Danskcolin: Wednesday 19 June 2019

09:00 I pluck up courage and sit down with the computer. I start to book our flights to Australia - our daughter, Sarah, who lives in Perth, along with Francis and their soon-to-be-six-year-old twins Lily and Jessie, have invited Lois and me to spend 2 months with them in Australia’s autumn (March / April / May). I have decided to book the tickets myself online, rather than use a travel agency. And I feel a little nervous first and foremost because of the massive sums of money involved - yikes!

We have been persuaded to book the tickets now because half of Lois' 50,000 air miles are going to be lost - after the end of June they cannot be redeemed any more.

a typical Emirates plane (I don't have the faintest idea what type ha ha)

on the ground at Perth airport, Australia

I’ve many times booked flights online when we wanted to visit our other daughter, Alison, when she was living in Copenhagen, but the process was not so scary with the flights from Birmingham to Copenhagen, which took less than 2 hours, no doubt about that.

12:30 Royal Mail delivers my shiny new laptop, an Acer Swift with Solid State Drive - Hurrah! Finally, the last piece of the puzzle - we now have our shiny new printer and our shiny new laptop, thank God.

I chose the laptop after our favourite consumer magazine, "Which", said it was "great value", although the term "nearly compromise-free" is a little worrying, I have to admit ha ha ha !!!

My brand new Acer portable: great value, but the term "nearly compromise-free"

is a bit worrying - I have to admit ha ha ha !!!

13:15 We drive over to the Wyevale garden centre to have lunch in the centre’s restaurant: my Father’s Day lunch, delayed by 3 days: fish & chips and peas, with strawberries and cream for dessert - yum yum!

We have our Father’s Day lunch in the Wyevale garden centre restaurant:

fish & chips, with strawberries and cream for dessert - yum yum!

I am wearing my new grey "Woolovers" sweater - the one I bought

with the aim of becoming more popular

Afterwards we pop into the shop and buy some packs of seeds and a large bag of planting compost - yikes, HEAVY !!!!! Then we stop by the local post office, to send off two children's magazines to our (soon-to-be) 6-year-old twin grandchildren in Australia.

Front row on the extreme right: our (soon-to-be) 6-year-old twin grandchildren

with their Australian classmates: the class was learning about aboriginal culture

and suchlike (see aboriginal pictures in the background).

How cute they are!!! But they are our grandchildren, so they will have to carry our genes long after we have disappeared off the scene - poor them !!!

flashback to 1952: me second row no.2 from left, aged 6 with my classmates

at the school's May Queen ceremony

14:30 We come home and go to bed for a couple of hours - we deserve it - ha ha ha! And we manage to read about 20 pages of our respective bedtime books.

17:00 We get up and grab a quick snack dinner. We are not very hungry after our father's day lunch earlier in the day.

19:30 Lois has to go out. She wants to participate in her sect’s weekly 1-hour Bible class that takes place tonight between 8 and 9 pm in Tewksbury Library. But unfortunately she finds that road works have blocked the road to Bishops Cleeve, and she calculates that there is not enough time to find an alternative route, so she comes home again. The Bible class only lasts 1 hour, so it doesn't make sense to arrive halfway through the class, which I agree with her about.

21:30 It's nice to have Lois' company unexpectedly and we watch a little television. The latest episode of "First Dates" is on.

This show is our favourite dating show - participants go on a date and eat at a special restaurant with a potential partner whom the TV channel has chosen for them.

The programme has a serious purpose to a certain extent, ie to find possible compatible life partners for the participants. It's much better than the version that plays out in a hotel in Italy, where participants spend the days sitting around the hotel swimming pool wearing next to nothing, and then go to bed with their potential partners as soon as the meal is over.

And it is much much better than the show's "celebrity version", where we see B-list and reality show celebrities taking part just with the idea of getting publicity and to keeping themselves in the public eye.

Out of this evening's 4 dates, two go well, and two don’t. And Lois and I guess correctly, which two potential relationship don’t have "a snowball's chance in hell", to put it mildly ha ha ha!

We meet 28-year-old Lisa, some kind of social worker, who works with "vulnerable" young women and trying to build up their self-confidence. She is a dyed-in-the-wool feminist. She has a date with Matthew who works on nights for London's underground system.

Lois and I have noticed that dates involving anyone who has very strong opinions, or has had serious personal problems or illnesses, rarely go well. We find that their potential partners cannot cope with unexpected major issues on a first date, and they find some excuse to explain why they do not want to go on a second date with that person.

People just can't cope with anything out of the ordinary on a first date, and we can understand that - they just aren't prepared to hear that sort of thing so early on in a relationship.

Strong opinions are always a problem, and tonight, Matthew gives us a master class in "how not to behave on a date with a dyed-in-the-wool feminist," to put it mildly.

Lisa says her ex did not respect her as a woman. And she suddenly asks Matthew what he thinks of feminism. Matthew is a little taken aback by the question, and rather obviously so.

And his reaction is not ideal to put it mildly.

He immediately realises that he has screwed up the date, and he tries to change the subject, but it’s too late of course.

“Snowball’s chance in hell", say Lois and I in chorus ha ha ha!

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

Danish translation: onsdag den 19 juni 2019

09:00 Jeg tager mod til mig og sætter mig med computeren. Jeg går i gang med at booke vores flybilletter til Australien – vores datter, Sarah, der bor i Perth, sammen med Francis og deres snart 6-årige tvillinger Lily og Jessie, har inviteret Lois og mig til at tilbringe 2 måneder hos dem i det australske efterår (marts / april / maj). Jeg har besluttet at booke billetterne selv online, snarere, end at bruge et rejsebureau. Og jeg føler mig lidt nervøs først og fremmest på grund af de massive summer penge involveret – yikes!

Vi er blevet overtalt at booke billetterne nu fordi halvdelen af Lois’ 50.000 air-miles er ved at blive mistet - efter slutningen af juni kan de ikke indløses længere.

et typisk Emirates-fly (jeg har ikke den fjerneste anelse om hvad slags ha ha)

på jorden i Perth-lufthavn, Australien

Jeg har mange gange booket flybilletter online, da vi ønskede at besøge vores anden datter, Alison, i København, men processen var ikke så skræmmende med flyveturene fra Birmingham til København, som varede kun lidt under 2 timer, ingen tvivl om det.

12:30 Royal Mail leverer min spritnye bærebare, en Acer Swift med Solid State Drive – hurra! Endelig! De sidste brik i puslespillet – vi har nu vores spritnye printer og vores spritnye bærebare, gudskelov.

Jeg valgte den bærebare efter vores yndlings-forbrugermagasin, ”Which”, sagde det var ”fantastisk for prisen”, selvom udtrykket ”næsten komprimisløs” er lidt bekymrende, det må jeg indrømme ha ha ha!!!

Min spritnye Acer bærebare: fantastisk for prisen, men udtrykket ”næsten komprimisløs”

er lidt bekymrende – det må jeg indrømme ha ha ha!!!

13:15 Vi kører over til Wyevale-havecentret for at spise frokost i centrets restaurant: min farsdagsfrokost, udskudt med 3 dage: fish & chips og ærter, med jordbær og fløde til dessert – yum yum!

Vi spiser vores farsdagsfrokost i Wyevale-havecentrets restaurant:

fish & chips, med jordbær og fløde til dessert – yum yum!

Jeg har min spritnye grå ”Woolovers” sweater på – den, der jeg købte

med der formål, at blive mere populær

Bagefter smutter vi ind i butikken og køber nogle pakke frø og en stor pose plantecompost – yikes, TUNGT!!!!! Så kører vi forbi det lokale postkontor, for at sende to børnemagasiner til vores (snart) 6-årige tvillingebørnebørn i Australien.

Forreste række til højre: vores (snart) 6-årige tvillingebørnebørn

med deres australske klassekammerater:

klassen var i gang med at lære om aboriginal kultur og den slags

(se billeder i baggrunden).

Hvor er de dog søde!!! Men de er vores børnebørn, og de kommer til at bære vores gener, længe efter vi er forsvundet fra scenen – stakkels dem!!!

tilbageblik til 1952: mig, på 6 år med mine klassekammerater

til skolens majdronningceremoniet

14:30 Vi kommer hjem og går i seng i et par timer – vi har fortjent det - ha ha ha! Og det lykkes os at læse omkring 20 sider af vores henholdsvisse sengetidbøger.

17:00 Vi står op, og snupper en hurtig snack-aftensmad. Vi er ikke særlig sultne efter vores farsdagsfrokost tidligere på dagen.

19:30 Lois skal ud. Hun ønsker at deltage i sin sekts ugentlige 1-time lange bibelklasse, der finder sted i aften mellem kl 20 og 21 i byen Tewksburys bibliotek. Men desværre finder hun, at vejarbejde har spærret vejen til Bishops Cleeve, og hun beregner, at der er ikke tid nok til at finde en alternativ rute, så derfor kommer hun hjem igen. Bibelklassen varer kun 1 time, så giver det ikke mening, at ankomme halvvejs i klassen, hvilket jeg er enig med hende om.

21:30 Det er rart at have Lois’ selskab uforventet og vi ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser det seneste afsnit af ”First Dates”.

Dette show er Lois’ og min yndlings-datingshow, hvor deltagere går ud på en date og spiser på en special restaurant med en potentiel partner, som tv-kanalen har valgt til dem.

Programmet har i en vis grad et seriøst formål, dvs at finde mulige kompatible livspartnere til deltagerne. Det er meget bedre, end versionen, der spiller sig ud i et hotel i Italien, hvor deltagere bruger dagene på at sidde omkring hotellets swimmingpool i næsten ingenting, og går i seng med deres potentielle partnere, så snart aftenen er forbi.

Og det er meget meget bedre, end showets ”kendis-version”, hvor vi ser B-liste og reality show-kendisser deltager med det formål at få publicitet og at forblive i det offentlige øje.

Ud af aftenens 4 dates, det går godt med 2, og det går ikke godt med 2. Og Lois og jeg gætter korrekt, hvilke forhold kommer ikke til at have ”en snebolds chance i helvede” ha ha ha!

Vi møder 28-årige Lisa, nogen slags sosu-assistent, der arbejder med ”sårbare” unge kvinder og prøver at bygge deres selvtillid op. Hun er en vaskeægte feminist. Hun har en date med Matthew, der arbejder nætter for Londons metrosystem.

Lois og jeg har bemærket, at dates, der involverer én, der har meget stærke meninger, eller har haft alvorlige personlige problemer eller sygdomme, sjældent går godt. Vi synes, at deres potentielle kæreste ikke kan hamle op uden varsel med uforventede store spørgsmål, og de finder en eller anden undskyldning for at forklare hvorfor de ikke har lyst til at gå på en 2. date med den pågældende.

Folk kan bare ikke hamle op med at noget som helst, der er lidt usædvanligt, på en først date, lader det til, og det kan vi forstå – de er ikke forberedt på at høre den slags så snart i et forhold.

Stærke meninger er altid et problem, men i aften giver Matthew os en mesterklasse i ”hvordan man skal opføre sig på en date med en vaskeægte feminist”, for at sige mildt.

Lisa siger, hendes eks ikke respekterede hende som en kvinde. Og hun spørger Matthew pludselig, hvad han mener om feminismen. Matthew er lidt overrumplet om spørgsmålet, hvilket er åbenbart.