Tuesday 18 June 2019

Fathers Day was 2 days ago, but I still have not had my Fathers Day lunch at the local Wyevale garden centre café - damn! And today would have been a good day because there are special discounts for old crows on Tuesday. Damn (again) !!!

And it looks like we have to postpone the lunch again - neither my shiny new printer nor my shiny new laptop  have been delivered yet, so we must stay at home until they show up, in case they need a signature  - damn (for 3rd time)!

I feel a little restless and dissatisfied at the moment - I am a bit of an introvert, to say the least, but there seems to be no time to sit somewhere in peace and quiet and do the things I like. There is always some annoying task that is waiting urgently to be done - damn (for the 4th time)!

Busy Busy Busy !!!!

09:00 Lois and I stumble out of the shower cubicle and I sit down with the computer. My friend, "Magyar" Mike is coming this morning at 10 am to study Hungarian with me for an hour. I begin to prepare the vocabulary test I want him to take at the beginning of our "Hungarian hour" when I suddenly recall that our printer is no longer working - and the new one has not yet turned up from Dixons/Currys/PCWorld.

I conclude that we will just have to forego our mutual vocabulary test this morning. Then I suddenly remember that I can just grab a pen and write the test down on a sheet of paper, just like in the good old days before computers existed - ha ha ha!

"Simples" !!!

10:00 "Magyar" Mike calls the door and we study Hungarian for an hour. Mike has been ageing terribly day by day over the past year, and his voice has become quite weak compared  to the good old days. And he has a hard time understanding the dialogues in our current textbook.

 flashback to 1998: "Magyar" Mike in happier times -

(from left to right) me, Lois and Mike at a restaurant in Szentendre,

a small town located just outside Budapest. That terrible Hungarian dish,

fish soup, is on the menu - a soup that includes all the mandatory fish bones.

Yikes!

Lois at the restaurant in Szentendre

Despite his difficulties, I am very anxious that he continue to study the language. It has become his only brain work, now that he has abandoned his former role as editor of the Cotswold Wardens’s  6-monthly newsletter. He has recently begun to find the editor's duties much more exhausting than he did before.

The "Cotswold Wardens" are a group of volunteers who help maintain footpaths, stiles, etc., high up on the Cotswold hills and down in the valleys. They also lead guided walks in the countryside.

Mike long ago gave up his previously active physical role in the organization, but his presentational skills and knowledge of printing techniques has come in handy when it came to preparing the group’s newsletter.

Now he has resigned as editor, so his language work is now his only brain work, and I would rather have him soldier on with it- it’s a good way to avoid dementia, they say.

We decide to give up our current textbook and find a more simple book - hurrah! Mike will consider the possible alternative textbooks and call me as soon as he has chosen the best option from his point of view.

My collection of Hungarian textbooks - impressive, right?

Mike says he will call me when he has decided

on the most appropriate one for us to use

12:30 The printer and the laptop have not turned up yet, so we decide to have lunch at home - my Fathers Day lunch at the restaurant will have to wait for another day - damn!

14:00 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. Lois has received an email from Emirates - they say that she will lose half of her air-miles if she doesn't use them before the end of June - damn!

I sit down with the computer and try to figure out how much her total of 50,000 air-miles are worth when it comes to any discount on the tickets we intend to buy - our daughter Sarah, who lives in Perth, Australia, has invited Lois and me to visit them next year for about 2 months at some time during the period from March to June.

The Emirates website is not very user-friendly in my opinion, I have to say. It seems to be designed to discourage the traveller from redeeming his air-miles, which seems crazy. I watch the Emirates instructional video on the subject, but the screens they show on the video do not match the screens I see on my computer, which is a bit annoying, to put it mildly.

the Emirates video: but the screens they show on the video do not correspond

to the screens I see on my computer, for some reason

Finally, however, I find out that Lois' 50,000 air-miles correspond to a £210 discount, which is a little disappointing, we think. And my air-miles correspond to another £210, so the total discounted would be £420, all in all, which is not insignificant but still a little disappointing in comparison to how much money we have so far spent on Emirates flights - damn!

16:30 A delivery man delivers our shiny new printer - hurrah! Hopefully another delivery man will deliver our shiny new laptop tomorrow - I will cross my fingers.

My shiny new portable moves ever (or mostly ever) closer -

the pitiful story of Royal Mail's efforts to deliver it !!!!

17:30 We have dinner, a little earlier than usual, because afterwards Lois has to go out. She wants to take part in her sect’s weekly Bible seminar, taking place tonight in Brockworth Library.

The sect’s bible seminars - the current schedule

I have some alone time and I spend the evening watching a bit of television. A scary documentary is on, in the series "War on Plastic". The programme hosts are the charming Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (crazy name, crazy guy), and Anita Rani.

A scary programme. It turns out that there are even tiny pieces of plastic in the air in our homes, some of them coming off our clothes if they are synthetic - all day we are breathing in these tiny pieces of plastic, and they have the potential to penetrate our lungs, although the effect of this penetration has not yet been investigated - yikes!

People nowadays have become very good at putting their plastic waste into the municipal recycling banks, but the programme hosts find out that some of this recycled waste is simply exported to countries like Malaysia, where it just sits in massive plastic waste mountains somewhere in the countryside, without ever being treated. My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

We see Hugh trying repeatedly to get an interview with Michael Gove, the government minister responsible, who when finally cornered gives the impression of being sympathetic, even though it is hard to believe he will take any action. Oh dear!

Wet-wipes, which Lois and I do not use, are 80% made of plastic, or thereabouts. But the companies that manufacture them (Kimberly-Clarke, Proctor & Gamble, etc.) have no obligation to make it clear on the packaging that the product is 80% plastic – good grief, what madness !!!

But it is always a little amusing to see the programme presenters trying without success to interview representatives of the companies that manufacture these wet-wipes, and other similar products. First, the presenters get no answers to their emails, so typically Anita Rani turns up at the corporate headquarters bringing the obligatory TV cameras, or sometimes with a secret camera and microphone hidden underneath her clothes.

Typically, after a few moments of blind panic, representatives of the company's legal department show up and tell Anita that they will consider her comments and send her detailed answers before too long, or look into arranging interviews, or any other suggestions they think will get her to go away ha ha ha!

22:00 Lois comes back from Brockworth. I go to bed, but Lois needs to relax and unwind after this evening's stimulating Bible seminar, so she stays up and watches a bit of television. She hops into bed with me at 10:30 pm - zzzzzzzzzzz !!!

Danish translation

Farsdag var for 2 dage siden, men jeg har stadig ikke haft min farsdagsfrokost på det lokale Wyevale-havecentrets café – pokkers! Og i dag ville have været en god dag, fordi der er specielle rabatter for gamle krave om tirsdagen. Pokkers (igen) !!!

Og det ser ud som om, vi må udskyde frokosten igen – hverken min spritnye printer eller min spritnye bærebar er blevet leveret endnu, så vi må forblive herhjemme, indtil de dukker op  – pokkers (for 3.gang)!

Jeg føler mig lidt rastløs og utilfreds for tiden – jeg er lidt af en introvert, for at sige mildt, men der virker at være ingen tid til at sidde et eller andet sted i fred og ro, og lave de ting, jeg godt kan lide. Der er altid en eller anden irriterende opgave, som haster med at blive lavet  – pokkers (for 4. gang)! Travlt travlt travlt!!!!

09:00 Lois og jeg kommer ud ad brusekabinen og jeg sætter mig med computeren. Min ven, ”Magyar” Mike kommer i formiddag kl 10 for at studere ungarsk med mig i en time. Jeg begynder at udarbejde den ordforrådtest, jeg vil have ham til at tage i begyndelsen af vores ”ungarske time”, da jeg pludselig mindes om, at vores printer ikke længere fungerer – og den nye endnu ikke er dukket op fra Dixons.

Jeg kommer til den konklusion, at vi skal gå glip af vores gensidige ordforrådtest i formiddag. Så mindes jeg om, at jeg stadig kan skrive testen op på en ark papir, ligesom i de gode gamle dage, før computere eksisterede – ha ha ha! "Simples"!!!

10:00 Min ven, ”Magyar” Mike ringer på døren og vi studerer ungarsk i en time. Mike har ældes meget dag for dag gennem det seneste år, og hans stemme er blevet ganske svæk, i sammenligning til de gode gamle dage. Og han har meget svært nu med at forstå dialogerne i vores nuværende lærebog.

tilbageblik til 1998: ”Magyar” Mike i lykkeligere tider –

(fra venstre til højre) mig, Lois og Mike på et restaurant i Szentendre,

en lille by, der ligger lige udenfor Budapest. Den forfærdelige ungarske ret,

fiskesuppe er på spisekortet – en supperet,

 der inkluderer alle de obligatoriske fiskeknogler. Yikes!

Lois på restauranten i Szentendre

Imidlertid vil jeg hellere have ham til at fortsætte med at studere sproget. Det er nu hans eneste hjernearbejde, nu hvor han har opgivet sin tidligere rolle som redaktør af Cotswold Wardens-organisationens 6-månedlige nyhedsbrev.  Han er for nylig begyndt at finde redaktørens forpligtelser  lidt for trættende, end før.

”Cotswold Wardens” er en gruppe af frivillige, der hjælper til at vedligeholde gangstier, stenter osv højt oppe på Cotswold-bakkerne nede i dalene. De leder også guidede gåture ude på landet.

Mike opgav for længst sin tidligere  aktiv fysisk rolle i organisationen, men hans præsentationsfærdigheder  og kendskab til trykketeknikker var kommet til god nytte, når det kom til forberedelsen af nyhedsbrevet.

Nu har han sagt op som redaktør, så hans sprogarbejde er nu sin eneste hjernearbejde, og jeg vil hellere have ham til at fortsætte ufortrødent – det er en god måde at undgå demens, siger man.

Vi beslutter at opgive vores nuværende lærebog, og finder en mere simpel bog – hurra! Han vil overvejer de mulige alternative lærebøger og ringer til mig, så snart han har valgt den bedste option fra sin synspunkt.

Min samling af ungarske lærebøger – imponerende, ikke?

Mike siger, han vil ringe til mig, når han har besluttet på den mest passende

12:30 Printeren og den bærebare har ikke dukket op endnu, så vi beslutter at spise frokost herhjemme – min farsdagsfrokost på restauranten må blive en anden dag – pokkers!

14:00 Jeg går i seng og tager mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15:30 og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Lois har fået en email fra Emirates – de siger, at Lois vil miste halvdelen af sine airmiles, hvis hun ikke bruger dem før slutningen af juni – pokkers!

Jeg sætter mig med computeren og prøver at finde ud af, hvor meget hendes sammenlagt 50.000 airmiles er værd, når det kommet til en eventuel rabat på billetterne, vi har til hensigt at købe – vores datter Sarah, der bor i Perth, Australien, har inviteret Lois og mig til at besøge dem næste år i omkring 2 måneder i løbet af perioden fra marts til juni.

Emirates-webstedet er ikke ret brugervenligt efter min mening, det må jeg nok sige. Det virker at blive designet med det formål at afskrække den rejsende fra at indløse sine airmiles, hvilket synes vanvittigt. Jeg ser på Emirates-videoen, men de skærmer, de viser på videoen, svarer ikke til de skærmer jeg ser på min computer.

de skærmer, de viser på videoen, svarer ikke

til de skærmer jeg ser på min computer, af en eller anden grund

Men endeligt opdager jeg, at Lois’ 50.000 airmiles svarer til en rabat på 210£, hvilket er lidt skuffende, synes vi. Og mine airmiles svarer til endnu 210£, så derfor bliver rabattet til 420£, alt i alt, hvilket er ikke ubetydeligt men stadig lidt skuffende i sammenligning til, hvor mange penge vi har brugt på Emirates-flyveture  – pokkers!

16:30 En leveringsmand leverer vores spritnye printer – hurra! Forhåbentlig vil en anden leveringsmand leverer vores spritnye bærebare i morgen – jeg krydser fingrene.

Min spritnye bærebare rykker altid (eller for det meste) nærmere –

den ynkelige historie af Royal Mails indsatser at levere den!!!!

17:30 Vi spiser aftensmad, lidt tidligere, end normalt, fordi bagefter skal Lois ud. Hun ønsker at deltage i sin sekts ugentlige bibelseminar, der finder sted i aften i byen Brockworths bibliotek.

sektens bibelseminarer ifølge den igangværende tidsplan

Jeg har lidt alenetid, og jeg bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en skræmmende dokumentarfilm i serien ”War on Plastic”. Programmets værter er de charmerende Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (skørt navn, skør fyr) og Anita Rani.

Et skræmmende program. Det viser sig, at der endda er småbitte stykker plastik i luften i vores hjem, nogle af dem kommer af vores tøj, hvis de er syntetiske  – hele dagen ånder vi de småbitte stykker plastik ind og de har evnen til at kunne penetrere vores lunger, selvom effektet af denne penetrering endnu ikke er blevet undersøgt  – yikes!

Folk nu til dags er blevet meget dygtige til at putte deres plastikaffald i kommunens genbrugsspande, men progammets værter opdager, at nogle af dette genbrugsaffald bliver eksporteret til lande som Malaysia, hvor det bare sidder i massive plastik-affaldbjerge ét eller andet sted ude på landet, uden at blive behandlet. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Vi ser Hugh prøve i gentagende gange at få et interview med Michael Gove, den ansvarlige minister i regeringen, der giver det indtryk af, at være sympatisk, selvom det er svært at tro, at han vil skride til handling. Oh dear!

Wetwipes, som Lois og jeg ikke bruger, er 80% lavet af plastik, eller deromkring. Men de selskaber, der fremstiller dem (Kimberly-Clarke, Proctor & Gamble osv), har ikke nogen forpligtelse til at gøre det klart på emballagen, at produktet er 80% plastik – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Men det er altid lidt morsomt at se værterne prøve uden succés at interviewe repræsentanter af de selskaber, der fremstiller disse wetwipes. Først får de ingen svar til deres emails, så typisk dukker Anita Rani op på selskabernes hovedkvarteret, og medbringer de obligatoriske  tv-kameraer, eller nogle gange med et hemmeligt kamera og mikrofon skjult under sit tøj.

Typisk, efter nogle øjeblikke af blind panik, dukker repræsentanter af selskabets juridiske afdeling op og de fortæller Anita, at de vil overveje hendes kommentarer og sende hende detaljerede svar inden alt for længe ha ha ha!

22:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra Brockworth. Jeg går i seng, men Lois trænger til at slappe af og geare ned efter aftenens stimulerende bibelseminar, og hun forbliver oppe og ser lidt fjernsyn. Hun hopper op i sengen til mig kl 22:30 – zzzzzzzzzzz!!!