Friday, 17 May 2019

Thursday 16 May 2019


09:30 Lois and I spend the morning doing gardening again. For the second time this year, with the help of a small trowel, we dig several bucketfuls of compost out through the small door at the bottom of a couple of our 4 big compost containers. It is very hard work because the compost in the container is very compressed - we did not use any compost last year, because we spent the spring in Australia visiting our younger daughter, Sarah. My god, really exhausting.


flashback to the 2nd of May: for the first time this year we collect 
compost out of one of our compost containers: very exhausting because
the compost is incredibly compressed after 2 years - yikes!

Afterwards I start to weed a little around the vegetable garden's edges, while Lois plants even more seeds: spinach, two types of lettuce and beetroot, to add to her previous rows of potatoes, carrots and parsnips - yum yum!

We spend the morning doing some gardening

11:30 A delivery guy delivers a package from Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia. Yesterday we received a bouquet of flowers for Australian Mother's Day. Today we get a little luxury food hamper as a thank you for our help and support, which is nice – Sarah  is so thoughtful.


The hamper contains 3 types of Cheddar cheese, one with chilli and jam, also beetroot chutney, and a half-bottle of Merlot - yum yum!

12:30 The sun is shining, and it's quite warm for once, so we have lunch out on the terrace in our gardening clothes, a meal based around the luxury food hamper  Sarah sent us - yum yum!



 Skål, Sarah!

14:00 We are tired and spend the afternoon in bed. We read about 20 pages of our respective bedtime books, and get up at 4:30 pm. The sun has disappeared and the sky is now overcast - damn!

17:00 Neil, Bill's son, rings at the door. Bill and Mary are our elderly neighbours to the left, both in their 80’s. Mary suffers from severe dementia, and Bill was hospitalised last week for tests: the news is not good, Neil says. He does not say explicitly, but we take it that Bill only has a short time left.

Bill will be discharged next week, and the family will have to place Mary temporarily in a nursing home. The end of an era - they have been good neighbours to us since they moved in next door 12 years ago or so. Bill is a very calm, even-tempered, kind and thoughtful man. A giant of a man physically. He served in the British Army in Germany, Hong Kong and Aden (now South Yemen).

We are going to miss them both, that’s for sure.

18:30 We have dinner: beef chilli, but Lois uses too much chilli powder by mistake, which is a bit of a shame – my god! She adds a little yogurt to cool it all down a little bit, but it’s still rather hot and spicy, to put it mildly - yikes !!!!


By mistake Lois uses too much chili powder - yikes!

20:00 We spend the evening watching a bit of television, the latest episode in the 12th (and last ever) season of the Big Bang Theory sitcom. After tonight there will be only 2 episodes left - sob sob !!!! The E4 channel will air the very last 2 episodes next Thursday in a special double bill.



A fun episode. Leonard's psychologist mother visits him - they have always had a difficult relationship, to put it mildly.

Sheldon asks Leonard when he’s going to leave to pick his mother up at the airport and Leonard starts calculating to himself:





During the actual visit, Leonard's mother turns out to be much nicer to Leonard  than usual. She asks Leonard to show her round his laboratory, which pleases him a lot.

Penny tells Leonard's mother later how happy it made Leonard to be asked to show her round his lab, something which Leonard's mother finds interesting and she tries to get more details out of Penny.







It turns out that Leonard's motivation for being nicer to Leonard is just another experiment for her research. Poor Leonard !!!!!

21:00 I take a little look at my smartphone and surf the net.

Steve, my American brother-in-law, sent me an email earlier in the day saying that the very last episode of the Big Bang Theory is being aired over there tonight (US time), so it is possible that our media will not be able to resist the temptation to leak news about the sitcom's last ever season finale, but I’m ok with that: when it comes to sitcoms, it’s the jokes that are important, not the plot: at least that’s what I think. Call me crazy if you want to ha ha ha!

Steve also sends me news about yet another British triumph. According to a recent study, Brits become drunk more often than any other people in the world. And isn't it heart-warming to know that we can still be the best in the world in one important area, to put it mildly.




But I'm not completely sure we can be too complacent. The stats in the survey look a little suspicious in my opinion. The English-speaking countries all seem to do well here. But perhaps the non-English speaking nations actually drink more than we do, and as a result cannot even remember just how often they became drunk.

And anyway, how can anyone possibly remember how often they became drunk over a whole year? Who writes it in their diaries? It doesn’t make sense. And why, for example, are the Danish stats so much higher than the Swedes’ figures?

I hope against hope that we Brits really are leading the world in this sensitive area, but I’m rather afraid that we need more research here before we can be 100% sure of it - damn !!!!

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

Danish translation

09:30 Lois og jeg bruger formiddagen på at lave lidt havearbejde igen. Ved hjælp af en lille murske graver vi for den 2. gang flere spandfulde kompost frem gennem den lille dør i bunden af et par kompostbeholdere. Det er meget hårdt arbejde, fordi komposten i beholderen er meget sammenpresset – vi brugte ikke nogen kompost sidste år, fordi vi tilbragte foråret i Australien på besøg hos vores yngste datter, Sarah. Du godeste, udmattende!



tilbageblik til den 2. maj: vi samler for 1. gang flere spandfulde kompost ud af vores
hovedsagelige kompostbeholder: meget udmattende, fordi komposten er
utrolig sammenpresset efter 2 år – yikes!

Bagefter går jeg i gang med at luge lidt omkring grøntsagshavens kanterne, mens Lois planter endnu flere frø: spinat, to typer salat og rødbeder, for at tilføje til hendes tidligere rækker kartofler, gulerødder og pastinakker – yum yum!


Loisgardening: vi bruger formiddagen på at lave lidt havearbejde

11:30 En leveringsmand leverer en pakke fra Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien. I går modtog vi en buket blomster i anledning af den australske morsdag. I dag får vi en luksusmadkurv som en tak for vores hjælp og støtte, hvilket er rart – hun er så betænksom.


Madkurven indeholder 3 typer Cheddar-ost, den ene med chilli og syltetøj, også rødbede-chutney, og en halvflaske Merlot – yum yum!

12:30 Solen skinner, og det er ganske varmt for en gangs skyld, så vi spiser frokost på terrassen, en frokost baseret omkring den luksusmadkurv, Sarah sendte os – yum yum!



Skål, Sarah!

14:00 Vi er trætte og tilbringer eftermiddagen i sengen. Vi læser ca 20 sider af vores henholdvisse sengetidbøger, og står op kl 16:30. Solen er forsvundet og det er overskyet – pokkers!

17:00 Neil, Bills søn, ringer på døren. Bill og Mary er vores ældre naboer til venstre, begge to i 80’erne. Mary lider af alvorlig demens, og Bill blev indlagt på hospitalet sidste uge til test: nyheden er ikke god, siger Neil.  Han siger det ikke eksplicit, men vi antager, at Bill kun har kort tid tilbage.

Bill skal blive udskrevet næste uge, og familien skal anbringe Mary midlertidigt på et plejehjem. Enden på en æra – de har været gode naboer for os, siden de flyttede ind i nabohuset for 12 år siden, eller deromkring. Bill er en meget rolig, ligevægtig, venlig og betænksom mand. En gigant af en mand fysisk. Han tjente i den britiske hær i Tyskland, Hong Kong og Aden (nu Sydyemen).

Vi kommer til at savne dem begge, det ved jeg med sikkerhed.

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad: chili oksekød, men Lois bruger for meget chilipulver ved en fejltagelse, hvilket er lidt af en skam – du godeste! Hun tilføjer lidt yoghurt for at køle det hele en lille smule, men det ikke desto mindre er stadig lidt krydret, for at sige mildt – yikes!!!!


Ved en fejltagelse bruger Lois for meget chilipulver – yikes!

20:00 Vi bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, det seneste afsnit af de 12. (og allersidste) sæson af Big Bang Theory-sitcommen. Efter i aften vil der være kun 2 afsnit tilbage – hulk hulk !!!! E4-kanalen skal sende de allersidste 2 afsnit næste torsdag i et specielt dobbeltbill.



Et morsomt afsnit. Leonards psykolog-mor besøger ham – de har altid haft et vanskeligt relation, for at sige mildt.

Sheldon spørger Leonard, hvornår han skal af sted for at hente sin mor på lufthavnen, og Leonard begynder at beregne for sig selv:





Under selve besøg viser Leonards mor sig at være meget mere sød, end normalt. Hun beder Leonard om at vise hende om i sit laboratorium, hvilket  behager ham meget.

Penny fortæller Leonards mor senere , hvor glad det gjorde Leonard til at vise hende om i laboratoriet, hvilket Leonards mor finder interessant og hun vil finde ud af flere detaljer.







Det viser sig, at Leonards motivering i at være mere sød over for Leonard er blot endnu et eksperiment for hendes forskning. Stakkels Leonard!!!!!

21:00 Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone og surfer på nettet.

Steve, min amerikanske svigerbror sendte mig en email tidligere på dagen, hvor der stod, at sitcommens allersidste afsnit sendes i aften (USA-tid), så er det muligt, at medierne ikke vil kunne modstå fristelsen til at lække nyheder om sitcommens allersidste sæsonfinale, men det er jeg lideglad med:   når de kommer til sitcoms, er det vittighederne, der er vigtige, ikke plottet: det synes jeg i hvert fald. Kald mig vanvittig, hvis du har lyst til det ha ha ha!

Steve sender mig også nyheder om endnu en britisk triumf. Ifølge en undersøgelse bliver briter fulde mere ofte, end alle andre folk i verden. Det er rart at vide, at vi stadig kan være verdens bedste i ét vigtigt område, for at sige mildt.




Men jeg er ikke helt sikker på, at vi kan blive for selvtilfredse. Statistikker i undersøgelsen ser lidt mistænksomme ud efter min mening. Måske de andre ikke-engelsktalende nationer drikker faktisk mere, end os, og dermed kan ikke huske akkurat hvor ofte de blev fulde.

Og alligevel, hvordan kan hvem som helst muligvis huske, hvor ofte man blev fuld i løbet af et helt år? Hvem skriver det i deres dagbøger? Det giver ikke mening. Og hvorfor, for eksempel, er de danske statistikker så meget højere, end svenskernes?

Jeg håber mod håb, at vi briter leder verden i dette følsomme område, men jeg er meget bange for, at vi har brug for mere forskning her, før vi kan være 100% sikre på det – pokkers !!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!


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