Thursday, September 26 2019

09:00 Lois and I tumble out of the shower cubicle and grab a quick breakfast.

10:00 We have to go out. We want to attend Shirley's funeral, taking place this morning at 11 a.m. at Churchdown’s  Catholic Church.

Shirley was a member of the U3A French group which Lois and I led until about 6 years ago - we gave up the group in 2013, for 2 reasons: we were then spending two full days a week looking after our new-born twin grandchildren, Lily and Jessie (now in Australia); also we had just started a Danish group because our daughter Alison had recently moved to Denmark with Ed and their 3 children.

We felt really, really busy back then, and we can still remember that very very clearly. The whole thing was a little stressful, because Shirley in particular was very into our French group at the time, and she was very disappointed when we stopped doing it.

10:30 Lois and I arrive at the church, far too early, as usual: my fault - I always worry about traffic jams, getting a parking space, and getting a good place in the church, with a programme on the seat, etc.

Sometimes I hate myself ha ha ha!

11:00 The ceremony begins. It's a bit of a shame that the priest doesn't talk about Shirley's life, other than to say she attended church services there. His homily could have been describing any member of his congregation.

 

Shirley (1936-2019) a partly Catholic and a partly Baptist farewell

And Shirley lived an interesting life - Lois and I know that for sure. She married an Italian and lived in Italy for many years. Unfortunately, the couple had only one child, and this child died as a teenager, we believe:  we do not know exactly why. Her husband also died a few years ago. Shirley liked music too, she often travelled to France and she loved to play golf.

At the ceremony, Lois and I meet other former members of our French group: Vera Tina and Sylvia, which is nice. Vera now leads her own French group, and I talk to one of her members, a charming Japanese woman who has heard that I have lived in Japan and still speak a little Japanese. She tells me she has a Danish neighbour - and she asks me for my phone number. My god - how many more local residents have Danish neighbours? !!! What a crazy world we live in !!!!

Coincidentally, we sit down on the right hand side of the church, which turns out to be lucky because we discover we are sitting with all the non-Catholic attendees. For some reason, the Catholic members of the church are all sitting on the left hand side, and they all go up to the altar at the end of the ceremony to take communion.

On the right side of the church sit many Baptist attendees - Shirley was originally a Baptist, and probably converted to Catholicism when she married her Italian husband.

12:00 Lois and I drive home. We do not have time to attend the later ceremony at the local Baptist churchyard because our U3A Danish group is holding  its regular fortnightly meeting at our house this afternoon: busy busy busy !!!!

We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a short afternoon nap. I get up at 2pm and prepare for our group meeting.

14:30 Group members arrive and we study Danish for 90 minutes. The meeting ends at 4 pm, but the members stay sitting in our living room for another 45 minutes talking about this and that - their vacations for the most part, but also including bits about illnesses and annoying pains and the like - yikes! Sometimes I start to feel that the group is morphing into a purely social group - my god, what madness !!!

Jeanette, our only genuine Danish member is not with us for this week's meeting - she is on holiday in Portugal - how lucky she is!

Jeanette - the group's only genuine Danish member,

seen here in happier times

17:00 Lois and I are finally alone again - we feel totally exhausted. A funeral and a group meeting, both on the same day, are a little more than we can cope with, to put it mildly. My Goodness!

We relax with a cup of tea. I take a look at my smartphone and browse through the Danish news media (extrabladet.dk). And I get a bit of a shock, to put it mildly.

By 2030, travellers will be able to fly from the UK to Australia in just four hours. The UK's Space Agency announced on Tuesday at the UK Space Conference 2019 that they will work with the Australian Space Agency on a deal they call 'the world's first Space Bridge'. Reaction Engines, based in Oxfordshire, has developed the rocket engine (Saber) that will do the job.

That's more than 50 percent faster than the speed of a Concorde, which previously could handle the trip from New York to Paris in 3.5 hours.

At such high speeds, the air passing through the engine can become very hot and potentially cause damage. That’s why the cooler is an essential part of the development. The British government has invested £60 million in the project. And the Space Agency expects to be able to fly commercially with the new engine by 2030.

Wow - a four hour flight would be a bonus if Lois and I are still alive and our daughter Sarah is still living in Perth, Australia, no doubt about that.

But we feel so exhausted tonight that we are not even sure whether we will be alive tomorrow, let alone in 2030 - yikes !!!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television, an interesting "celebrity travelogue", entitled "Japan with Sue Perkins".

Comedian Sue Perkins (left) trying out the new world

Japanese female sumo wrestling

Very nostalgic for me. I remember how confused I was when I first arrived in the country, and was confronted by massive crowds wherever I went. Such a nightmare for an introvert like me.

I quickly discovered that it was impossible to escape crowds. Whether it was in the middle of the night or in the middle of the day, when I was climbing one of the mountains around Tokyo with a few friends, I found myself in a queue. My goodness, what a crazy country !!!

October 1970 – I leave the West behind. Pictures I took

at Anchorage Airport, about to board the 2^nd leg of my flight 
from London to Tokyo

First pictures in Tokyo: my landlady Mrs Saito takes me to the local

railway station to show me how I get to the university.

I am pretending not to be totally bewildered

Flashback to 1971: a photo I took halfway up Mitsutoge Mountain

Right in front of me we see my American friend Kathy

and my Japanese friends Tetsu (he's the one in the black hat)

and Hiro (he’s the one in the pale blue hoodie)

At last at the top of the mountain: (from left to right)

Tetsu, Kathy and me

Kathy in 2012, aged 62, in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
(the Japanese gardens)

22:00 We collapse into bed - zzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation: torsdag den 26. September 2019

09:00 Lois og jeg vælter ud af brusekabinen og snupper en hurtigt morgenmad.

10:00 Vi skal af sted. Vi ønsker at deltage i Shirleys begravelse, der finder sted i formiddag kl 11 på den katolske kirke i Churchdown.  Shirley var medlem af den U3A franske gruppe Lois og jeg ledte indtil omkring for 6 år siden – vi opgav gruppen i 2013, af 2 grunde: vi brugte dengang to dage om ugen på at passe på vores nyfødte tvillingebørnebørn, Lily og Jessie (nu i Australien), også vi havde også lige startet en dansk gruppe, fordi vores datter Alison lige var flyttet til Danmark med Ed og deres 3 børn.

Vi følte os virkelig virkelig travlte dengang, kan vi stadig huske meget meget klart. Det hele var lidt stressende, fordi især Shirley gik højt op i vores gruppe.

10:30 Vi ankommer til kirken, langt for tidligt, som sædvanligt: min skyld – jeg bekymrer mig altid om at få en parkeringsplads, og en god plads i kirken, med et program på sædet osv. Nogle gange hader jeg mig selv ha ha ha!

11:00 Ceremoniet begynder. Det er lidt af en skam, at præsten ikke taler om Shirleys liv, bortset fra at sige, at hun deltog i kirkens gudstjenester.  Hans tale kunne have beskrivet noget medlem som helst.

Shirley (1936-2019) en dels katolsk dels baptistisk farvel

Og Shirley levede et interessant liv – det ved Lois og jeg med sikkerhed. Hun giftede sig med en italiener og boede i Italien i mange år. Desværre fik parret kun ét barn, og barnet døde som teenager, tror vi: vi ved ikke præcis hvorfor. Hendes mand er også død for nogle år siden. Shirley kunne godt lide musik, også hun rejste ofte til Frankrig, og hun elskede at spille golf.

Ved ceremoniet mødes Lois og jeg med andre tidligere medlemmer af vores franske gruppe: Vera Tina og Sylvia, hvilket er rart. Vera leder nu den franske gruppe og jeg snakker lidt med en charmerende japanske kvinde, der har hørt, at jeg har boet i Japan og taler stadig lidt japansk. Hun fortæller mig, at hun har en dansk nabo – og hun beder mig om mit telefonnummer. Du godeste – endnu hvor mange flere lokale beboere har danske naboer?!!! Sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Tilfældigvis sætter vi os ned på kirkens højre side, hvilket viser sig at være heldigt, fordi vi opdager vi sidder sammen med alle de ikke-katolske deltagere. Af en eller anden grund sætter kirkens katolske medlemmer på den venstre side, og de gå alle til alters ved slutningen af ceremoniet.

På kirkens højre side sidder mange baptiske deltagere – Shirley var oprindeligt baptistisk, og formentlig konverterede hun til katolismen, da hun giftede sig med sin italienske mand.

12:00 Lois og jeg kører hjem. Vi har ikke tid til at deltage i det senere ceremoni i den lokale baptistiske kirkegård, fordi vores U3A danske gruppe holder sit regelmæssige fjortendagsmøde hos os i eftermiddag: travlt travlt travlt!!!!

Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en kort eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 14 og forbereder mig på vores gruppemøde.

14:30 Gruppemedlemmer ankommer og vi studerer dansk i 90 minutter. Mødet slutter kl 16, men medlemmerne bliver siddende i vores stue i endnu 45 minutter og snakker om dette og hint – deres ferier for det meste, med også lidt om sygdomme og irriterende smerter og den slags – yikes!  Nogle gange begynder jeg at føle, at gruppen morfer til en rent social gruppe – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Jeanette, vores eneste ægte danske medlem deltager ikke i denne uges møde – hun er på ferie i Portugal – hvor er hun dog heldig!

Jeanette – gruppens eneste ægte danske medlem,

set her i lykkeligere tider

17:00 Lois og jeg er omsider alene igen – vi føler os helt udmattede. En begravelse og et gruppemøde, begge samme dag, er lidt mere, end vi kan hamle op med, for at sige mildt. Du godeste!

Vi slapper af med en kop te. Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone og blader igennem de danske nyhedsmedier (ekstrabladet.dk). Og jeg får lidt af et chok, for at sige mildt.

I 2030 kan rejsende flyve fra Storbritannien til Australien på blot fire timer. Storbritanniens Rumagentur annoncerede tirsdag på UK Space Conference 2019, at de vil arbejde sammen med det australske rumagentur om en aftale, som de kalder 'verdens første Rum Bro'. Det er virksomheden Reaction Engines, som er baseret i Oxfordshire, der har udviklet raketmotoren (Sabre).

Det er mere en 50 procent hurtigere end hastigheden på en Concorde, som førhen kunne klare turen fra New York til Paris på 3,5 time.

Ved så høje hastigheder kan luften, som går igennem motoren, blive meget varm og potentielt skabe skader. Derfor er køleren en essentiel del af udviklingen. Den britiske regering har investeret 60 millioner pund (505.128.000 kroner) i projektet. Og Rumagentur forventer at kunne flyve kommercielt med jet-motoren i 2030.

Du godeste – en fire timers flyvetur ville være en bonus, hvis Lois og jeg endnu lever og vores datter Sarah bor stadig i Perth, Australien, ingen tvivl om det.

Men vi føler os så udmattede i aften, at vi ikke er helt sikre på, om vi endnu vil leve i morgen, endsige i 2030 – yikes!!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant ”kendis-rejsebeskrivelse”, med titlen ”Japan with Sue Perkins ”.

Komikeren Sue Perkins (til venstre) afprøver den nye verden af

japanske kvindelige sumobrydning

Meget nostalgisk for mig. Jeg kan godt huske, hvor forvirret jeg var, da jeg først ankom til landet, og blev konfronteret af massive mængder, hvor som helst jeg gik. Sikke et mareridt for en introvert som mig.

Jeg opdagede, at det var helt umuligt at slippe for menneskemængder. Uanset det var midt på natten eller midt på dagen, da jeg klatrede en af bjergerne omkring Tokyo sammen med et par venner, befandt jeg mig i en kø. Du godeste, sikke et skørt land!!!

Anchorage

Tokyo

tilbageblik til 1971: et foto jeg tog halvvejs oppe på Mitsutoge-bjerget

lige foran mig ser vi min amerikanske veninde Kathy

og min japanske ven Tetsu (han er den i den sorte hat)

omsider på toppen af bjerget: (fra venstre til højre) 

Tetsu, Kathy og mig 

Kathy i 2012, på 62 år, i Golden Gate-parken, San Francisco

.

22:00 Vi kollapser i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!!