vores 3 børnebørn vil besøge os. Vi kommer til den konklusion at, at kommunen ikke har organiseret noget for børn, hvilket er helt typisk af byen - det må jeg nok sige.

12:00 Vi går ind i lægehusets ventesal, og sygeplejersken kalder mit navn. Hun er en meget sød kvinde. Hun måler mit blodtryk, der er lidt højere (på 140), end når jeg har målt det hjemme, men heldigvis har jeg kan vise hende mine målinger fra de seneste 2 uger, der varierede mellem 115 og 130.

Hun fortæller mig, at mine blodprøveresultater er fine – mine nyrer og lever fungerer godt. Hun kan ikke se nogle tegn på diabetes, hvilket er rart. Mit kolestoroltal er ca. 5,0,  som er tilfredsstillende, siger hun, og lidt lavere, end de seneste 2 år, hvilket er beroligende.

Jeg fortæller hende, at vi spiser sundt, og at jeg cykler ca 80 minutter om ugen på min kondicykel, men jeg ikke gå mange ture – jeg lover hende, at jeg skal nok prøve hårdere ha ha! Og jeg siger, jeg prøver at reducere antallet af gin og tonics jeg drikker om ugen.

Gennemgangen slutter efter ca 15 minutter, og Lois og jeg tager bussen hjem igen. Det er meget beroligende at høre, at jeg endnu ikke lider af en eller anden forfærdelig sygdom, selvom jeg føler, det bare er et spørgsmål om tiden, før jeg løber tør for held. Sådan er livet ha ha!

13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden går Lois i gange med at starte på den 2. fase af vores downsize mini-projekt. Den 1. fase (at blive fri for uønskede bøger) er næsten færdig – vi har stadig to små kufferter fuldte af bøger, som vi planlægger at donere til den lokale Røde Kors-velgørenhedsboghandler senere på ugen.

I den 2. fase skal vi fokuserer på uønskede brætspil – vi har dusinvis  af dem. Mange af dem købte vi brugte i USA 1982-1985 på lokale garagesalg et eller andet sted i nabolaget, da vores to unge døtre var små (henholdsvis ca 9 og 7 år gamle eller deromkring), herunder New York-versionen af Monopoly, med amerikanske gadenavne – nostalgisk!

I tilfældet af størstedelen af disse gamle brætspil er vores 3 børnebørn i Haslemere, Surrey, nu for gamle til at nyde dem, eller de ser for slidte ud. Nogle af de uønskede brætspil beslutter vi at donere til en velgørenhedssalg, og de andre skal vi smide til genbrug eller smide væk, afhængig af omstændighederne.

Vi beslutter at beholde bare  4-5 brætspil og andre spil, og disse stikker jeg på toppen af det skab, vi bruger til at holde vores flasker alkohol og vores fine glas og lignende.

de 4-5 brætspil, vi har besluttet at beholde

Lois og jeg har for det meste opgivet at spille brætspil. Vi foretrækker at se på tv-dokumentarfilm og sitcoms, det må jeg nok sige. Vi kender andre ældre par, der spiller Scrabble hver aften for at udskyde begyndelsen af demens, men de fortæller os, at vanen kan føre til skænderier, hvilket er lidt af en skam.

Et lokalt kærestepar, Evan og Amy, ramte overskrifterne for nylig, da Amy brokkede sig til verdens presse, at Evan havde for vane fortsat at bringe på bane et nylige Scrabble-spil, som han vandt (kilde: mit go-to lokale nyhedswebsted, Onion News).

Evan Riedel har henvist til hans nylige [20 december – red.] Scrabble-sejr over sin kæreste Amy Vanderploeg "omkring 200 fucking gange" derefter, rapporterede Vanderploeg mandag.

"Evan vil ikke lade det der Scrabble-spil falde", siger Vanderploeg, 23. "Konstant vil han sige ting såsom, ’Har du brug for hjælp til at læse denne tidsskriftsartikel? . Jeg ved, at dit ordforråd ikke er det bedste, ud at dømme fra den omgang Scrabble vi spillede!’. Giv det op, Evan. "

Den ofte omtalte spil, der fandt sted i Vanderploegs lejlighed, var en afgørende 382-183 sejr til Riedel, som havde brug for mindre end en time til at banke  sin kæreste af tre år. Efter at have vundet, udførte han en kort sejrdans og begyndte mundtligt at håne  sin overvundne modstanders, et mønster af adfærd, der uformindsket fortsatte næsten to uger senere.

"Han indarbejder ordet "esteemed" i samtaler, når som helst det er muligt, og så siger han:" Gee, jeg kan virkelig godt lide det ordet "esteemed", siger Vanderploeg. "Han var sååååå  stolt over, at han havde brugt de fire e'er i ét ord og brugte alle syv brikker."

Vanderploeg tilføjede at ved at placere "esteemed" over et tredobbelt ordbonusfelt på brættet og tjene en 50-point bonus for at bruge alle sine brikker, kunne Riedel i sine egne ord "score et sødt 77" på turen.

Ifølge den respekterede  lokale psykolog Dr. Eli Wasserbaum stammer Riedels adfærd fra sin outsider-status i barndommen.

"Klodset og kejtet som en dreng, var Evan aldrig dygtig til atletik," sagde Wasserbaum. "Han fandt dog kompensation  i den akademiske verden. Det er naturligt, at han føler sig mest bekvem, når han hævder hans mandlige konkurrencedygtige instinkter i denne arena. Hans hyppige allusion til Scrabble-sejren kan sammenlignes med en mandlig påfugl, der udvider sin farverige halefodring foran den kvindelige fugl. Med sit konstante praleri forsøger Evan faktisk ikke at irritere sin kæreste, men snarere at imponere hende og vinde hendes godkendelse. "

Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!  Jeg selv praler aldrig af, for eksempel, at kunne besvare spørgsmål i tv-quizzer og den slags eller at have vundet et spil Scrabble. Den slags adfærd er simpelthen ikke acceptabelt i nutidens verden, det må jeg nok sige.

tilbageblik til december 2017 og et af vores

mere betydelige Scrabble-spil

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Mandag aften er tv-quiz-aften hos os. De viser ”Only Connect” og ”University Challenge. Programmets vært er henholdsvis de charmerende Victoria Coren-Mitchell og Jeremy Paxman.

Lois og jeg er altid glad for de spørgsmål, som vi kan besvare, men som alle de friske unge hjerner har problemer med, fordi vi tror det beviser, at vi selv ikke endnu lider af demens. Og i aften er vores præstation forholdsvis god – det må jeg nok sige.

Only Connect-quizzens første spørgsmål kan jeg besvare straks, men det synes at desorientere alle de 6 unge hjerner, der deltage i quizzen, hvilket er rart og et godt varsel om aftenen. Deltagerne skal identificere forbindelsen mellem de 4 følgende ting:

Jeg bemærker med det samme, at disse udtryk alle henviser til organisationer, der ikke længere eksisterer under samme navn: 

(1)    OBE – ”Order of the British Empire”, en britisk orden, men det britiske imperium hedder nu det britiske statssamfund

(2)    Woolworth Building NYC – Woolworth-selskabet eksisterer ikke mere (bortset fra i Australien selvfølgelig!)

(3)    MOT test – en årlig køretøjtest for bilejere, men ”Ministry of Transport” hedder nu ”Department of Transport”.

(4)    Middlesex County Cricket Club – klubben eksisterer stadig, men grevskabet Middlesex er nu forsvundet – det er blevet absorberet af et eller andet nærliggende grevskab.

”Simples” ha ha! Men Lois og jeg har ikke hørt udtrykket ”zombie-navne” før, det må jeg nok sige.

21:00 Vi slukker for fjernsynet og lytter lidt til radio, et nostalgisk program, der består af den Melbourne-fødte komiker Barry Humphries’ valg af gamle sange fra det 20. århundredes første halvdel.

Barry er endnu ældre om mig, på 85 år – jeg er bare en unger, på 72 år, selvom jeg fyldte 73 for 13 dage siden), så derfor er det sikkert at sige, at han er blevet til lidt af en gammel krage. Men gamle krager har meget at lære os yngre gamle krager om livet, og Barry er ingen undtagelse.

Humphreys siger, at dengang han voksede op i Melbourne i 1930’erne var hele kulturen, herunder musik og litteratur, overvældende anglocentrisk:  og i historietimer på skole var kun britiske historie studeret – det var troet, at australske historie var for kort til at fortjene navnet ”historie”.

Det er nostalgisk at høre igen en af den 2. verdenskrigs mest ikoniske humoristiske sange, sunget af Florence Desmond, en sang der reflekterede de år, Londons undergrundsbaner blev brugt til massebeskyttelsesrum.

En typisk undergrundsbane i London under den 2. verdenskrig,

der blev brugt til massebeskyttelsrum

Sangeren Florence Desmond

Don’t run away, mister,
Oh stay and play, mister.
Don’t worry if you hear the siren go.
Though I’m not a lady of the highest virtue,
I wouldn’t dream of letting anything hurt you.
And so before you go,
I think you ought to know

I got a cozy flat,
There’s a place for your hat.
I’ll wear a pink chiffon negligee gown.
And do I know my stuff?
But if that’s not enough,
I’ve got the deepest shelter in town….

Ev’ry modern comfort
I can just guarantee.
If you hear the siren call,
Then it’s probably me.

And sweetie, to revert,
I’ll keep you on the alert.
I won’t even be wearing a frown.
So you can hang around here
Until the “all clear,”
In the deepest shelter in town….

So, honey, don’t get scared,
It’s there to be shared!
And you’ll feel like a king with a crown.
So please don’t be mean,
Better men than you have been
In the deepest shelter in town.

22:00 Et godt program og en god sang til at gå i seng på, det må jeg nok sige.

Zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!