Saturday 22 June 19

Our daughter in Perth, Australia, has her 42nd birthday today. I well remember seeing her being born in Cheltenham maternity hospital, now closed: births now take place in a department of the town’s general hospital.

1977: Alison (2) at the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in Pittville Park

Flashback to august 1977: little Sarah sleeps and cries through the

Queen's silver jubilee celebrations in Pittville Park - happy days !!!!

Lois with Sarah

Me with Sarah and Lois with Alison (2)

10:00 We talk a little on whatsapp with Sarah - she is driving  her soon-to-be 6-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie, home from a get-together with two of her former work colleagues and their young children. Francis, Sarah's husband, has installed a hands-free kit in the car.

Yesterday, the twins, along with all of their classmates, were allowed to go to school wearing the colours of their favorite Australian football team. And I'm surprised to hear how much they know about the sport in Perth. Most children there support the West Coast Eagles - their colours are blue and orange, Jessie says. Other children support the Eagles' great rivals, the Fremantle Dockers.

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

Lily and Jessie in West Coast Eagles colours – 

near the front extreme right, in dark blue

The twins are very hyperactive after the day's excitement – my god! They tell us about their week at school. The school's annual sports day took place a few days ago, and Lily finished third in the big race, despite having to run back to the start halfway through the race, to pick up her hat that had been blown off by the wind. And Jessie finished fifth, despite having to keep her hat on with both hands, so the wind wouldn't blow it off.

What a saga. And good grief, what madness !!!!

Lily takes 3rd prize - after running half the race twice

I wonder if Lily could become a great athlete when she is older - she is tall and incredibly competitive. Lois and I saw this quality in her from an early age, when we used to loo after the twins every Monday and Friday, in the good old days.

And they are both growing up so quickly now - no doubt about that. We miss them a lot.

Lily's performance reminds me a lot of Blanche's performance in the "Did You Evah" song from the movie "High Society".

"dear Blanche" in "Did You Evah"

11:00 Lois goes into the backyard and picks tons of gooseberries and raspberries, but unfortunately she decides to give a share of them to our neighbour, Bob. She's so warm-hearted - if only I could be more like her!

The gooseberries Lois has picked today, or rather,

what is left after our neighbour Bob has taken

his "share" - Lois is so warm-hearted ha ha ha!

12:30 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 and a biscuit on the sofa.

17:00 Alison, our elder daughter, who lives in Haslemere, Surrey, calls us. One of her two daughters, Rosalind, has her 11th birthday party tomorrow - the actual birthday is Tuesday, June 25th. The party theme is cake baking - yum yum!

Ed, Alison's husband, has not yet found a permanent job. The family moved back to England last year after nearly 6 years of residence in Copenhagen, and Ed has been working on temporary jobs since then, while waiting for his "dream job" to appear. Next week, he is attending a conference in Oxford on some legal topic – Alison is not entirely certain about its exact focus.

18:00 We have dinner, a Fray Bentos pie, and spend the rest of the evening watching some television. The 6th episode of an interesting series is on, a series all about some of Britain's historic cities. This 6th episode is about the town of Stirling, in particular in connection with the Stuart kings who had Stirling as their power base.

The programme's host is Alice Roberts, a university professor in her 40’s and mother of 2 children, but she likes to dress up as a "biker-chick", but I’m going to let that one slide because she is so kind-hearted, which is the most important thing ha ha! The world of TV hosts is very competitive and there is always a bit of a danger that the TV channels could decide that some host "looks too old" or "looks too middle-class" – my god, what a crazy the world we live in !!!

Alice Roberts

Stirling was a small town built on a steep hill: the richest people lived near the top and the more you moved down the streets, the poorer became the residents. People dumped human waste into the street, where the council could collect it once a week, but rainfall meant that the waste tended to end up in the streets of the poorer citizens at the bottom of the town anyway.

That’s why Stirling had a street at the bottom of the town that was called "Dirt Row"; Dunfermline had its  “Foul Vennel” street, and Glasgow its "Shitwynd".

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!  [Isn’t it your bedtime? – Ed]

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

Danish translation: lørdag den 22. januar 2019

Vores datter i Perth, Australien, har sin 42. fødselsdag i dag. Jeg husker godt at jeg så hende blive født i Cheltenham barselshospital, nu lukket:  fødsler finder sted nu i en afdeling at byens almindelige hospital.

tilbageblik til august 1977: lille Sarah sover og græder igennem

dronningens sølvjubilæum-festival i den nærliggende Pittville Park – lykkelige dage !!!!

Lois med Sarah

Mig med Sarah og Lois med Alison (2)

10:00 Vi taler lidt på whatsapp med Sarah – hun er i gang med at køre sine snart 6-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie, hjem fra en sammenkomst med to af sine tidligere arbejdskollegaer og deres 5-6 årige børn. Francis, Sarahs mand, har installeret et håndfrisæt i bilen.

I går var tvillingerne, sammen med alle deres klassekammerater, tilladt til at komme i skole iført farverne af deres yndlings-australske fodboldhold. Og jeg er overrasket over at høre hvor meget de ved om sporten i Perth. De fleste børn støtter West Coast Eagles – deres farver er blå og orange, siger Jessie. Andre børn støtter Eagles’ store rivaler, Fremantle Dockers.

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

Børnene er meget hyperaktive efter dagens begejstring – du godeste! De fortæller os om deres uge i skolen. Skolens årlige sportsstævne fandt sted for et par dage siden, og Lily  sluttede tredje i det store løb, på trods af, at hun måtte løbe tilbage til starten halvvejs i løbet, for at hente hendes hat, som var blevet blæst af af vinden. Og Jessie sluttede femte, på trods af, at hun måtte holde sin hat på med begge hænder, så vinden ikke ville blæse den af.

Sikke en saga. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Lily sluttede 3., på trods af alting

Jeg spekulerer på, om Lily kan blive til en stor atlet, når hun er ældre – hun er høj og utrolig konkurrenceagtig. Lois og jeg så denne egenskab i hende fra en tidlig alder, når vi passede på tvillingerne hver mandag og fredag i de gode gamle dage.

Og de vokser begge to hurtigt op – ingen tvivl om det. Vi savner dem meget.

Lilys præstation i løbet minder mig meget om Blanches præstation i ”Did You Evah”- sangen fra filmen ”High Society”.

"dear Blanche"

11:00 Lois går ud i baghaven og plukker tonsvis af stikkelsbær og hindbær, men desværre beslutter hun at give en andel af dem til vores nabo, Bob. Hun er så varmhjertet – hvis bare jeg kunne ligne hende mere!

De stikkelsbær, Lois har plukket i dag, eller snarere,

hvad er tilbage efter vores nabo Bob har taget

sin ”andel” – Lois er så varmhjertet ha ha ha!

12:30 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 og en kiks i sofaen.

17:00 Alison, vores ældste datter, der bor i Haslemere, Surrey, ringer til os. Én af hendes to døtre, Rosalind, har sin 11. fødselsdagsfest i morgen – selve fødselsdag er tirsdag, den 25. juni. Festens tema er kagelagning – yum yum!

Ed, Alisons mand, har ikke fundet et permanent job endnu. Familien flyttede tilbage til England i fjor efter næsten 6 års ophold i København, og Ed har beskæftiget sig med midlertidlige jobs siden da, mens han venter på, at sit ”drømmejob” dukker op. Næste uge deltager han i en konference, der handler om et eller andet juridisk emne – den præcise fokus er Alison ikke helt sikker på.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad, en Fray Bentos pie, og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det 6. afsnit i en interessant serie, der handler om nogle af Storbritanniens historiske byer. Dette 6. afsnit handler om byen Stirling, i sær i forbindelse med ....

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 ”bikertøs”, men det springer jeg over, fordi hun er godhjertet, hvilket er det vigtigste ha ha ha! Verden af tv-værter er meget konkurrencemæssig, og der er altid lidt af en fare, at tv-kanalerne kunne beslutte, at en eller anden vært ”ser for gammel ud” eller ”ser for borgerlig ud”  – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!

Alice Roberts

Stirling var en lille by bygget på en stejl bakke: de rigeste folk boede nær toppen og jo mere rykkede man ned på gaderne, jo fattigere blev de indbyggere. Folk dumpede menneskelig affald ud på gaden, hvor kommunen kunne indsamle den en gang om ugen, men regnvejr betød, at affalden havde tendens til at havne i de fattigere borgeres gader i bunden af byen.

Stirling havde en by i bunden af byen, der hed ”Dirt Row”; byen Dunfermline havde en gade, der hed Foul Vennel og Glasgow en gade, der hed ”Shitwynd”.

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

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!