Saturday 29 June 2019

We came home yesterday after a short holiday in the north of England, so we need to do some shopping. We drive over to the Tesco supermarket in Bishops Cleeve, 3 miles from here, to go shopping for food. First we stop  by the nearby greengrocer, and then to the local post office and its associated newsagent’s, to buy two copies of the "Peter Rabbit" children's magazine, which we can send to our soon-to-be 6-year-old twin grandchildren, Lily and Jessie, in Perth, Australia. We come home and relax with a cup of coffee on the sofa.

Jessie (left) and Lily, with our daughter Sarah earlier this month

The weather girl has said that today will be the hottest day of the year so far - 85F or 30C or thereabouts, so we prepare the spare double bed in our daughter Sarah's old room, where we can sleep tonight with open windows. The room overlooks the backyard and there is no traffic noise, which is nice. And Lois hurries out into our fruit-garden to pick even more raspberries and gooseberries before the birds can grab them all – my god, what madness !!!!

It is very quiet in the backyard. Our neighbour on the one side, Bob, is away from home, on vacation in Scotland. On the other side of us, both Bill and Mary have now been settled in separate nursing homes, and their son Neil from the London area, and their daughter Debbie from New Zealand are living in their parents' home temporarily, so they can visit them both daily.

I try to install our brand new printer, which was delivered before our mini-holiday, but without success. Our desktop says its wifi can't find it - what madness: the printer is right next to the computer, just 1 inch away! Fortunately, our local IT expert, Mark, has agreed to stop by here on Tuesday - he will give the desktop a scolding and a good kick in the arse: he is very good at that, to put it mildly!

Local rumours suggest that it was Mark who helped White House office staff replace the toner in the building's printer, after Rumsfeld left his job there without warning and without giving a proper briefing on his duties to his successor, Robert Gates.

Rumsfeld hit the headlines in 2004 when it was revealed that only he knew how to replace the toner (source: Onion News).

WASHINGTON, DC: White House sources reported Monday that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is the only cabinet member who can figure out how to replace the toner in the White House printer. "Let me walk you through it again," said Rumsfeld. "You lift the toner cartridge lid, then move this switch back and remove the old cartridge. That goes in "el garbage ".

"Then you remove this tape here from the new cartridge - now, this is important. If you forget, you will be printing blank pages all day long. Okay, so you just slide it on in, and you're done and good to go."

When asked to comment, Rumsfeld said he didn't mind replacing the toner, but couldn't see what was so difficult about it.

Rumsfeld, pictured here on the 2nd occasion he was asked

to help replace the toner in the White House printer

13:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3:30 pm and we relax with a cup of tea on the sofa.

16:30 I write an email in Hungarian to my pen pal in Budapest, Tünde. She recently sent me a quiz:  ten photos, some taken in one of the old Chernobyl buildings in Russia, and some taken in a functioning Hungarian hospital, and readers had to decide which photos were from Chernobyl and which were from the hospital in Hungary. I scored 80% on the test, which was satisfying, but more through luck than judgement, I have to  admit.

Were these pictures taken in Chernobyl or at a Hungarian hospital?

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!!

19:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. An interesting documentary is on Channel 5, in the series about the River Nile and ancient Egypt. The programme host is the charming Bettany Hughes.

Lois and I have seen many documentaries before when Bettany Hughes has been the host of the programme: mostly documentary films about ancient Greece. Now it seems she's finished educating us about Greece and is looking for pastures new.

We hear about the great female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, who was always portrayed in pictures as a man with a beard. The ancient Egyptians had no word for "queen", it seems.

"Queen" Hatshepsut, depicted as always with the traditional beard:

the ancient Egyptians had no word for "queen". 

Good grief, what madness !!!!

It is believed that Hatshepsut had a lover, Senemut, the man in charge of building  the Queen's great temple:  she had secret drawings of him displayed in the inmost and most sacred parts of the temple.

it’s thought that Senemut, who was the brains behind the building

of the Queen's temple, was also in fact her secret lover

According to the rumours, Senemut was the Queen's secret lover, but perhaps their relationship was not as secret as was previously thought.

And we see the programme's charming host, Bettany, climbing a steep hill to enter a cave where some 3,500-year-old graffiti has recently been discovered, and which was probably produced by one or other of the construction workers involved in the building of the temple.

Bettany scrambles up to a cave to see some recently discovered graffiti

The graffiti portrays the Queen (identified by the black wig which she wore) busy having sex - the man was perhaps Senemut, the building worker's boss, or perhaps it was the worker himself, who was depicting his secret fantasy, just imagining he was "living the dream".

graffiti depicting the Queen with an unidentified man

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!! And how little has changed over 3,500 years, as Bettany herself comments!

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

Danish translation: lørdag den 29 juni 2019

Vi kom hjem i går efter en kort ferie i det nordlige England, så trænger vi til at købe ind. Vi kører over til Tesco-supermarkedet i Bishops Cleeve, 3 miles herfra, for at gå madindkøb. Først går vi ind hos den nærliggende grønthandleren, og derefter hos det lokale postkontor og den sammenhængende bladhandlerforretning, for at købe to eksemplarer af ”Peter Rabbit”-børnemagasinet, som vi kan afsende til vores snart 6-årige tvillingebørnebørn, Lily og Jessie, i Perth, Australien. Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.

Jessie (left) and Lily, with our daughter Sarah

Vejrpigen har sagt, at i dag vil være årets varmeste dag hidtil – 85F eller 30C eller deromkring, så vi forbereder vores ekstra dobbeltseng i vores datter Sarahs gamle værelse, hvor vi kan sove i nat med åbne vinduer. Værelset har udsigt over baghaven, og der er ikke trafiklarm, hvilket er rart. Og Lois skynder sig ud i vores frugthave for at plukke endnu flere hindbær og stikkelsbær, før fuglene kan snuppe dem alle – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Her er meget stille i baghaven. Vores nabo på den ene side, Bob, er væk hjemmefra, på ferie i Skotland. På den anden side af os er både Bill og Mary nu placeret i adskilte plejehjem, og deres søn Neil fra London-området, og deres datter Debbie fra New Zealand  bor i deres forældres hus midlertidligt, så de kan besøge dem begge hver dag.

Jeg prøver at installere vores spritnye printer, som blev leveret før vores mini-ferie, men uden succés. Vores desktop siger, at dens wifi ikke kan finde den – sikke et vanvid: printeren sidder lige ved siden af computeren, kun 1 inch væk! Heldigvis har vores lokale IT-ekspert, Mark, aftalt at komme på tirsdag hos os – han vil skælde desktoppen ud og give den et godt los i røven: det er han meget dygtig til, for at sige mildt !

Lokale rygter foreslår, at det var Mark, der hjalp det Hvide Hus’ kontorpersonalet med at udskifte toneren i bygningens printer, efter Rumsfeld først i 2006 forlod sit job derinde uden varsel og uden at give en ordentlig briefing om sine pligter  til sin efterfølger, Robert Gates.

Rumsfeld ramte overskrifterne først i 2004, da det blev afsløret, at kun han kunne udskifte toneren (kilde: Onion News).

WASHINGTON, DC: Hvide-Hus-kilder rapporterede mandag, at forsvarsministeren Donald Rumsfeld er det eneste kabinetsmedlem, der kan finde frem til, hvordan man udskifter toneren til det hvide hus’ printer. "Lad mig gennemgå det igen," sagde Rumsfeld. "Du løfter tonerkassettens låg, så flytter du denne kontakt tilbage og fjerner den gamle patron. Det skal smides i ’el garbage’.

”Dernæst fjerner du dette bånd her fra den nye patron – pas på, det her er vigtigt. Hvis du glemmer det, kommer du til at udprinte blanke sider hele dagen. Okay, så du bare glider det ind, og du er færdig og klar til at gå."   

Da han blev bedt om at kommentere, sagde Rumsfeld, at han ikke havde noget imod at udskifte toneren, men så ikke, hvad der var så svært ved det.

Rumsfeld, fotograferet her den 2. gang, han blev bedt om,

at hjælpe med at udskifte toneren til det Hvide Hus’ printer

13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15:30 og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen.

16:30 Jeg skriver en email på ungarsk til min penneveninde i Budapest, Tünde. Hun sendt mig for nylig en quiz:  ti fotoer, nogle taget i en af Tjernobyl-bygninger i Rusland, og nogle taget i et ungarsk hospital, og læsere måtte beslutte, hvilket fotoer var fra Tjernobyl og hvilke var fra hospitalet i Ungarn. Jeg scorede 80%, hvilket var rart, men mere på grund af lykke, end omdømme, det må jeg indrømme.

Tjernobyl eller et ungarsk hospital?

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!!

19:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm i serien om floden Nile og det gamle Egypten. Programmets vært er den charmerende Bettany Hughes.

Lois og jeg har set mange dokumentarfilm før, når Bettany Hughes har været programmets vært: for det meste dokumentarfilm, der handlede om det gamle Grækenland. Nu lader det til, at hun er færdig med at informere os om Grækenland, og søger nye græsgange.

Vi hører om den store kvindelige farao, Hatshepsut, der altid blev skildret som en mand med et skæg. De gamle egyptere havde intet ord for ”dronning”, lader det til.

”Dronning” Hatshepsut, skildret med skæg:

de gamle egyptere havde intet ord for ”dronning” –

du godeste, sikke et vanvid !!!!

Man tror, at Hatshepsut havde en elsker, Senemut, der stod for bygningen af dronningens store tempel, og hun fik hemmelige tegninge til at blive lavet om ham i templets inderste og helligste værelser.

man tror, at Senemut, der var hjernen bag bygningen

af dronningens tempel, faktisk også var hendes hemmelige elsker

Ifølge rygterne var Senemut dronningens hemmelige elsker, men måske var deres forhold ikke så hemmeligt, som man før i tiden troede.

Og vi ser programmets charmerende vært, Bettany, klatre op ad en stejl bakke for at gå ind en hule, hvor nogle 3500 år gamle graffitier for nylig er blevet opdaget, som sandsynligvis var blevet skrevet af en eller anden bygningsarbejder, der var involveret i bygningen af templet.

Bettany klatrer op til en hule for at se nogle for nylig opdagede graffiti

Graffitien skildrer dronningen (identificeret af den sorte paryk, som dronninger dengang gik med) i gang med at have sex – manden var måske Senemut, bygningarbejderens chef, eller måske var det selve arbejderen, i færd med at leve sin fantasi, eller at ”leve drømmen”.

graffiti, der skildrer dronningen med en uidentificeret mand

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!  Og hvor lidt har ændret sig gennem 3.500 år, som selve Bettany kommenterer!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!

Sunday 23 June 2019 – Friday 28 June 2019

We spend a few days in Southport, Lancashire, in the north of England, with Iris, Lois' cousin, who lives in a nursing home up there. I had misgivings in advance that we might regret the decision to stay in the actual nursing home surrounded by "other" old crows, but actually our 4-day stay did not go so badly, thank goodness.

breakfast at the home

Dinner at the home, with Iris

However, we feel a little confined in the nursing home from time to time - when we want to get out, we need a staff member to open the front door, even though later in the visit we find out the access code. For safety’s sake, the staff make it a little difficult to get out of the nursing home - many of the residents do not move about very easily, and some are on the verge of suffering from dementia, we suspect.

It's a bit of a shame that all those safety concerns mean that the nursing home's immaculately maintained garden can't really be enjoyed by the residents - throughout our visit, we never saw anyone out there – good grief, what madness !!!

The impeccable garden to the nursing home, which we never see anyone in -

my god, what madness !!!

The nursing home is run by Lois' sect, so at the beginning I was a little worried that some of the residents might try to talk to me about religion, but in fact they are not up to that mentally for the most part, which is a bit of a relief to say the least.

There are various inspirational religious quotes exhibited here and there on the walls of the corridors, walkways and rooms. And before meals, a staff member rings a small bell to ask us to say grace for ourselves, and a second bell 2 minutes later, to tell us it's okay to start, which is cute. Every evening, the more active members of the lounge meet to read the day's 3 prescribed Bible chapters: 2 from the Old and 1 from the New Testament, but I can give that a miss, which is nice.

Iris's room is packed with books, pictures, CDs, DVDs, souvenirs, as always. There is almost no room to sit, as expected. But these are all the things that make her happy.

Iris in her room, with Lois

It all gives Lois and me an idea of ​​what it means to move into a nursing home. The wifi is dodgy and only works intermittently for us. The worst thing is the building's central heating, which is constantly cranked up to max. Our guest room is on the 2nd floor, in the "attic", so it is very hot and for safety's sake the staff have fixed the windows so that they only open approx. 2 inches (5 cm) - damn!

our guest room in the "attic"

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

We drive Iris (86) to the town of Newton-le-Willows to spend a few hours with her 2 daughters, Heather (59) and Lorna (58). They are completely the opposite of Iris when it comes to the style of the rooms and suchlike. Iris's room in the nursing home is filled with this and that, and is a bit of a mess, to put it mildly - while Heather and Lorna's houses are completely immaculate, and mostly empty of books, etc., but packed with kitsch, bric-a-brac, and the like, both in the house and in the garden. Good grief, what madness!

I find myself beginning to praise Heather's décor, just to be polite, and to have something to say, to be honest. But as a result, Lorna invites us to see her house too - I suspect that there is a bit of competition between the two women, to see who can stuff the most kitsch knick-knacks into their houses.

in Heather’s House - from left to right Lorna (58), Iris (86), 

Heather (59) and Lois (73). How young Lois looks !!!!

  in Heather’s backyard

in Lorna's house

Flashback to 1967: Iris with daughters Lorna (left) and Heather, in happier times

Driving from Cheltenham to Southport

Lois and I drove north to Southport on Sunday the 23rd and Monday of the 24th of June - we stayed in a small B&B, located just outside the town of Congleton, because I no longer care to drive for more than 2-3 hours during a given day. And we did the same on our way home from June 27-28.

On Sunday, June 23, we arrived a little early at Congleton, and we spent a couple of hours looking around a charming historic old house, Little Moreton Hall, built in 1502 - it looks like a house out of a fairytale book, to put it mildly - totally charming.

 Little Moreton Hall, built in 1502

display of instruments from England's Tudor period

folk dancing in the gardens

the moat

Danish translation: søndag den 23. juni – fredag den 28. juni 2019

Vi tilbringer nogle dage i Southport, Lancashire, i det nordlige England,  med Iris, Lois’ kusine, der bor i et plejehjem deroppe. Jeg havde i forvejen dårlige anelser om, at vi kunne fortryde beslutningen at opholde os i selve plejehjem omgivet af ”andre” gamle krager, men faktisk gik vores 4-dages ophold ikke særlig dårligt, gudskelov.

morgenmad

 aftensmad

Vi føler os imidlertid lidt indespærret i plejehjemmet indimellem – når vi har lyst til at komme ud, må vi et personalemedlem at åbne hoveddøren, selvom senere på besøget når vi at finde ud af adgangkoden. For sikkerheds skyld gør personalet det lidt svært at komme ud af plejehjemmet – mange af beboerne bevæger sig ikke ret nemt, og nogle er på randen af at lide af demens, mistænker vi.

Det er lidt af en skam, at alle de der sikkerheds bekymringer betyder, at plejehjemmets ulasteligt vedligegjorde have ikke kan blive rigtig godt nydt af beboerne – under hele vores besøg, så vi aldrig nogen derude – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

plejehjemmets ulastelige have, som vi aldrig ser ingen inde i –

du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Plejehjemmet er drevet af Lois’ sekt, så var jeg i begyndelsen lidt bekymret over, at nogle af beboerne kunne prøve at tale med mig om religion, men faktisk står de ikke til psykisk for det meste, hvilket er lidt af en lettelse, for at sige mildt. Der er inspirationelle religiøse citater udstillet her og der på væggene  i gangene,  korridorerne og værelserne. Og før måltider ringer et personalemedlem med en lille klokke, for at bede os om at bede bordbøn for os selv, og med en anden klokke, for at fortælle os, det er ok at starte, hvilket er sødt. Hver aften mødes de mere aktive medlemmer i loungen for at læse den pågældende dags 3 forskrevne bibelkapitler: 2 fra det gamle og 1 fra det nye testamente, men det kan jeg gå glip af, hvilket er rart.

Iris’ værelse er propfyldt med bøger, billeder, CD’er, DVD’er, souvenirs, som altid. Der er næsten ikke plads til at sidde, som forventet. Men disse er alle de ting, der giver hende glæde.

Iris i sit værelse

Det hele giver Lois og mig en idé, om hvad det betyder at flytte ind i et plejehjem. Det værste er bygningens centralvarme, der hele tiden dag og nat er skruet op til max. Vores gæsteværelse er oppe på 2. sal, i ”loftet”, så det er meget varmt og for sikkerheds skyld har personalet fikseret vinduerne, så de kun åbner sig ca. 2 inches (5 cm) – pokkers!

vores gæsteværelse i ”loftet”

Onsdag den 26. juni 2019

Vi kører Iris (86) over til byen Newton-le-Willows for at tilbringe nogle timer med hendes 2 døtre, Heather (59) og Lorna (58). De der det helt modsatte af Iris, når det kommer til stilen af værelser og den slags. Iris’ værelse i plejehjemmet er propfyldt af dette og hint, og er lidt af en rod, for at sige mildt. Mens Heather og Lornas huse er helt ulastelige, og for det meste tomme for bøger osv, men propfyldt med kitsch, nips, og den slags, både i huset og i haven. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Jeg finder mig selv i gang med at rose Heathers ”smag”, bare for at være høflig, og for at have noget at sige, ærligt talt. Men som resultat, inviterer Lorna os til at se hendes hus også – jeg mistænker, at der er lidt konkurrence mellem de to kvinder, om at se, hvem kan proppe de meste kitschede nips ind i deres huse.

i Heathers hus – fra venstre til højre Lorna (58), Iris(86), Heather (59) og Lois (73).

Hvor ser Lois dog ung ud!!!!

i Heathers hus og have

 i Lornas hus

tilbageblik til 1967: Iris med sine døtre Lorna (til venstre)
og Heather, i lykkeligere tider

Kørslerne fra Cheltenham til Southport

Lois og jeg kørte nordpå til Southport søndag den 23. og mandag den 24. juni – vi overnattede i en lille B&B, der ligger lidt uden for byen Congleton, fordi jeg ikke længere har lyst til at køre i mere end 2-3 timer i løbet af en given dag. Og vi gjorde det samme på vej hjem de 27-28 juni.

Søndag den 23. juni ankom vi lidt tidligt til Congleton, og vi brugte et par timer på at se os om i et charmerende gammelt hus, Little Moreton Hall, der blev bygget i 1502 – det ser ud som et hus i en eventyrbog, for at sige mildt – totalt charmerende.  

Little Moreton Hall, bygget i 1502

1350

udstilling at instrumenter fra Englands tudortiden

folkedanse

husets voldgraven