Sunday 8 September 2019

07:45 Lois and I lie in bed drinking our morning tea. Lois seems to have a slight cold today - she decides not to drive to Tewkesbury to attend her sect's two services. She suspects that this time may be her most infectious phase, and sect members include some older people (even older than us ha ha) and she doesn't want to infect them. She decides to listen to the church services online instead.

10:00 The weather girl has said it's going to rain tomorrow, so we head out into the backyard with the big plastic laundry basket and other makeshift tubs to pick the big apples on the southern (sunny) side of our eating apple- tree. We decide to leave the so-called "northern" eating apples, which are much smaller, until a later date.

We walk out into the backyard with the large laundry basket in hand,

to pick our biggest eating apples

11:00  I start designing and ordering 4 snapfish photo books, a task that takes up most of the day because the site's software is not very user-friendly to say the least - I'm not done with it until 8pm: my god, what madness! I take breaks but only to have lunch, enjoy a gigantic afternoon snooze, have dinner, and do the washing up, etc.

But the task is urgent - the snapfish site is offering a 50% discount this weekend and by getting it all done today, I'm saving almost £40: hurrah!

June photos (including Lois's 73rd birthday)

Poole: our recent vacation

Brian and Ruth's 60th Wedding Anniversary Party (Brian is Lois's cousin)

Haslemere: 5 days with our daughter Alison and her family -

on the front cover we see our grandson Isaac (just 9) showcasing the football shirt

which was our birthday present to him

Lois's day is quite different: she is fully occupied wrapping the apples up in scraps of old newspaper and stuffing them into a large cardboard box; preparing two meals;  listening to her sect's worship services online;  and an afternoon movie (a romcom of course) on TV. 

Poor Lois !!!!

20:00 We settle down on the sofa and watch a little television: a special edition of "Antiques Roadshow" on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II (September 3, 1939). The programme's host is the BBC's charming Fiona Bruce.

A funny but also very touching edition, where various people mostly showcase their grandparents' souvenirs, photos, etc. dating from the first 2 years of World War II (1939 and 1940).

the BBC's Fiona Bruce, the programme's charming host,

browses through a copy of the Daily Mirror newspaper

dated September 4, 1939,, the day after was was declared

 a souvenir china teapot: the country's aluminium teapots all got

melted down to help manufacture Spitfire war-planes - yikes!

 "Switch off that light, darling!"

a scarf decorated with naughty versions

of the government's well-known propaganda messages, such as

"Switch off that light!" (so as not to illuminate your home

and make it a target for the German bomber pilots ha ha!)

The episode's most touching moment comes at the end of the programme. Many parents sent their children by ship to relatives in Canada and the US for safety’s sake, but one little girl, Audrey, was unfortunately sent aboard a ship bound for Canada  that got torpedoed by a German submarine shortly after leaving England.

There are some touching letters: a letter to Audrey's parents giving instructions on what kind of clothes and food, etc. that Audrey should take along for the voyage. Also a second letter conveying the sad news that Audrey's ship had been torpedoed and that little Audrey had not been found among the survivors.

A little after Audrey's parents received this sad news about their daughter, they also unfortunately received a postcard, written by Audrey herself, before she left England: the postcard had been delayed due to an oversight.

One of the BBC's antique experts, the usually stoic Bill Harriman, breaks down in tears when he sees the postcard.

These were not happy times, to say the least.

21:00 We continue to watch some television, the first episode ever of the old BBC sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus, from 1969, shown this weekend on the occasion of the show's 50th anniversary.

It was without doubt a curious stroke of genius to come up with the idea of ​​starting the show with an unkempt hairy Robinson-Crusoe-lookalike swimming desperately across the ocean to land exhausted on the beach, just to say the word "it’s ....".

But where's that genius today, the one who thought of the idea - we need him desperately now, no doubt about that !!!

We see many of our favourite sketches tonight, with some of the amusing expressions that for 50 years have been an important part of Lois’s and my life and our will to live ha ha ha, as sweethearts and later married couple: "Sono inglese di Gerard's Cross" , "Arthur 'Two Sheds' Jackson" and many other favourites.

Terry Jones' Evening Class in Italian Conversation,

where the students are all Italians except for one Swiss (Graham Chapman)

Also the modern artists' bicycle race from Sussex into Surrey, where artists had to paint something while cycling, along with John Cleese's frantic feverish sports-style commentary from the roadside.

Amusing times!!!!

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

Danish translation: søndag den 8 september 2019

07:45 Lois og jeg ligger i sengen og drikker vores morgenté. Lois synes at være lidt forkølet i dag – hun beslutter ikke at køre til Tewkesbury for at deltage i sin sekts to gudstjenester. Hun mistænker, at dette tidspunkt kan være hendes mest smitsomme fase, og sekts medlemmer inkluderer nogle ældre mennesker  (endnu ædlre, end os ha ha) og hun har ikke lyst til at smitte dem. Hun beslutter at lytte til gudstjenester på nettet i stedet for.

10:00 Vejrpigen har sagt, det kommer til at regne i morgen, så derfor går vi ud i baghaven med den store plastik vasketøjskurv og andre provisoriske baljer, for at plukke de store æbler på den sydlige (solrige) side af vores spiseæbletræ. Vi beslutter at overlade de såkaldte ”nordlige” spiseæbler, der er meget mindre, indtil et senere tidspunkt.

Vi går ud i baghaven med den store vasketøjskurv i hånden,

for at plukke vores største spiseæbler

11:00 Jeg går i gang med at designe og bestille 4 snapfish fotobøger, en opgave, der tager hovedparten af dagen, fordi webstedets software er ikke særlig brugervenlig for at sige mildt – jeg er ikke færdig med det indtil kl 20: du godeste, sikke et vanvid! Jeg tager en pause bare for at spise frokost, tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur og spise aftensmad, vaske op osv.

Men opgaven er pressende – snapfish-websted tilbyder en rabat på 50% denne weekend og ved at klare det hele, sparer jeg næsten 40£: hurra!

June-fotoer (herunder Lois’ 73. fødselsdag)

Poole: vores nylige ferie

Brian og Ruths 60. bryllupsdagsfest (Brian er Lois’ fætter)

Haslemere: 5 dage hos vores datter Alison og hendes familie –

på forsiden ser vi vores barnebarn Isaac (9), der fremviser den fodboldskjorte,

som var vores fødselsdagsgave til ham

Lois’ dag er helt anderledes:  hun er beskæftiget med at pakke æblerne ind i lapper af gammel avispapir og proppe dem ind i en stor papkasse; madlavning; sin sekts gudstjenester på nettet; en eftermiddagsfilm (en romcom selvfølgelig) på tv. Staklen !!!!

20:00 Vi sætter os til rette i sofaen og ser lidt fjernsyn: et specielt afsnit af ”Antiques Roadshow” på anledning af den 80. årsdag af udbrudet af den 2. verdenskrig (den 3. september 1939). Programmets vært er BBCs charmerende Fiona Bruce.

Et morsomt og rørende afsnit, hvor forskellige mennesker fremviser for det meste deres bedsteforældres souvenirs, fotoer osv, der daterer fra de  første 2 år af den 2. verdenskrig (1939, 1940).

BBCs Fiona Bruce, programmets charmerende vært,

blader igennem et eksemplar af avisen Daily Mirror,

der daterer fra den 4. september 1939

en souvenir-tekande: landets aluminiumstekander var alle blevet

omsmeltet for at hjælpe med at fremstille Spitfire-krigsfly – yikes!

”Sluk for det der lys, skat!”

en halstørklæde pyntet med frække udgaver

af regeringens velkendte propagandabudskaber, såsom

”Sluk for det der lys!” (for ikke at oplyse dit hjem

og gør det et mål for de tyske bomberflypiloter ha ha!)

Afsnittets mest rørende øjeblik kommer ved slutningen af programmet. Mange forældre sendte deres børn ved skib til slægtninge i Canada for en sikkerheds skyld, men én lille pige, Audrey, blev desværre sendt om bord på en skib, der blev torpederet af en tysk u-båd kort efter at forlade England.

Der er nogle rørende breve: et brev til Audreys forældre, der gav anvisninger om, hvad slags tøj og madpakker osv Audrey skulle medbringe. Også et brev, der overbragte den triste nyhed, at Audreys skib var blevet torpederet, og at Audrey blev ikke fundet blandt de overlevende.

Lidt efter Audreys forældre modtog denne triste nyhed om deres datter, modtog de også desværre et postkort, skrevet af selve Audrey, før hun forlod England: postkortet var blevet forsinket af en fejltagelse.

BBCs ekspert, den normalt stoiske Bill Harriman, bryder sammen i gråd, da han ser postkortet.

Disse var ikke lykkelige tider, for at sige mildt.

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det første afsnit nogensinde af det gamle BBC sketch-show Monty Pythons Flying Circus, fra 1969, på anledning af showets 50. arsdag.

Det var helt sikkert en mærkelig genialt indfald at finde på idéen om at starte showet med en usoigneret behåret Robinson-Crusoe-lookalike svømmende desperat over havet for at lande udmattet på stranden, bare for at sige ordet ”It’s....”.

Men hvor er den der genie i dag, dén, der fandt på idéen  – vi har bruge for ham desperat, ingen tvivl om det!!!

Vi ser i aften mange af vores yndlings-sketches, med morsomme udtryk, der i 50 år har været en vigtig del af vores liv og vores vilje til at leve ha ha ha, som kærestepar og senere ægtepar: ”Sono inglese di Gerard’s Cross”, ”Arthur ‘Two Sheds’ Jackson” og andre favoritter.

Terry Jones’ aftenskoleskursus i italiensk samtale,

hvor studerende er alle italienere, bortset fra en schweizer (Graham Chapman)

Også de moderne kunstneres cykelløb fra Sussex ind til Surrey, hvor kunstnere måtte male noget mens de cyklede, sammen med John Cleeses febrilske sports-stil kommentarer fra vejsiden.

Morsomme tider!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!!!