08:00 Today Lois is celebrating
her 73rd birthday, but we can't stay in bed, because Lois has booked an
appointment at 9 am with Billy Shears, the local ladies’ hairdresser - damn!
09:30 Lois comes back. I put the coffee
on and Lois opens her birthday gifts and cards.
Lois opens her birthday
gifts and cards
10:00 Alison, our elder daughter,
who lives in Haslemere, Surrey, calls us on her mobile to wish Lois happy birthday - Alison is out walking with Sika, the family’s Danish dog. The
family moved back to England last summer after nearly 6 years of living in
Copenhagen, but since then Ed has only taken temporary jobs while looking for
"the dream job”.
However, Ed believes he will soon
be accepted for a very promising job in Canterbury, Kent. Ali and Ed have nevertheless
decided that the family will probably stay in Haslemere so that their children's
schooling will not be affected - Ed would spend up to 5 days a week in
Canterbury and come home every weekend, and also work from home as much as possible.
10:30 Busy busy busy – we have to
go out. We drive over to Hatherley and visit Fran, who has invited us for
morning coffee, and she also wants us to see her poppies. Lois and I would like
to transform one of our lawns into a "mini-meadow", with lots of
poppies, and just a narrow strip through the middle that I would mow regularly.
These "meadows" have become very fashionable at the moment - they
encourage a healthy insect population, it's said.
Fran (left) and Lois: we
admire Fran’s poppies
We have a cup of coffee and chat
a little with Fran. We see a bit of television in her tiny sitting-room - the
ceremony in the port city of Southsea is on, marking the 75th anniversary of
the D-Day, with a lot of world leaders including Queen Elizabeth, Theresa May,
Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron etc, plus some others that we
don’t recognise.
It is interesting to see - Lois
and I were not even aware that the ceremony was taking place today and would be
aired live: we never see television during the day - the programmes are normally
a bunch of crap, to put it mildly, and we do not even bother to browse through
the daytime listings. Fran says this ceremony is taking place today in Southsea
to commemorate the soldiers' embarkation in 1940, and that another ceremony will
be taking place in Normandy tomorrow, to commemorate the invasion itself.
12:00 Lois and I continue on to
the House-in-the-Tree pub to have Lois' birthday lunch - our first visit to
this pub and we are very impressed: it is crowded with customers, which is
unusual nowadays at lunchtimes: good quality food is still popular, it seems.
Fortunately, they still have one table that is not reserved.
Lois with a
"Henry" (orange and lemonade,
a local specialty) and me with my gin
and tonic
the starters - Lois' 1970's-style
prawn cocktail and my soup
Main courses: Lois's camembert and fig tart…
… and my steak pie: I’m wearing my shiny
new grey “Woolovers” sweater,
the first phase of my campaign to
become more popular
14:30 We drive home. In our
absence someone has delivered a bouquet of flowers to Lois from Sarah, our
daughter in Perth, Australia, which is nice.
Sarah, our daughter in
Perth, Australia has sent Lois a bouquet of flowers
Francis, Sarah's husband, has also posted 3 charming photos on Facebook about the family's visit to a children's
zoo at Pinjarra, south of Perth, at the weekend.
Sarah with our 5 and three-quarter-year-old
grandchildren, Lily and Jessie
It is very nostalgic for Lois and
me to see these pictures. Five years ago, together with Sarah and the twins, we visited
Paradise Park, a children's zoo in Hale, Cornwall, which has a special
Australian section – the visit happened just over a year before Sarah and her family
moved to Australia. But how much the twins have grown since then – my god!
Flashback to 2014: Paradise
Park in Hale, Cornwall: the twins enjoying themselves
in the park's so-called
"Australian" section - Sarah with Jessie...
...and Lois with Lily
Happy times! Lois and I miss the
family so much, now they live on the other side of the world, no doubt about
that.
15:00 Finally we go to bed for a
couple of hours – we’ve earned it, we say ha ha ha.
17:30 We get up. We start
watering our flower beds and vegetable gardens, and do the same for our neighbours,
Stephen and Francis, who are currently on holiday in Canada.
20:00 Finally we can gorge on
Lois's birthday cake.
We see a little television. An
interesting documentary is on, all about Naples’ "other" volcano.
Apparently, the Italian city of
Naples has not one but two volcanoes: not just the famous Vesuvius but also the
so-called "Campi Flegrei", which Lois and I have never heard of.
Campi Flegrei is apparently a
so-called "flat" volcano - and most of the city is built on it. It is
still active, say researchers, and it is currently showing threatening signs of
a possible eruption in the near future.
My god, what madness !!! Why does
Naples need 2 volcanoes - one is enough for anybody, surely !!! And who has
heard of a "flat" volcano before? !!! And it seems that the volcano
last erupted 15,000 years ago. My goodness! What sneakiness !! Being flat, and on
top of that, to pretend to be dormant for 15,000 years !!!
My goodness, what a crazy world
we live in !!!!
21:00 We continue to watch a bit
of television. The first episode of a new documentary series is on, all about
the River Thames. The host of the program is the charming Tony Robinson.
An interesting programme, and
Lois and I learn a lot we didn't know before. There are apparently, for example, people who are responsible for topping
the river’s population up with fresh fish (live ones ha ha) every now and then.
There are people responsible
for topping up the river’s population
with fresh fish every now and then.
What madness !!!!
It's also interesting to hear
about a toll-bridge that Lois and I always cross when we visit our friends Jen and
Bill in Kennington, Oxford.
the toll-bridge over the Thames at the
village of Swinford,
a bridge Lois and I always cross on the road to Kennington, Oxford
The bridge, located just outside
the village of Swinford, was apparently built in the 18th century, after King
George III and his royal coach fell into the water off the ferry which was at
that time the only way to cross the river here.
The king wasn't very happy about
that, to put it mildly. And he persuaded his friend, the Earl of Abingdon, to
build a bridge, and as a reward, the Earl and his descendants would not pay any
taxes on the tolls, which sounds to me like a pretty good deal, to put it
mildly – good grief!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz
!!!!!
Danish translation
08:00 I dag fejrer Lois sin 73. fødselsdag, men vi kan ikke bliver
liggende i sengen, fordi Lois har bestillet en tid til kl 9 hos Billy Shears,
den lokale damefrisør – pokkers!
09:30 Lois kommer tilbage. Jeg sætter kaffe over, og Lois åbner sine
fødselsdags-gaver og kort.
Lois åbner sine fødselsdags-gaver og kort
10:00 Alison, vores ældste datter, der bor i Haslemere, Surrey, ringer
til os på sin mobil for at ønske Lois tillykke med hendes fødseldag – Alison er
ude at gå tur med Sika, familiens danske hund. Familien flyttede tilbage til
England sidste sommer efter næsten 6 års ophold i København, men Ed har siden
da kun taget midlertidlige jobs, mens hun leder efter ”det perfekte”.
Ed tror imidlertid, han snart bliver accepteret til et meget lovende job
i Canterbury, Kent, men Ali og Ed har besluttet, at familien bliver boende i
Haslemere, så deres børns skolegang ikke bliver forstyrret – Ed ville tilbringe
op til 5 dage om ugen i Canterbury og komme hjem hver weekend, også arbejde
hjemmefra så meget som muligt.
10:30 Travlt travlt travlt – vi skal ud. Vi kører over til Hatherley og
smutter ind hos Fran, der har inviteret os til morgenkaffe, og hun vil have os
til at se hendes valmuer. Lois og jeg vil gerne omdanne én af vores græsplæner
til en ”mini-eng”, med masser af valmuer, med bare en smal strimmel gennem
midten, som jeg regelmæssigt ville slå. Disse ”enge” er blevet meget
moderigtige for tiden – de opmuntrer en sund insektbefolkning, siger man.
Fran (til venstre) og Lois: vi beundrer Frans valmuer
Vi drikker en kop kaffe, og snakker lidt med Fran. Vi ser lidt fjernsyn
i hendes lillebitte stue – de viser det ceremoni i havnebyen Southsea, der
marker D-dagens 75. årsdag, med en masse verdensledere, herunder dronning
Elizabeth, Theresa May, Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel
Macron.
Det er interessant at se – Lois og jeg var ikke engang klar over, at
ceremoniet skete i dag og ville blive sendt: vi ser aldrig fjernsyn om dagen:
programmerne er altid noget skrammel, for at sige mildt, og vi gider ikke
engang at blade igennem programlisterne. Fran siger, dette ceremoni finder sted
i dag i Southsea, for at mindes om soldaternes indskibning i 1940, og der sker
et andet ceremoni i morgen i Normandie, for at mindes om selve invasionen.
12:00 Lois og jeg kører videre til House-in-the-Tree pubben for at spise
Lois’ fødselsdagfrokost – vores første besøg hos denne pub, og vi er meget
imponeret: den er propfuldt af gæster,
hvilket er usædvanligt nu til dags når det kommer til frokosttid: god kvalitet mad
er stadig populær, lader det til! Heldigvis har de stadig ét bord, der ikke er
reserveret.
Lois med en ”Henry” (appelsinjus og limonade,
en lokal
specialitet) og mig med min gin og tonic
forretterne – Lois’ 1970’er-stil rejecocktail og min suppe
Hovedretterne: Lois’ camembert og figen tærte…
… og min
steak-pie: jeg har min spritnye grå ”Woolovers” sweater på,
den første
fase af min kampagne for at blive mere populær
14:30 Vi kører hjem. I vores fravær har nogen leveret en buket blomster
til Lois fra Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, hvilket er rart.
Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien har sendt Lois en buket blomster
Francis, Sarahs mand, har lagt 3 charmerende fotoer op på Facebook om
familiens besøg til en barnezoo på Pinjarra, der ligger syd for Perth.
Sarah med vores 5,5-årige børnebørn, Lily og Jessie
Det er meget nostalgisk for Lois og mig at se disse billeder. For 5 år
siden sammen med Sarah og tvillingerne, besøgte vi Paradise Park, en barnezoo i
Hale, Cornwall, der har et specielt australsk sektion, lidt over ét år før
Sarah og hendes familie flyttede til Australien. Men hvor meget er tvillingerne
dog vokset siden da – du godeste!
Tilbageblik
til 2014: Paradise Park i Hale, Cornwall: tvillingerne hygger sig
i parkens såkaldte
”australske” sektion – Sarah med Jessie
Lois med
Lily
Lykkelige tider! Lois og jeg
savner familien så meget, nu hvor de bor i den anden side af verden, ingen
tvivl om det.
15:00 Endelig går vi i seng i et par timer – vi har fortjent det, siger
vi ha ha!
17:30 Vi står op. Vi går i gang med at vande vores blomsterbede og
grøntsagshave, og gør det samme for vores naboer, Stephen og Francis, der for
tiden er på ferie i Canada.
20:00 Endelig kan vi mæske os i Lois’ fødselsdagskage.
Vi ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der
handler om Napolis ”anden” vulkan.
Tilsyneladende har den italienske by Napoli ikke én men to vulkaner:
ikke bare den berømte Vesuv men også den såkaldte ”Campi Flegrei”, som Lois og
jeg aldrig har hørt om.
Campi Flegrei er tilsyneladende en såkaldt ”flad” vulkan – og størstedelen
af byen er bygget på den. Den er stadig aktiv, siger forskere, og den viser for
tiden truende tegn på et eventuelt udbrud i den nærmeste fremtid.
Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!! Hvorfor har Napoli brug for 2 vulkaner –
en er nok for nogen some helst – det ved vi med sikkerhed!!! Og hvem har hørt
om en ”flad” vulkan før?!!! Og det lader til, at vulkanen sidst udbrød for 15.000
år siden. Du godeste! Sikke en
luskethed!! Dét, at være flad, og derudover dét, at lade som om den er
slumrende i 15.000 år!!!
Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det første episode
af en ny dokumentumserie, der handler om floden Thames. Programmets vært er den
charmerende Tony Robinson.
Et interessant program, og Lois og jeg lærer en masse, vi ikke vidste
før. Der er folk, for eksempel, der er ansvarlige for at toppe floden op med
friske fisk (levende ha ha) nu og da.
Der
er folk ansvarlige for at toppe floden op med friske fisk nu og da.
Det er interessant at høre også om en bom-bro, som Lois og jeg altid
krydse på vej til at besøge vores venner Jen og Bill i Kennington, Oxford.
den
bom-bro ved landsbyen Swinford, som Lois og jeg plejer
at krydse på
vej til Kennington, Oxford
Bom-broen, der ligger lidt udenfor landsbyen Swinford, blev
tilsyneladende bygget i 1700-tallene, efter kong Georg III. og hans kongelige
diligence faldt inde i vandet fra den færge, som dengang var den eneste måde at
krydse floden på.
Det var kongen ikke særlig glad for, for at sige mildt. Og han overtalte
sin ven, Earl of Abingdon, til at få bygget en bro, og som belønning, ville
jarlen og hans efterkommere betale ikke nogle skatte på bompengene, hvilket
lyder som en god aftale, for at sige mildt – du godeste!
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!!
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