07:30 Lois and I wake up in our
own bed for the first time in 11 days, or so, which is nice. We hop into the
shower cubicle and after breakfast we head over to the small town of Bishop's
Cleeve to shop at the local Tesco supermarket - the house is almost completely
empty of food.
On the way, we head into the
local Daisy-chain charity shop to donate two bags of unwanted clothing that our
daughter Sarah left with us when she moved to Australia 3 years ago with
Francis and their now 6-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie.
We still have in our garage about
20 other bags of unwanted clothes, including baby clothes, which we plan to
deliver to Lois' s sect’s headquarters in Birmingham - they will donate them to
charities in the Third World. This delivery will mark the end of a major phase
of our current downsizing mini project, which is satisfying.
The next phase will involve
unwanted toys - another gigantic phase,
to put it mildly.
11:00 We come home and relax with
a cup of coffee on the couch.
Today I feel a little confused
and completely lost in the world, and without a compass - I always find it
difficult to resume my various projects after a break where we travel somewhere
on vacation. That's why for the most part, I prefer to stay at home as much as
possible, but I know Lois needs to take a break once in a while and get a
change of scene. It's one of my weaknesses that it takes me a long time to get
back on track after my concentration is interrupted - damn!
However, I have a number of
urgent tasks on my to-do list, so it's a bit of a shame that I am currently
feeling a bit confused and unmotivated: two U3A meetings this week (Old Norse
and Middle English) and a lot of work in the garden - the lawns and the bushes which
have all gone crazy during our absence - damn (again) !!!!
However, it was very nice to see
our daughter Alison and her family again over the last couple of weeks. And I
think the kids were happy to see us too - their welcome was totally genuine, I
think. And we try to interact with the children as much as possible, even if
they are "generation Z" while Lois and I are "generation OC"
(old crows).
And it was nice that I could
drive Lois over to Bournemouth / Poole so she could attend her cousin Brian and
Brian's wife Ruth's 60th wedding anniversary party, a nostalgic occasion for
her.
Lois was one of Brian and Ruth's
3 bridesmaids in 1959, along with Priscilla (Ruth's sister - now sadly
deceased) and Ann. Ann and the best man Terry were also at the 60th
anniversary party and were all reunited on stage at the end of the evening for
a photograph.
(from left to right) Terry (the original best man), Brian, Ruth,
Ann and Lois (2 of the 3 original bridesmaids)
Flashback to August 1959: a 13-year-old Lois (left) on Brian and
Ruth’s wedding day
It was nice also to be able to
visit the nursing home in Bournemouth where my cousin Peter lives. It was
encouraging to see that he has not lost his sense of humour, even though he can
no longer move without the help of a nurse or carer - he unfortunately suffers
from vascular dementia.
Lois with my cousin Peter, who
unfortunately suffers from vascular dementia
Flashback to the 1960’s: Peter (at the
back) in happier times,
seen here with several of my aunts, uncles and cousins
15:00 After lunch and a short
afternoon nap, I decide to browse through the beginning of the next chapter
(no.56) of Njal's saga, written in the 13th century in Iceland, although the
saga itself and events are much older.
Scilla's U3A Old Nordic group will
be holding its regular meeting here on Wednesday at 2:30 pm with this saga
being the group's current project. Unfortunately, the chapter is full of uninteresting
legal details - damn!
Gunnar, one of the heroes of the
saga, is being sued for the killing of several of his neighbours, despite the
fact that his best friend Njal advised him in the past never to kill more than
one member of any given family at the same time, a “rookie error” in the
Iceland of the time ha ha!
Unfortunately, Gunnar forgot to
follow Njal's advice, and now he is being sued for multiple killings, and a
jury consisting of 9 of Gunnar's neighbours has been sworn in.
Gunnar is being sued for the
killing of several of his neighbours - yikes!
18:00 We have dinner and
afterwards I read more lines of Njal's saga, while Lois sits down in the living
room to watch a documentary on Harvey Weinstein. I however do not want to learn
any more details about this disgusting man. Lois has a stronger stomach than me
- no doubt about that !!!!
Lois tells me after the programme that it's surprising how long Harvey could do virtually anything he wanted in the
sex-and-violence department, including violence against journalists, and he
loved boasting about his close relationships with the local police chiefs,
etc., and even the press also was, surprisingly, too scared to publish stories
about his activities - my goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!
21:00 I finally stop reading my
old Nordic texts and relax a little with Lois on the couch. We see two TV
quizzes, Only Connect and University Challenge, although our performance in
competition with the programme participants is not as good as usual - we both
feel a little unfocused after our vacation, no doubt about that.
Our performance improves a bit in
the second quiz, University Challenge - maybe we are finally starting to crawl
out of the mental swamp we've been locked into.
We provide a number of correct
answers before the program's 8 "brains" can come up with them. And we
come up with 3 correct answers that none of the 8 brains come close to finding,
which is nice, and not very bad for a 30-minute quiz. This includes a question
about Constable's famous "Hay Wain" painting, which both Lois and I
have no difficulty answering, thank goodness.
22:00 Sometimes it pays to be old
crows. We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!
Danish translation: mandag den 2.
September 2019
07:30 Lois og jeg vågner op i vores
egen seng for første gang i 11 dage, eller deromkring, hvilket er rart. Vi
hopper op i brusekabinen og efter morgenmad kører vi over til den lille by
Bishops Cleeve for at købe ind i det lokale Tesco-supermarked – huset er næsten
blottet for mad.
På vej smutter vi ind i den lokale Daisychain velgørenhedsbutik for at
donere to poser uønsket tøj, som vores datter Sarah efterlod hos os, da hun for
3 år siden flyttede til Australien sammen med Francis og deres nu 6-årige
tvillinger, Lily og Jessie.
Vi har stadig i vores garage omkring 20 andre poser uønskede tøj, herunder
babytøj, som vi planlægger at levere til Lois' sekts hovedkontor i Birmingham -
de vil donere dem til velgørenhedsorganisationer i den tredje verden. Denne
leverance vil markere enden på en stor fase i vores nuværende downsize
mini-projekt, hvilket er tilfredsstillende.
Den næste fase vil involvere uønskede legetøj – yikes, en gigantisk
fase, for at sige mildt.
11:00 Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.
Jeg føler mig i dag lidt forvirret og helt tabt i verden, og uden kompas
– jeg har altid svært ved at genoptage mine forskellige projekter efter en
pause, hvor vi rejser et eller andet sted på ferie. Derfor for det meste
foretrækker jeg at forblive herhjemme så meget som muligt, men jeg ved godt, at
Lois har brug for at tage en pause engang imellem og få en ændring af scene. Det
er én af mine svagheder, at det tager mig lang tid til at komme tilbage på bane
efter min koncentration bliver afbrudt – pokkers!
Jeg har imidlertid en række presserende opgaver på min gøremålsliste, så
er det lidt af en skam, at jeg for tiden føler mig lidt forvirret og umotiveret:
to U3A møder denne uge (oldnordisk og middelengelsk) og en masse opgave i haven
– græsplænerne, buskerne, der alle er gået amok under vores fravær – pokkers
(igen) !!!!
Det var imidlertid meget rart at kunne se vores datter Alison og hendes
familie igen. Og jeg tror, at børnene også var glade for at se os – deres
velkom var helt ægte, synes jeg. Og vi prøver at interagere med børnene så
meget som muligt, selvom de er ”generation Z” mens Lois og jeg er ”Generation GK” (gamle
krager).
Og det var rart, at jeg kunne køre Lois over til Bournemouth/Poole, så
hun kunne deltage i sin fætter Brian og Brians kone Ruths 60. bryllupsdagfest,
en nostalgisk anledning for hende.
Lois var én af Brian og Ruths 3 brudepiger, sammen med Priscilla (Ruths
søster – nu desværre afdød) og Ann. Anne og forloveren Terry deltog i festen og
blev genforenet på scenen ved slutningen af aftenen.
(fra venstre til højre) Terry (den oprindelige forlover), Brian, Ruth,
Ann og Lois (2 af de 3 oprindelige brudepiger)
tilbageblik
til august 1959: den oprindelige bryllupsdag
Det var rart også at kunne besøge det plejehjem i Bournemouth, hvor min
fætter Peter bor. Det var opmuntrende at se, at han ikke har mistet sin sans
for humor, selvom han ikke længere kan bevæge sig uden hjælp fra en
sygeplejerske eller assistent – han lider desværre af vaskulær demens.
Lois sammen med min fætter Peter, der desværre lider af vaskulær demens
tilbageblik
til 1960’erne: Peter i lykkeligere tider
15:00 Efter frokost og en kort eftermiddagslur, beslutter jeg at blade
igennem starten på det næste kapitel (nr.56) af Njals saga, skrevet i det 13. århundrede i Island,
selvom selve sagaen og begivenhederne er meget ældre.
Scillas U3A oldnordiske gruppe holder sit regelmæssige møde på onsdag kl
14:30 hos os og denne saga er gruppens nuværende projekt.
Desværre er kapitlet fuld af uinteressant juridiske detaljer – pokkers!
Gunnar, én af sagaens helte, blivet sagsøget for drabet af flere af sine
naboer, på trods af, at hans bedste ven Njal før i tiden rådede ham, aldrig til
at dræbe samtidig flere end én medlem af nogen given familie.
Desværre glemte Gunnar at følge Njals råd, og nu bliver han sagsøget for
flere drab, og en jury bestående af 9 af Gunnars naboer er blevet taget i ed
- yikes!
Gunnar bliver sagsøget for drabet af flere af sine naboer – yikes!
18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter læser jeg flere linjer af Njals
saga, mens Lois sætter sig til rette i stuen for at se en dokumentarfilm om Harvey
Weinstein. Jeg har imidlertid ikke lyst til at lære endnu flere detaljer om
denne modbydelige mand. Lois har en stærkere mave, end mig – ingen tvivl om
det!!!!
Lois fortæller mig efter programmet, at det er overraskende, hvor lang
tid Harvey kunne gøre hvad som helst han havde lyst til i
sex-og-vold-afdelingen, inklusive vold mod journalister, og han holdt meget af
at prale af sine tætte relationer med de lokale politicheffer osv, og pressen
var derudover for skræmmet til at offentliggøre historier om hans aktiviteter –
du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!
21:00 Jeg holder endelig op med at læse mine oldnordiske tekster og slapper
lidt af med Lois i sofaen. Vi ser to tv-quizzer, Only Connect og University
Challenge, selvom vores præstationer om kap med programmernes deltagere er ikke
så gode som normalt – vi føler os begge to lidt ufokuserede efter vores ferie,
ingen tvivl om det.
Vores præstation forbedrer lidt i University Challenge – måske begynder
vi at kravle ud af det mentale sump, vi
er blevet spærret ind i.
Vi kommer med en række korrekte svar før programmets 8 ”hjerner” kan
komme med dem. Og vi kommer med 3 korrekte svar, som hjernerne ikke komme tæt
på at finde på, hvilket er rart, og ikke særlig dårligt for en 30-minutters
quiz. Herunder et spørgsmål om Constables berømte ”Hay Wain”-maleri, som både
Lois og jeg ikke har svært ved at besvare, gudskelov.
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!
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