Danskcolin: Sunday 28 July 2019

09:45 Lois has to go out - she wants to participate in her sect's two worship services, taking place today in Tewkesbury library.

I have a little alone time and I go up the ladder to the attic to start the next phase of our current downsizing mini-project: to find potentially useful kitchen utensils and the like, which our daughter Sarah and Francis, her husband, left with us when they moved to Australia for 2 , 5 years ago.

I collect a lot of potentially useful kitchen utensils, bowls and the like, including some wedding presents from Sarah's first wedding in 2001, still in their boxes – good god, what madness!

I also come across lots of things that were overlooked during the mini-project's previous phases, including unwanted clothes and bedding and suchlike, including some college notes - damn !!!

I start to collect a lot of various unwanted belongings and begin stacking them

in the attic’s only well-documented area, right next to the entrance hatch

I assume the college notes are Sarah's, and I start throwing them out, when I notice that they are actually some of Lois's old notes, dating from a personal-assistant course she took in the 1990’s at a local college. I quickly put the notes back in their sack, in case she still wants to keep them, although she later tells me she's no longer interested in them, which is nice, so I can throw them out for recycling.

I drag down the ladder all the unwanted articles I've collected so far

13:00 I have lunch - and take a little look at my smartphone. Gill, my sister in Cambridge, has sent me a text message on whatsapp. Unfortunately, she has broken two bones in her hand, making it very difficult for her to look after her disabled husband, Peter, to put it mildly. She says, however, that she has managed to get some help, although I don't know exactly what she means by that. She says the bones will heal themselves in 6-8 weeks.

14:00 Now that I've got used to not getting up before 6 am, I've decided to limit my daily afternoon nap to 30 minutes or miss out on it completely, as an experiment.

Today, I have chosen to miss the nap and this is fortunate because our neighbour Bob and his grandson Graham call at the door at 2 pm and start cleaning up our gutters, where a giant forest has begun to grow, mostly because of moss and pigeon faeces – good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

flashback to July 20: our gutter, complete

with its "menacing" vegetation - what madness !!!

Bob and Graham remove the pieces of gutter brush guard and dump them on the lawn - and Lois and I will have to try to clean them before Graham reinstalls it. Some pieces are stuffed full of moss and general sludge – my god, what madness !!!

Later in the day Lois inspects the gutter brush guard removed from the gutters and

dumped on the lawn for cleaning

I'm not quite sure whether gutter protection is a good idea or not - I have read that moss tends to grow on the north side of roofs where the sun never shines, encouraging moss that ends up in the guttering, and the birds worsen the problem, needless to say. The kind of gutter protection we got installed doesn't cope that well with moss, I suspect.

15:00 Lois comes back from Tewkesbury and we relax with a cup of tea on the couch. Afterwards, I go up to the attic again and collect even more of the household items that our daughter Sarah left with us, including various ornaments, vases, etc.

Our daughter Alison's old room, now crowded with

mostly unwanted belongings and bric-a-brac etc

that I have dragged down the ladder

- good grief, what madness !!!!

It will be up to Lois to decide which articles to keep, which to throw out (waste or recycled waste), which to donate to the charity store, and which to send to her sect's missions abroad.

18:00 We have dinner and then spend the rest of the evening watching some television. The Antiques Road Show is on, an interesting series where people dig out old bric-a-brac, paintings, ornaments, etc. and bring them along to the show, so that experts can examine them, provide some background details, and estimate their potential worth in today’s antiques market. Today's show is broadcast from the Black Country Museum, located in a suburb of Birmingham, a museum that Lois and I know well. The host of the program is the charming Fiona Bruce.

The show is always interesting to watch because you never know what kind of articles people are going to bring along - and the experts themselves do not have the faintest idea what they are going to be asked to examine, which is nice.

A child's toy, purchased in a charity shop, turns out to be approx. 3000 years old – my god, what madness !!

I would like to know more details about the toy and exactly how the expert is so confident in the age of the toy, but unfortunately we do not hear much about it, apart from its estimated age, and the fact that it was found during excavations in Cyprus in the 19th century. The toy is now worth around £ 500, which surprises us - we suspected it would be more than that, but we don't know anything about the antiques market, that’s for sure.

a 3000-year-old toy bought in a charity shop -

good grief, what madness !!!!

A jewelled flower, produced by Fabergé in 1904 or so, is estimated at £1 million: the “flower” was presented to the Worcestershire county regiment by the Countess of Dudley, wife of the regiment's deputy commander, just after members of the regiment returned from South Africa following the victory in the Boer War - what a crazy world we live in !!!!

It is also nostalgic for Lois and me to see the Black Country Museum again.

The last time we visited the museum was last year, along with Sylvia, Lois' cousin from Melbourne, and her partner Rod.

flashback to last year: we visit the Black Country Museum

with Lois's Australian cousin Sylvia and her partner Rod.

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

Danish translation: søndag den 28. juli 2019

09:45 Lois skal ud – hun ønsker at deltage i sin sekts to gudstjenester, der finder sted i dag i byen Tewkesburys bibliotek.

Jeg har lidt alenetid og går op ad loftstigen for at indledte den næste fase af vores nuværende downsize mini-projekt: potentielt nyttige køkkenredskaber og lignende, som vores datter Sarah og Francis, hendes mand, efterlod hos os, da de flyttede til Australien for 2,5 år siden.

Jeg samler en masse potentielt nyttige køkkenredskaber, skåle og lignende, herunder nogle bryllupsgaver fra Sarah første bryllup i 2001, stadig i deres æsker – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Jeg støder også på masser af ting, der blev overset under mini-projektets forrige faser, inklusive uønskede tøj og sengetøj og lignende, også nogle collegenotater – pokkers !!!

Jeg samler en masse forskellige uønskede egenskaber

i loftets eneste veldokumenterede område lige ved siden af loftlemmen

Jeg formoder, at collegenotaterne er Sarahs og begynder at smide dem ud, da jeg lægger mærke til, at de faktisk er nogle af Lois’ gamle notater, daterende fra en personlig-assistent kursus hun tog i 1990’erne på et lokalt college. Jeg putter notaterne hurtigt tilbage i deres sæk, for det tilfælde, hun stadig ønsker at beholde dem, selvom hun senere fortæller mig, hun ikke længere er interesseret i dem, hvilket er rart, så kan jeg nu smide dem ud til genbrug.

Jeg slæber alle de uønskede artikler, jeg har samlet, ned ad loftstigen

13:00 Jeg spiser frokost – og kigger lidt på min smartphone. Gill, min søster i Cambridge, har sendt mig en sms på whatsapp. Hun har desværre brækket to knogler i hånden, hvilket gør det meget svært at passe på sin handicappede mand, Peter, for at sige mildt. Hun siger imidlertid, at hun har nået at få fat i ”nogen hjælp”, selvom jeg ved ikke, præcis hvad hun mener. Hun siger, at knogler vil læge sig selv om 6-8 uger.

14:00 Nu hvor jeg har vænnet mig til ikke at stå op før kl 6, har jeg besluttet at begrænse min daglige eftermidddagslur til 30 minutter eller gå glip af den fuldstændigt, som et eksperiment.

I dag tilfældigvis har jeg valgt at gå glip af luren og dette er heldigt, fordi vores nabo Bob og hendes barnebarn Graham ringer på døren kl 14, og de går i gang med at rydde op i vores tagrender, hvor en kæmpe skov er blevet i gang med at gro, for det meste på grund af mos duve-afføring – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i!!!!

tilbageblik til den 20. juli: vores tagrende, komplet

med ”truende” vegetation – sikke et vanvid!!!

Bob og Graham fjerner stykkerne tagrendenet og dumper dem på græsplænen – og Lois og jeg må prøve at gøre det rent, før de geninstallerer det. Nogle stykker er propfyldt med mos og almindelige søle og mudder – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Jeg er ikke helt sikker på, at tagrendebeskyttelse er en god idé, eller ej – jeg har læst, at mos har tendens til at gro på det nordlige side af tage, hvor solen ikke skinner, og fuglene forværrer problemet, unødvendigt at sige. Den slags tagrendbeskyttelse vi fik installeret hamler ikke ret godt op med mos, mistænker jeg.

15:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra Tewkesbury og vi slapper af med en kop te i sofaen. Bagefter går jeg op ad loftstigen igen og samler endnu flere af de husholdningsartikler som vorest datter Sarah efterlod hos os, inklusive forskellige ornamenter, vaser osv.

Vores datter Alisons gamle værelse, nu propfyldt af

for det meste uønskede egenskaber og nips osv, som jeg har slæbt ned ad loftstigen

– du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Det vil være op til Lois at beslutte hvilke artikler at beholde, hvilke at smide ud (affald eller genbrugsaffald) , hvilke at donere til velgørenhedsbutikken, og hvilke at sende til hendes sekts missioner i udlandet.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og derefter bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser Antiques Road Show, en interessant serie, hvor folk graver gamle nips, malerier, ornamenter osv frem og medbringer dem hen til showet, så eksperter kan undersøge dem, give nogle baggrunddetaljer, og anslå deres potentielle værd på antikvitetsmarkedet. Dagens show sendes fra Black Country-museet, der ligger i en forstad til Birmingham, et museum, som Lois og jeg godt kender. Programmets vært er den charmerende Fiona Bruce.

Showet er altid interessant at se, fordi man aldrig ved, hvad slags artikler folk kommer til at medbringe – og selve eksperter har også ikke den fjerneste anelse, hvad de kommer til at blive bedt om at undersøge, hvilket er rart.

Et barns legetøj, købt i en velgørenhedsbutik, viser sig at være ca. 3000 år gammelt – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!! Jeg vil gerne vide mere detaljeret om legetøjet, og præcis hvordan eksperten er så sikker på legetøjets alder, men desværre hører vi ikke ret meget, bortset fra dets anslåede alder, og dét, at de blev fundet under udgravninger i Cypern i 1800-tallet. Legetøjet er nu værd omkring 500£, hvilket overrasker os – vi mistænkte, det ville være mere værdifuldt, end 500£, men vi kender ikke noget til antikvitetsmarkedet, det ved vi med sikkerhed.

et 3000-årigt legetøj købt i en velgørenhedsbutik –

du godeste, sikke et vanvid !!!!

En (gold stalk) flowers of enamelled silver and tiny silver stamens, dewdrop of diamond in the centre.

En juvelbesat blomst, fremstillet af Fabergé i 1904 eller deromkring, bliver anslået til 1 million £: blomst blev overrækket til det lokale grevskab Worcestershires regiment af konen af regimentets vice-kommandør, grevinden af Dudley, da medlemmer af regimentet kom tilbage fra Syd-Afrika efter sejr i Boerkrigen – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!