Sunday 2 June 2019

09:30 Lois has to go out. She wants to take part in her sect’s 2 church services taking place this morning in Tewkesbury library, beginning at the controversial new earlier start time - 10 am. But in 10 days’ time, the sect will be holding its monthly business meeting, when the topic will be on the agenda again, no doubt about that.

10:00 I have a little alone time and I spend about 2 hours organising the piles of old bank statements, bills, receipts, credit card statements, etc. that I collected the other day in the attic, as part of our current downsizing mini-project. I put in a separate pile of all the bank documents that are obvious candidates for shredding. And I put all the non-confidential documents into a big black plastic sack for chucking out without shredding.

I put all our old financial documents in piles on one of our guest beds,

and I put all the non-confidential documents into a big black plastic sack

There are undoubtedly enough documents in the non-confidential category to organize a public exhibition of some kind. I am thinking on the lines of the restaurant chain Denny's recent exhibition of their comment card archive, that caused a sensation 13 years ago (source: Onion News).

SPARTANBURG, SC - For the first time in its 53-year history, the Denny chain has opened its voluminous customer comment archive, giving the public an unprecedented look at its long history of service reviews and suggestions.

Note the protective white gloves! - this is

one extremely valuable historical archive, no doubt about that!

The comment card archive not only shows the quality of Denny's service over time, but also the commentators’ responses to selected menu items. Of particular interest to researchers is the country's first reaction to what would become Denny's most popular menu-item, the Grand Slam Breakfast.

Chicago University professor Kenneth Brayton commented: "Many people at that time thought it was just too much breakfast."

I tend to agree, but on closer reflection the words "Grand Slam Breakfast" have a very nostalgic ring, I have to say, and I have to resist the temptation to go downstairs and have a second breakfast.  But I must be strong now - back to the diet! Damn!

10:45 I continue to read through some of our old documents and I stumble on some pictures of my former workplace when it was being demolished in 2004. Yes - over the space of about 6 months, 32 years of memories of my previous working life were disappearing under the rubble – sob sob !!!!

 flashback to November 2004, when my former workplace

and all my sweet memories in the process of being torn down  - sob sob !!!!!

11:00 I relax with a cup of coffee on the couch. Afterwards I sit down with the computer and book a hotel room in the Congleton area. In a few weeks’ time, Lois and I plan to visit Lois' elderly cousin Iris, who lives in a nursing home in Southport, Lancashire. I no longer care to drive a car more than 2 hours at a time, so we have decided to stay at a hotel at a mid-point on the way north, and again on the way south again.

12:00 I rush into the kitchen and make two servings of lunch: cheese and cucumber sandwiches with mini-tomatoes - yum yum!

12:30 Lois comes back from Tewkesbury and we have lunch. 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.

16:00 I start to print out our former doctors' amended plans to have 6 new houses built on the piece of land, 100 yards from here, where their old surgery is still standing empty - the doctors themselves have now moved into a shiny new medical centre on the other side of the small town of Bishops Cleeve, 5 miles away.

The doctors' original plans were rejected by the council’s  planning committee, so doctors want to appeal the committee's decision to central government, which mostly approves appeals, on the controversial grounds that the country allegedly needs more housing. What madness !!!!

They are such bastards, those doctors !!!

Flashback to January: The doctors close the old surgery

and move into a new one 5 miles away from here

The doctors' plans to tear down the old surgery

and have 6 new houses built on the land

My goodness - they are such bastards, those doctors !!!!

And moreover, the doctors have the nerve to say in their appeal, that their new plans will have the benefit of replacing  the existing poor quality boundary fence - in fact, the fence is in poor condition precisely because for years the doctors themselves failed to maintain it !!!

My goodness, what a cheek !!!! Those bastards !!!!

17:00 I start to shred some more old bank statements, but I have to quit after about 10 minutes because the shredder is tending to overheat and shut down with paper jams - damn!

18:00 We have dinner, and afterwards we see a little television. the third episode of the new drama series, "Gentleman Jack", all about a real life Victorian lesbian, Anne Lister (played by Suranne Jones).

The real life Anne wrote copious diary entries, including about her sex life (she used a simple substitution code to hide the most sensitive details), and this has allowed the series writer to create an authentic depiction of Anne's dramatic lifestyle in the 1830’s just outside the town of Halifax, Yorkshire.

In this episode, the headstrong Anne again comes into conflict with a powerful local family, the Rawson brothers. They own the adjoining land and there are disputes over the coal mines under their respective properties, and whether the Rawsons are secretly burrowing across beyond the property line and stealing Anne's coal. What madness!

The second half of the episode, however, focuses on Anne's love life, and her attempt to seduce a rich young local woman, Miss Walker.

Anne's first attempt comes to nothing, when Miss Walker says she would rather limit herself to kissing - she is not yet ready to take things any further. And the second attempt also comes to nothing:  the women are just about to have sex when they are interrupted by one of Anne's suspicious neighbours, Eliza, who bursts into the room at an embarrassing moment.

But third time lucky.

third time lucky:  and no interruptions this time

Lois thinks that the sex scenes in the series are treated with proper sensitivity, and show exactly the minimum required to communicate the characters' feelings without being too explicit.

It is interesting to watch the series with Lois because of her great historical knowledge of the period - she says that while polite society at that time refused to recognise that lesbian relationships existed, the situation was different amongst more ordinary people (especially women) out in the countryside. And in the series, we see a couple of local women who are suspicious of Anne, and some others who know exactly what Anne's motivation is when they see her trying to strike up friendships with some attractive local girl or other.

And it's nice also to hear Lois' humorous comments: the first half of this episode is all about Anne's business deals and conflicts over the coal mines on her property, but in the second half all that is forgotten, and the action concentrates on Anne's love life. Lois comments that "coal seems to have been put on the back burner" ha ha ha.

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

Danish translation

09:30 Lois skal af sted. Hun ønsker at deltage i sin sekts to gudstjenester, der finder sted i formiddag i byen Tewkesburys bibliotek, startende fra den kontroversielle nye tidligere starttid – kl 10. Men om 10 dages tid holder sekten sit månedlige forretningsmøde, når emnet vil være på dagsordenen igen, ingen tvivl om det!

10:00 Jeg har lidt alenetid og jeg bruger omkring 2 timer på at ordne de bunker af gamle kontoudtog, regninger, kvitteringer, kreditkortudtog osv, som jeg samlede forleden i loftet. Jeg lægger i en separat bunke all bankdokumenter, som åbenbare kandidater for makulering.

Jeg putter alle de ikke-fortrolige dokumenter i en stor sort plastiksæk.

Jeg lægger alle vores ældgamle financielle dokumenter i bunker på en af vores gæstesenge,

og jeg putter alle de ikke-fortrolige dokumenter i en stor sort plastiksæk

Der er uden tvivl nok dokumenter i den ikke-fortrolige kategori til at organisere en offentlig udstilling af en ellen art. Jeg tænker på linjerne af restaurant-kæden Dennys nylige udstilling af deres kommentarkort-arkiv, der voldede en sensation  for 13 år siden (kilde: Onion News).

SPARTANBURG, SC - Denny-kæden har for første gang i sin 53-årige historie åbnet sit voluminøse kunde-kommentarkort arkiv, der giver offentligheden et hidtil uset kig på sin lange historie om serviceanmeldelser og forslag.

nota bene de beskyttende hvide handsker – denne er

et værdifuldt historisk arkiv, ingen tvivl om det

Kommentarkortarkivet viser ikke kun kvaliteten af ​​Denny's service over tid, men også klagerens svar på valg af menupunkter. Af særlig interesse for forskere er landets første reaktion på, hvad der ville blive Dennys mest populære menupunkt, Grand Slam Breakfast.

Chicago University professoren Kenneth Brayton har kommenteret: "Mange mennesker på det tidspunkt troede det var bare for meget morgenmad."

Det hælder jeg til at være enig om, men på nærmere eftertanke ordene ”Grand Slam Breakfast” har en meget nostalgisk genlyd, det må jeg nok sige. Men tilbage til slankekuren – pokkers!

10:45 Jeg fortsætter med at læse igennem nogle af vores gamle dokumenter og jeg falder over billeder af min tidligere arbejdsplads, der var i færd med at blive revet ned i 2004: hulk hulk!! Således i løbet af 6 måneder forsvandt 32 år af mit arbejdsliv – lykkelige tider!!!!

tilbageblik til november 2004 mit tidligere arbejdsplads

i færd med at blive nedrevet – hulk hulk !!!!!

11:00 Jeg slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen. Bagefter sætter jeg mig med computeren og booker et hotelværelse i Congleton-området. Om nogle ugers tid planlægger Lois og jeg at besøge Lois’ ældre kusine Iris, der bor i et plejehjem i Southport, Lancashire. Jeg holder ikke længere ret meget af at køre bil mere en 2 timer ad gangen, så vi har besluttet at overnatte på et hotel midtvejs på vej nordpå, og igen midtvejs på vej sydpå.

12:00 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver to portioner frokost: ost og agurk sandwicher med mini-tomater – yum yum!

12:30 Lois kommer tilbage fra Tewkesbury og vi spiser frokost. 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.

16:00 Jeg går i gang med at udprinte vores tidligere lægeres ændrede planer om at få 6 nye huse bygget på det stykke land, 100m herfra, hvor deres gamle lægehus stadig står – selve lægerne er nu flyttet ind i et spritny lægehus, der ligger i den anden side af den lille by Bishops Cleeve, 5 miles herfra.

Lægernes oprindelige planer blev afvist af kommunens planlægningsudvalg, så ønsker lægernes  at appellere om udvalgets beslutning til den centrale regering, der for det meste godkender appeller af de tvivlsomme grunde af, at landet angiveligt har brug for flere boliger.  Sikke et vanvid!!!!

De er sådanne nogle sjufter, de der læger!!!

Tilbageblik til januar: lægerne lukker det gamle lægehus,

og flytter ind i et nye 5 miles væk herfra

Lægernes planer om at reve det gamle lægehus ned

og få 6 nye huse bygget på jorden

Du godeste – de er sådanne nogle sjufter, de der læger !!!!

Og oven i købet har lægerne haft frækheden til at sige, deres nye planer vil have til fordel, at en grænsehegn i dårlig stand vil blive udskiftet – faktisk er hegnen i dårlig stand præcis fordi lægerne i årevis undlod at vedligeholde den !!!

Du godeste, sikke en frækhed!!!! Sådanne ngle sjufter !!!!

17:00 Jeg går i gang med at makulere nogle gamle kontoudtog, men jeg skal holde op efter ca 10 minutter, fordi makulatoren har tendens til at overophede og lukke med papirpropper – pokkers!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad, og bagefter ser vi lidt fjernsyn. det 3. afsnit af den nye dramaserie, ”Gentleman Jack”, der kredser om en virkelig liv victoriansk lesbisk kvinde, Anne Lister (spillet af Suranne Jones). Anne skrev rigelige dagbogsnotater, inklusive om sit sexliv (hun brugte en simpel substitutionskode for at skjule de mest følsomme detaljer), hvilket har tilladt seriens forfatterinde til at skabe en autentisk skildring af Annes dramatiske livstil i 1830’erne lige udenfor byen Halifax i grevskabet Yorkshire.

I dette afsnit kommer den egensindige Anne igen i konflikt med en magtfulde lokale familie, Rawson-brødrene. De ejer den påstødende domæne, og der er strid over de kolminer, der ligger under deres henholdsvise ejendomme.

Men afsnits 2. halvdel koncentrerer sig om Annes kærligheds liv, og hendes forsøg på at forføre en rig ung lokal kvinde, frøken Walker.

Annes 1. forsøg bliver ikke til noget, da frøken Walker siger, at hun hellere vil begrænse sig til at kysse Anne – hun er ikke klar endnu til at tage tingene videre. Og den 2. forsøg også bliver ikke til noget, fordi de skal lige til at have sex, da de bliver afbrudt af én af Annes mistænksomme naboer, Eliza, der braser ind i værelset.

Men tredje gang heldig.

tredje gang heldig: ingen afbrydelser

Lois mener, at sexscenerne i serien bliver behandlet med følsomhed, og viser præcis minimummet krævet for at kommunikere karakterernes emotionelle sving osv.

Det er interessant at se serien sammen med Lois på grund af hendes store historiske viden om perioden – hun siger, at selvom det høflige samfund dengang nægte at erkende at lesbiske forhold eksisterede, var situationen anderledes blandt mere almindelige mennesker (i sær kvinder) ude på landet. Og i serien ser vi et par stykker lokale kvinder, der er mistænksomme om Anne, og nogle, der ved præcis, hvad Annes motivering er, når hun forsøger at stifte venskaber med en eller anden attraktiv lokal pige.

Og det er rart også at høre Lois’ humoristiske kommentarer: dette episodes første halvdel handler om Annes forretningsaftaler og konflikter, når det kommer til de kolminer på sin ejendom, men i den 2. halvdel er alt det der glemt, og handlingen koncentrerer sig om Annes kærlighedsliv. Lois kommenterer, at ”kol er blevet sat ’on the back burner’ (i anden række)” ha ha ha.

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!