Tuesday 23 July 2019

09:00 Lois and I tumble out of the shower cubicle and after breakfast I start preparing a Hungarian vocabulary test that I want my friend, "Magyar" Mike to take at the beginning of our weekly "Hungarian hour", which takes place every Tuesday morning at 10am. He will do the same for me.

10:00 "Magyar" Mike calls at the door and we study Hungarian for an hour. He tells me that one of his two grandchildren, Adam, are currently staying with him and Mary, which the elderly couple are very happy about - Adam is training to be a veterinarian and he’s currently getting few weeks’ work experience in a veterinary clinic in Malmesbury, not far from Mike and Mary's house in Nailsworth.

flashback to 2014: "Magyar" Mike in happier times,

together with Lois and "Magyar" Mary, Mike's wife (right)

11:00 Mike has to go, and Lois and I relax with a cup of coffee on the couch. Afterwards, I go out into the backyard and continue cutting back one of our many giant hedges growing at the bottom of the garden, forming the border between our backyard and our late neighbour Bill's backyard.

It's very hot today, so what I'm doing is just a start on the work - and I decide not to use my electric hedge trimmer and dig out my secateurs instead, so the work takes much longer. I have decided to be careful not to disturb or annoy the  huge rhubarb plant that grows next to the hedge: the plant tends to complain if I step on it. Also, it is not a "morning plant", to put it mildly - yikes!

In the end I leave the task half done, something I don’t particularly like,

but I am finding it too warm to continue for the moment:

meanwhile the rhubarb plants are just beginning to wake up - the lazy buggers!

The part of the hedge that is on our former neighbour Bill's side has become a bit of a jungle, to put it mildly. But I’m going to let that one slide because, unfortunately, Bill has just passed away, so he can hardly do much about it, to be frank.

It is still hard to believe that poor Bill is not here with us any more - his rapid decline and death were so sudden. I just look around and he’s gone. From time to time I have to remind myself that he and Mary (now in a nursing home) are no longer there, ten feet away or so, in the next door house.

When this job is finally finished - maybe later in the week, I may try and jump over the hedge and land in Bill's garden, just to see if I can still do it, which will be nice.

Just like our local hero, Dwight Pettigrew, who is regularly seen jumping over hedges in the neighbourhood - his personal confession and dream of Olympic glory hit the world’s headlines recently when he issued a highly personal statement to journalists (source: Onion News ).

This is what Dwight told reporters –

"The Olympics never fail to leave me in awe. It is both humbling and breath-taking to see what the greatest athletes in the world can do when they work hard and push themselves to excel. And this time around, seeing the incredible achievements of the winter games in Pyeongchang has motivated me to strive for such excellent excellence myself.

"Inspired by the Olympics, I have spent the last two weeks trying to jump over all sorts of stuff.

“I started with really small things like a pile of books and the ottoman in my living room. It may not seem very much, but I have big dreams, and you have to start somewhere. In addition, I am pretty sure that gold medallist Vincent Zhou did not land a quadruple spin-thing the first time he put skates on. He began by making easier jumps and working his way up to the much harder ones, and probably he had to take quite a few tumbles along the way. It's a gruelling process, but I've learned that sometimes you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and disentangle your foot from the lawn chair you just failed to clear.

“What it really is all about is passion. One of my goals is to make it to Tokyo by 2020, so I can be there during the opening ceremonies to jump the Olympic torch, and I do not intend to let anything  stand in my way. Fortunately, the rush of adrenaline I get with each jump allows me to tune out the pain in my quadriceps and tune out the family members trying to shame me into quitting, and the security guard who tells me that I can't jump over benches and potted plants at my local shopping mall.

That man can throw me out of the mall for wrongly assessing the height of the Boost Mobile kiosk, smashing  into it and making smartphone accessories fly off in all directions, but he can't take away my dreams of glory, that’s for sure!

“I know I may fail . I may never be able to jump over a whole staircase or over a school bus. And it's possible that I'm not going to match the achievements of my heroes pulling 1080’s back-to-back over my neighbour's hedge, as Chloe Kim can with a snowboard and a half-pipe. But I believe that with grit, determination and a little luck, one day I could be on your TV representing Britain in the Olympics.

Gold medallist Chloe Kim

“Perhaps if that time ever comes and you see me soaring majestically, high above a cardboard box at the centre of a jam-packed arena, you too will become driven to achieve greatness!”

How inspiring! And when next door finally becomes empty, I will have my chance to jump over Bill's hedge and start my own journey towards Olympic glory! We will see!

11:15 Meanwhile, Lois is starting to root through the 8 plastic bags packed with unwanted baby clothes, which I came across in the attic the other day.

The 8 plastic bags filled with unwanted baby clothes and the approx 8 bags

of unwanted adult clothes that I came across in the attic  the other day -

my god, what madness !!!!

Lois rummages through the piles of baby clothes

classifying them by age of child - the poor thing !!!

Actually however I think she enjoys the work - it is after all quite nostalgic.

13:00 I hurry into the kitchen and make lunch: poached eggs on toast with watercress - yum yum! Afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I take a little look at my smartphone and I see that Boris is going to be prime minister - yikes!

I don't want to write him off - we'll have to see. It may be that he’ll turn into a truthful, intelligent, competent statesman, now that he is prime minister, but on the other hand, people said that Donald Trump could change after he won the election, and that wasn’t borne out, to put it mildly.

It's a bit of a relief to remember that Britain is not a particularly important country any more, so even though Boris may well be a disastrous leader, only we poor British are going to suffer the consequences. A relatively small country that is so dependent on trade but which has excluded itself from the important trading blocs - the EU (2019) and the US (1776) - and is now negotiating with zero bargaining power – we will never again play an important role on the world stage – that’s for sure, but maybe that’s a good thing – the jury is still out on that one.

16:00 I go out into the backyard and continue a little more work on the hedge, but it's warmer than ever, so I decide to give up for the moment. But I manage to keep smiling, which is the most important thing, I have to say.

the work is only half done, but I manage to keep smiling,

which is the most important thing I have to say ha ha ha!

18:00 Lois's work on the bags of baby clothes is now complete. We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening listening to the radio and watching a bit of television.

Lois’s work on the bags of baby clothes is now complete -

and all bags have been classified and labelled by age of child - hurrah!

We have dinner - yum yum!

We listen a little to the radio, an interesting episode in the series "Inside Health", which deals with current health issues. We like this series because its target audience includes doctors as well as the general public, although this sometimes means that some features are a little hard to understand - however I’m going to let that one slide, because sometimes it feels good to be a little confused ha ha ha. The host of the programme is the charming Dr. Mark Porter.

Tonight we hear an interesting feature about Parkinson's disease, which is of particular interest to us because Stephen, Lois's cousin in Adelaide, was recently diagnosed with it. It turns out that trials will soon begin with a probiotic drug called Simprove that can sit in the lower intestine (most probiotics cannot penetrate to the bottom of the intestine, it seems). Simprove helps the good bacteria and inhibits one bad bacterium in particular from sending messages to the brain that appear to exacerbate the intensity of the symptoms. Sounds promising.

21:00 We turn off the radio and watch a bit of television. We enjoy an entertaining visit to this year's Tatton Park Flower Show. The programme hosts are the charming Joe Swift and Joe Whiley.

It turns out that some garden designer has designed a garden that portrays dementia. 

The garden starts out as an orgy of colour, and a dry wall depicts how active and playful we feel when we are in good health: but suddenly we see a gap in the wall that depicts what happens when dementia begins to get us – yikes! 

And as we walk on through the garden, the earlier vibrant colours begin to fade: the wall crumbles away, moss has appeared, and there are far fewer flowers and fewer colours. And the garden’s centre-point is a water well, where a lifetime’s memories drain away and disappear – yikes, brutal!!!!

Or did the designer just get fed up with the project half way through and decide to market it as a dementia-themed garden, rather than go to the trouble of finishing it off properly? That's something I'm not completely sure about - the jury is still out on that one.

Nevertheless a bit of a scary program to go to bed on, that’s for sure.

22:00 We lie down in the bed in Sarah's old room, which overlooks the backyard and open the windows wide because of the heat. But at midnight the predicted thunderstorm begins, with lots of almost continuous lightning and thunder, so we decide to roll out of bed and jump into the double bed in our normal room, where the curtains are thicker. Zzzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation

09:00 Lois og jeg vælter ud af brusekabinen og efter morgenmad går jeg i gang med at udarbejde en ungarske ordforrådtest, som jeg vil have min ven, ”Magyar” Mike til at tage i begyndelsen af vores ugentlige ”ungarske time”, der finder sted hver tirsdag formiddag kl 10. Han vil gøre det samme for mig.

10:00 ”Magyar” Mike ringer på døren og vi studerer ungarsk i en time. Én af hans to børnebørn, Adam, bor hos Mike og Mary i øjeblikket, hvilket det ældre par er meget glad for – Adam uddanner sig til dyrlæge og får nogle ugers arbejdsoplevelse i en dyrlægeklinik i Malmesbury, der ligger ikke ret langt fra Mike og Marys hus i Nailsworth.

tilbageblik til 2014: ”Magyar” Mike i lykkeligere tider,

sammen med Lois og ”Magyar” Mary, Mikes kone (til højre)

11:00 Mike skal af sted, og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen. Bagefter går jeg ud i baghaven og fortsætter én af vores mange kæmpe hække, der gror i bunden af haven, og danner grænsen mellem vores  baghave og vores afdøde nabo Bills baghave.

Det er meget varmt i dag, så hvad jeg laver er bare en start på arbejdet – og jeg beslutter ikke at bruge min elektrisk hækkeklipper, og graver min beskæresaks i stedet for, så arbejdet tager meget længere. Jeg har besluttet at være forsigtigt, for ikke at beskade eller irritere vores enorme rabarbeplant, der gror ved siden af hækken: planten har tendens til at brokke sig, hvis jeg træder på den. Også er den ikke et ”morgenplante”, for at sige mildt – yikes!

Endelig overlader jeg opgaven halvt gjort, hvilket jeg ikke kan lide,

men jeg finder det for varmt at fortsætte for øjeblikket

Den del af hækken, der er på vores tidligere nabo Bills side er blevet til lidt af en jungle, for at sige mildt. Men det springer jeg over, fordi Bill desværre er afgået ved døden, så det kan han realistisk ikke gøre ved, ærlig talt.

Det er stadig svært at tro, at stakkels Bill er ikke her med os mere – hans hurtig tilbagegang og død var så pludselige. Jeg vendte mig bare om, og han var forsvundet. Fra tid til anden må jeg minde mig selv, at han og Mary (nu i et plejehjem) ikke er der længere, ti fods væk eller deromkring,  i nabohuset.

Når arbejdet endelig bliver færdigt – måske senere på ugen, kan det være at jeg kan hoppe over hækken under besvær og lande i Bills have, hvilket vil være rart. 

Ligesom vores lokale helt, Dwight Pettigrew, der regelmæssigt kan ses i gang med at hoppe over hække i nabolaget – hans personlige tilståelse og drømme om olympiske herlighed ramte verdens overskrifter for nylig, da han udsendte en højt personlig erklæring til journalister (kilde: Onion News).

”OL undlader aldrig at undre mig. Det er både ydmygende og betagende at se, hvad de største atleter i verden kan udrette, når de arbejder hårdt og presser sig selv til at udmærke sig. Og denne gang har dét, at se de utrolige resultater på vinterkampene i Pyeongchang, motiveret mig til selv at stræbe efter sådan fremragende fortræffelighed.

”Inspireret af OL har jeg brugt de sidste to uger på at hoppe over alle slags ting.

Jeg startede med virkelig små ting, som en bunke bøger og ottomanen i min stue. Det virker måske ikke ret meget, men jeg har store drømme, og du skal starte ét eller andet sted. Desuden er jeg temmelig sikker på, at guldmedaljevinderen Vincent Zhou ikke mestrede en firedoblet spin-dims, første gang han tog skøjter på. Han begyndte at gøre lettere hop og arbejdede sig op til de meget sværere, og sandsynligvis måtte han opleve ganske mange tumler undervejs. Det er en overvældende proces, men jeg har lært, at du sommetider bare skal samle dig selv, støve dig selv af og vikle din fod fri fra græsplænestolen, som du bare ikke kunne hoppe over.

Hvad det virkelig handler om er lidenskab. Et af mine mål er at komme til Tokyo i 2020, så jeg kan være der under åbningsceremonierne for at hoppe over den olympiske fakkel, og jeg har ikke til hensigt at lade noget stå i vejen for mig. Heldigvis giver bølgen af adrenalin, jeg får med hvert hop, mulighed for at tage for alvorligt smerterne i mine quadriceps, og de familiemedlemmer, der prøver, ved at skamme mig ud, at få mig til at holde op, og den sikkerhedsvagt, der fortæller mig, at jeg ikke må hoppe over bænke og potteplanter i mit lokale indkøbscenter.

Den mand kan smide mig ud af indkøbscentret for at have forkert vurderet højden på Boost Mobile-kiosken, smadret ind i den og få smartphone-tilbehør til at flyve i alle retninger, men han kan ikke fjerne mine drømme om herlighed – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!

Jeg ved, at det måske kan mislykkes mig. Jeg kommer måske aldrig til at kunne hoppe over en hel trappe eller over en skolebus. Og det er muligt, at jeg ikke kommer til at matche bedrifterne af mine helte, når jeg klarer 1080'erne gentagende gange over min nabos hæk, som Chloe Kim kan med et snowboard og et halvt rør. Men jeg tror, at med rygrad, beslutsomhed og lidt held kunne jeg en dag være på dit tv, når jeg repræsenterer Storbritannien  i de olympiske lege.

Guldmedaljevinderen Chloe Kim

Måske, hvis min tid nogensinde kommer, og du ser mig flyve majestætisk, højt over en papkasse i midten af en stuvende arena, vil du også blive inspireret til at opnå storhed.

Hvor inspirerende! Og når vores nabohuset endelig bliver mennesketomt, vil jeg få min chance for at hoppe over Bills hæk og starte min egen rejse mod olympisk herlighed! Vi får se!

11:15 I mellemtiden går Lois i gang med at rode igennem de 8 plastiksække propfyldte med uønsket babytøj, som jeg for et par dage siden faldt over i loftet.

De 8 plastiksække propfyldte med uønsket babytøj og de omkring 8 sække

uønsket voksentøj, som jeg forleden faldt over i vores loft –

du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Lois i gang med at rode igennem de bunkevis af babytøj og

klassificerer dem efter barnealderen –staklen!!!

Men faktisk nyder hun opgavet meget – den er trods alt helt nostalgisk.

13:00 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet og laver frokost: pocherede æg på toast med brøndkarse – yum yum! Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone og jeg ser, at Boris er ved at blive premierminister – yikes!

Jeg har ikke lyst til at afskrive ham – vi får se. Det kan være, at han bliver til en sanddru, intelligent, kompetent statsmand, nu hvor han er premierminister, men på den anden side sagde man at Donald Trump kunne ændre sig efter han vandt valget, og det kom ikke til at holde stik for at sige mildt.

Det er lidt af en lettelse at mindes om, at Storbritannien ikke er et særlig vigtigt land mere, så, selvom Boris kan være en katastrofal leder, er det kun os stakkels briter, der kommer til at lide konsekvenserne. Et forholdsvis lille land, der er så afhængig af handel, men som er blevet ekskluderet fra de vigtige handelsblokker – EU og USA – og med overhovedet ingen forhandlingskort - aldrig igen kommer til at spille en vigtig rolle på verdensscenen – det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!!!

16:00 Jeg går ud i baghaven og fortsætter med lidt mere arbejde på hækken, men det er varmere, end nogensinde, så beslutter jeg at opgive for øjeblikket. Men jeg formår at fortsætte med at smile, hvilket er det vigtigste, det må jeg nok sige.

arbejdet er kun halvt klart, men jeg formår at fortsætte med at smile,

hvilket er det vigtigste, det må jeg nok sige ha ha ha!

18:00 Lois’s arbejde på de sække babytøj er nu færdigt. Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt fjernsyn.

Lois’s arbejde på de sække babytøj er nu færdigt –

og alle sække er blevet klassificeret og etiketteret ifølge barnealder – hurra!

Vi spiser aftensmad – yum yum!

Vi lytter lidt til radio, et interessant afsnit i serien ”Inside Health”, der handler om nuværende helbredsspørgsmål. Vi kan godt lide denne serie, fordi dens målpublikum inkluderer læger så vel som den almindelige offentlighed, selvom dette nogle gange betyder, at visse indslag er lidt svært at forstå, men det springer jeg over, fordi nogle gange føles det godt at blive lidt forvirret ha ha ha. Programmets vært er den charmerende dr. Mark Porter.

I aften hører vi et interessant indslag om Parkinsons sygdom, som i særdeleshed interesser os, fordi Stephen, Lois’ fætter i Adelaide, for nylig blev diagnosticeret med den. Det viser sig, at prøver snart vil begynde med en probiotisk lægemiddel ved navnet Simprove, der kan sidde i den nederste tarm (de fleste probiotiske kan ikke penetrerer til tarmens bund, lader det til). Simprove hjælper de gode bakterier og forhindre en dårlig bakterie i særdeleshed i at sende de visse beskeder til hjernen, der forværrer intensiteten af sygdommens symptomer. Lyder lovende!

21:00 Vi slukker for radioen og ser lidt fjernsyn. De viser en underholdende besøg på årets Tatton Park Flower Show. Programmets værter er de charmerende Joe Swift og Joe Whiley.

Det viser sig, at én eller anden havedesigner har designet en have, der skildrer demens. Haven er et farveorgie, og en tør mur skildrer, hvor aktiv og spillevende vi føler os, når vi er i god helbred:  men pludselig ser vi en kløft i muren, der skildrer hvad der sker, når demens begynder at få fat på os, og mens vi vandrer gennem haven begynder de tidligere vibrerende farver at fade: muren er i gang med at smuldre bort, mos er dukket op, og der er færre blomster og færre farver. Og havens centerpunkt er en vandbrønd, hvor en livstids minder strømmer væk og forsvinder – yikes!

Lidt af et skræmmende program til at gå i seng på – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om !!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng i Sarahs gamle værelse, som har udsigt over baghaven og vi åbner vinduer på grund af varmen. Men ved midnats tiden begynder det forudsagte tordenvejr med masser af lyn og torden, så beslutter  vi at vælte ud og hoppe op i dobbeltsengen i vores normale værelse , hvor gardinerne er tykkere. Zzzzzzzzz!!!!