A wasted day - I had put a cross
in the wall calendar to remind me today to arrange our travel insurance for
next year's holiday in Australia, a visit to our younger daughter Sarah and her
family in Perth.
And I had already chosen the
insurance company itself, based on Which consumer magazine's article on the
subject - this company offers the best prices to people of our age range, ie their
“junior old crow” range, of 70-75 years.
10:00 I call them, but all lines
are busy - damn! They say they will call me back, with the result that I spend
the morning sitting next to the phone. They finally call me after lunch, ie at
1 pm, but I have already decided to apply for the policy online - the guy at
the other end of the line assures me it is very user friendly, so I decide to
give it a shot.
14:00 I go to bed and take a
gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois drives over to the local Sainsbury’s
supermarket to buy a few things. Andy, Lois' sect's most active member, has
invited all sect members to a luncheon tomorrow at noon, and Lois has offered
to bring a salad of some kind.
Andy with his wife, Angie - a recent
photo
Lois has asked me to go with her to
the lunch and support her, so I will be taking part too, though it's not really
my bag, to put it mildly - yikes!
Unfortunately, the prospect of
tomorrow's lunching get-together has already begun to cast a bit of a shadow on
my day - my problem is not only my tendency to be a massive introvert, but
also, to be brief, that I feel I have nothing in common with the sect members who
will be gathering at Andy and Angie’s, no matter how friendly they are. Damn!
But fortunately, it's just a "drop in" get-together. Lois says we can
arrive at 12:15 - 12:30 and leave by 2:30 or so, so I can come home and take my
usual afternoon nap, which will be nice.
15:00 Lois returns from the
supermarket with a bag of stuff for the salad. I get up and we relax with a cup
of tea and a piece of cake on the couch. Afterwards, I sit down with the
computer and try to tackle all the health questions that the insurance company
asks us, but the whole thing takes almost 1 hour - it's an awful website: if
you make a mistake somewhere in their health questionnaire, you have to start
again from scratch, and key in the names, ages, holiday dates, etc all over
again - there is no opportunity to go back and correct the error before
proceeding. My god, what madness !!!
In the end, I manage to get a
quote for their health supplement, but I decide to leave the purchase of the
policy itself until tomorrow, when I might feel more energetic.
Good grief, what a sick world we
live in !!!!!
18:00 We have dinner and spend
the rest of the evening watching some television. An old episode of Top of the
Pops is on, from May 1988. The programme's hosts are the charming Mike Read and
Simon Mayo.
It is heart-warming to see this
old episode, and especially the comedian Harry Enfield's interpretation of the
moving song, "Loadsamoney".
And I find I start to feel a little nostalgic for an
era when a simple plasterer could earn loads of "dosh", more than the
entire country, simply by going "bosh bosh shoom shoom wallop" on
some customer's walls - happy times!
Come back, Maggie, all is
forgiven ha ha ha! But we won't see her like again sadly – that’s
for sure.
Oh Maggie - you came and you gave
without taking - and we need you today, oh Maggie (copyright Barry Manilow ha
ha ha).
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz
!!!!
Danish translation
En spildt dag – jeg havde sat et kryds i vægkalenderen, for at minde mig
i dag om at arrangere vores rejseforsikring til næste års ferie i Australien,
et besøg hos vores yngste datter Sarah og hendes familie i Perth.
Og jeg havde allerede valgt selve forsikringsselskabet, på grundlag af
Which-forbrugersmagasins artikel om emnet – dette selskab tilbyder de bedste
priser til mennesker i vores aldersspænd, dvs 70-75 år.
10:00 Jeg ringer til dem, men alle linjer er optagede – pokkers! De
siger de skal ringe tilbage til mig, med resultatet at jeg bruger formiddagen
på at sidde og vente ved siden af telefonen. De ringer endelig til mig efter
frokost, dvs kl 13, men jeg har nu allerede besluttet at omsøge om policen
online - fyren på den ende af røret forsikrer mig, det er meget brugervenligt,
så beslutter jeg at give det et skud.
14:00 Jeg går i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I
mellemtiden kører Lois over til det lokale Sainsburys-supermarked for at købe
et par ting. Andy, Lois’ sekts lederskabs mest aktive medlem, har inviteret
alle sektmedlemmer til en frokost i morgen kl 12-16, og Lois har tilbudt at
medbringe en salat af en eller anden art.
Andy med sin
kone, Angie – et nyligt billede
Lois har bedt mig om at komme med til frokosten og støtte hende, så jeg
også vil deltage i den, selvom det er ikke min ting, for at sige mildt – yikes!
Desværre er udsigten til morgendagens spise-sammenkomst begyndt at kaste
lidt af en skygge over min dag – mit problem er ikke bare min tendens til at
være en massiv introvert, men også kort sagt, dét, at jeg føler, jeg har ikke
noget til fælles med de sektmedlemmer, der skal samles hos Andy og Angie,
uanset hvor venlige de er. Pokkers! Men heldigvis er det bare en ”smut
ind”-sammenkomst. Lois siger, vi kan ankommer kl 12:15 – 12:30 og stikke af kl
14:30 eller deromkring, så jeg kan komme hjem og tage min sædvanlige
eftermiddagslur, hvilket vil være rart.
15:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra supermarkedet med en pose fødevarer. Jeg
står op og vi slapper af med en kop te og et stykke kage i sofaen. Bagefter
sætter jeg med computeren og prøver at takle alle de helbredsspørgsmål, som
forsikringsselskabet stiller os, men det hele tager næsten 1 time – det er et
elendigt websted: hvis man tager fejl et eller andet sted i deres
helbredsspørgeskema, må man starte igen, og kommer en anden gang med navnene,
aldrene, feriedatoerne osv – der er ikke nogen lejligheden at vende tilbage og rette
fejlen før man fortsætter. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!
Til sidst lykkes mig at få et tilbud på et helbredstilskud, men jeg
beslutter at overlade købet af selve policen til i morgen, når jeg måske vil
føle mig mere energisk.
Du godeste, sikke en syg verden vi lever i !!!!!
18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt
fjernsyn. De viser et gamle afsnit af Top of the Pops fra maj 1988. Programmets
værter er de charmerende Mike Read og Simon Mayo.
Det er hjertevarmende at se dette gamle afsnit, og i sær komikeren Harry
Enfields fortolkning af den rørende sang, ”Loadsamoney”. Jeg finder, jeg føler mig lidt nostalgisk efter
en æra, hvor en simpel gipser, kunne tjene en masse ”dosh”, mere, end hele
landet, blot ved at gå ”bosh bosh shoom
shoom wallop” på en eller anden kundes vægge – lykkelige tider!
Kom tilbage, Maggie, alt er tilgivet ha ha ha! Hendes lige findes ikke –
det ved jeg med sikkerhed!!!
Oh Maggie – you came and you gave
without taking – and we need you today, oh Maggie (copyright Barry Manilow ha
ha ha
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!
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