Danskcolin: Saturday 18 May 2019

09:00 Lois and I drive over to the local Sainsbury’s supermarket to go food shopping. On the way, we swing by Waghorne's, the local butcher's shop, to buy bread, meat and cheese. We come home and relax with a cup of coffee on the sofa.

12:30 We drive to the Apple Tree pub in the small village of Woodmancote. Lois's sect is holding one of its regular get-togethers today - they are meeting for lunch at the pub.

These kinds of occasions are not really my bag, but I have gradually become used to them and I do not feel especially nervous any more. The sect members have become accustomed to seeing me and don’t give me any special attention or talk to me about religion, which is nice! But I usually drink something non-alcoholic, partly because I am driving, but partly so I do not relax my guard in case some awkward conversation subject does arise- yikes !!!

the Apple Tree Pub

We are quite a large group and the pub has asked us to order dishes in advance. Lois has chosen the salmon florentine and I'm going with the 8 oz gammon steak - yum yum.

Unfortunately when we show up, the staff of the pub tells us that salmon florentine is now off the menu, so Lois orders a chicken dish instead. For dessert we both order the Bakewell Tart with custard - yum yum!

Today many of the sect members are showing their enthusiasm for Trump's current threats against Iran, which they see as signs of the end of the world and the return of Jesus and all that stuff, which they are all looking forward to seeing, needless to say. Good grief, what madness!

For my part, I am mainly looking forward to seeing Trump hopefully not get re-elected in 2020, to put it mildly! But I'm not saying anything - Lois's sect members are a tough crowd when it comes to making those kinds of comments ha ha ha !!!

14:30 We drive home. I enjoyed the food, but it’s not long before I start to suffer from poor digestion and wind, and that kind of thing. It was nice to have French fries for once, but perhaps I have just got out of the habit of eating those kinds of dishes. And Lois also begins to suffer from indigestion later in the day. Damn! Soon our old pack of (out of date) Rennies is empty - damn! I add Rennies to next Saturday's shopping list.

Our one and only (and out of date) pack of Rennies - now empty unfortunately.

Damn! I decide to add "Rennies" to next week's shopping list

19:00 We grab a snack dinner (what’s left of the luxury food hamper that Sarah, our daughter in Australia, sent us a few days ago for Australian Mother's Day and also as a thank you for everything we've done for her, she said, which was nice).

20:00 We watch some television, an interesting documentary, first episode in a new series about some of Britain's historic towns and cities. This 1st episode is all about the town of Dover, especially in connection with World War II. The programme host is Alice Roberts, a university professor in her 40’s and mother of 2 children, who likes to dress up as a biker chick, but I’m going to let that one slide because she is good-hearted, which is the most important thing ha ha ha!

Prof. Alice Roberts in World War II "Land Girl" uniform

An interesting programme. I didn't realise how much of the town was destroyed during the war: not just by German bomber aircraft but also by some of the 212,000 German shells fired from the French coast, only some 20 miles away and clearly visible from Dover, as I remember from my childhood. It was only in September 1944 that these German artillery units were captured by the advancing allies after D-Day. Over two hundred of the town’s inhabitants were killed and ten thousand of the town's buildings were damaged by the attacks.

The whole town must have looked a bit like one big bomb site at the end of the war. My parents moved to Dover in May 1946 when I was 6 weeks old, and until 1952 we lived in an army boarding school located a little outside the city. Of course, at that age, I was completely unaware that I was living just outside a war-damaged town - I must have looked on the town’s ruined buildings as just something normal, but I can't remember any of that of course.

flashback to 1948: my little sister Kathy smiles for the camera while I enjoy

a "junior moment", concentrating on one of my simple, pre-digital toys,

and letting my sister be in the limelight for once.

Kathy and I with our father in his military uniform, outside

our house in the army boarding-school where we lived

flashback to 1993: Lois and I, together with our then 16-year-old daughter, Sarah,

visit the army boarding school where my sister and I spent our earliest years,

and the house where we lived (in background)

1993: Lois and I, and our 16-year-old daughter Sarah (now in Australia)

visit the RAF Second World War airbase at Hawkinge, just outside Dover

22:00 Bedtime - zzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation

09:00 Lois og jeg kører over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at gå madindkøb. På vej smutter vi ind i Waghornes, den lokale slagterforretning, for at købe brød, kød og ost. Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.

12:30 Vi kører over til Apple Tree-pubben i den lille landsby Woodmancote. Lois’ sekt holder en af sine regelmæssige sammenkomster i dag - de mødes til frokost på pubben. Disse slags anledninger er ikke virkelig min ting, men jeg har efterhånden vænnet mig til dem, og jeg føler mig ikke særlig nervøs længere. Sektens medlemmer har vænnet sig også til at se mig og giver mig ikke nogen speciel attention eller taler til mig om religion, hvilket er rart! Men jeg plejer at drikke noget ikke-alkoholisk, dels fordi jeg kører bil, men dels så jeg ikke giver mig blottelse for det tilfælde, at vanskelige samtaleemner opstår – yikes!!!

Apple Tree-pubben

Vi er en ganske stor gruppe, og pubben har bedt os om at bestille retter på forvejen. Lois har valgt laks florentine og jeg 8 oz gammon bøf – yum yum.

Desværre da vi dukker op, pubbens personale fortæller os, at laks florentine er udsolgt, så bestiller Lois en eller anden kyllingret i stedet for. Til dessert bestiller vi Bakewell Tart – yum yum!

Mange af sektmedlemmerne viser sig imidlertid begejstrede over Trumps nuværende trusler mod Iran, som de ser på som tegn på enden af verden og Jesu genkomst og alt det der, hvilket de alle glæder sig til at se, unødvendigt at sige. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid! For mit vedkommende glæder jeg mig først og fremmest til at se Trump forhåbentlig ikke blive genvalgt i 2020, for at sige mildt! Men jeg siger ikke noget – Lois’ sektmedlemmer er et vanskeligt publikum når det kommer til at lave de slags bemærkninger ha ha ha!!!

14:30 Vi kører hjem. Jeg nød maden, men der gå ikke lang tid før jeg begynder at lide af dårlig fordøjelse og vind, og den slags. Det var rart at spise pommes frites for en gangs skyld, men måske er jeg kommet ud af vane med at spise de slags retter. Og Lois begynder også at lide af dårlig fordøjelse senere på dagen. Pokkers! Snart er vores gamle pakke (uddaterede) Rennies tomme – pokkers! Jeg tilføjer Rennies til næste lørsdags indkøbsliste.

vores eneste (og uddaterede) pakke Rennies – nu tom desværre.

Pokkers – jeg beslutte at tilføje ”Rennies” til næste uges indkøbsliste

19:00 Vi snupper en snack-aftensmad (resten af den luksusmadkurv, som Sarah, vores datter i Australien, sendte os for et par dage siden i anledning af den australske morsdag og som en tak for alt, vi har gjort for hende, sagde hun.

20:00 Vi ser lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm, første afsnit i en ny serie, der handler om nogle af Storbritanniens historiske byer. Dette 1. afsnit handler om byen Dover, i sær i forbindelse med den 2. verdenskrig. Programmets vært er Alice Roberts, en universitetsprofessor i 40’erne og mor til 2 børn, men hun kan godt lide at klæde sig ud som en biker-chick, men det springer jeg over, fordi hun er godhjertet, hvilket er det vigtigste ha ha ha!

Et interessant program. Jeg vidste ikke, hvor meget af byen blev ødelagt i løbet af krigen. Af tyske bomberfly men også af nogle af de 212.000 tyske granater, der blev fyret fra den franske kyst. Det var kun i september 1944, at disse tyske artillerienheder blev fanget af de avancerende allierede efter D-dag. Over to hundrede af byens indbyggere blev dræbt og ti tusind af byens bygninger blev beskadiget af de angreb.

Hele byen må have set ud lidt som ét stort bombekrater. Mine forældre flyttede til Dover i maj 1946, da jeg var 6 uger gammel, og indtil 1952 boede vi i en militær kostskole, der ligger lidt udenfor byen. Selvfølgelig var jeg helt uklar over, at jeg boede i nærheden af en krig-beskadiget by – jeg må have betragtet byens ødelagte bygninger som noget normalt, men alt det der kan jeg ikke huske.