Wednesday, September 25 2019

I can't concentrate on anything  this morning  because of my imminent appointment with Daria, my charming Romanian dentist. The appointment is scheduled for 11:20, so I just potter around the house without accomplishing anything very much.

I have a big breakfast, in case I can't have lunch immediately after my appointment, although I know that this concept is out of date - nowadays everyone knows that the new or repaired filling sets very quickly. And you can hear a small beep when the filling has become nice and firm, which is helpful.

I comb my hair and make sure I give myself a close shave because I know that Daria will be able to see my facial skin in close-up. Another local dentist, Robert Cowan, well-known in the neighbourhood, hit the headlines recently after telling journalists that one of his patients had severe hair problems (source: Onion News).

Area dentist Robert Cowan confirmed that he could see that his patient had not brushed her hair, adding that it did not take a trained professional to diagnose the woman's serious hygiene problems.

"Most people at least try to brush their hair just before their appointment, but this lady clearly hasn't bothered to fix her hair for a few weeks," Cowan said, adding that judging from her damaged roots, she was in danger of losing her locks completely if she did not quickly start on a strict hair care regimen.

"She told me that she brushes the moptop twice a day, but that’s total bullshit. Her whole head smells and there are little  bits of food stuck in there. You don't get those kinds of frizzy  split ends by occasionally forgetting to untangle your curls. "

At press time, Cowan had sent the woman home with a complementary extra wide-toothed comb and a handful of shampoo samples.

A happy ending, but the publicity surrounding Cowan's overpunctiliousness and demanding standards has made many local dental patients a little nervous, I think, at least for the foreseeable future, or until this particular “shitstorm” passes over.

10:00 Lois and I have received a circular from the local parish council - they plan to improve and upgrade the local football field, where Lois has the habit of going for a daily walk to relieve her digestive problems. The council has a new parish clerk, probably some young guy, because he has created a website: the village has finally entered the internet age ha ha!

They plan, among other things, to create a multi-use floodlit play area, with exercise equipment and a parking lot.

I tell Lois about the news - I expected she would be happy with the changes, but she's actually a little cross about them. She prefers the area remain unplanned, with the freedom to wander anywhere. But I expect the municipality has only reacted to pressure from the village's younger residents who want more extensive facilities – and we old crows lose out (again ha ha!).

the parish's new plans for the local football field

"flashback" to the present - the football field and surrounding area,

as it looks today.

10:50 I have to be off. I give myself plenty of time (usually at least 30 minutes) to park the car and arrive at the dental clinic: always a little worrying, because if there are no parking spaces in Westcliffe Gardens, I don't actually have a plan B, which is a little disconcerting, to put it mildly.

But today, again, there is no problem getting a parking space, and I arrive in the dentist's waiting room with 15 minutes to spare, which is nice.

And the appointment goes better than expected. Daria starts by taking two "routine" x-rays – the whole thing doesn't take very long, and I manage to keep my gag-reflex under control. One of the x-rays gives her cause for concern, but upon examination she decides that everything is actually okay with that tooth, thank goodness. And is she soon done putting in the new filling, which is nice. Modern techniques have made a difference to the speed of the process, no doubt about that.

I come home - I feel very relieved.

Daria, the Romanian dentist with the good, relaxed conversation skills

and the charming smile, photographed here with a typical dental patient

12:00 Lois and I have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm and start cleaning and vacuuming all over the house because our U3A Danish group's regular fortnightly meeting is taking place at our house tomorrow afternoon. There will be no time to do this work tomorrow because we have to attend another funeral - Shirley, a member of our former U3A French group, is going to be buried tomorrow morning in Churchdown.

My god, funerals, funerals, funerals!  Poor Shirley.

18:00 We have dinner and afterwards we have to leave. Lois wants to attend her sect's weekly Bible class, taking place tonight in Tewkesbury  library. Lois doesn't like driving a car in the dark, so I drive her over to Tewkesbury - her friend, Alf, another sect member, has promised to drive her home again after class.

20:30 I get home. I have some alone time and spend the evening listening to radio, the latest episode of the series "Free Thinking". The programme's host is the charming Matthew Sweet.

An interesting programme that includes a visit to the British Film Institute's library by Matthew and 79-year-old Angela Allen, who at the age of 19 was one of the original script-girls for the famous post-war film "The Third Man" (made in 1949: for exactly 70 years ago).

The film was set in post-war Vienna, and showcased  the famous American actor Orson Welles in the film's starring role, the international fraudster  Harry Lime.

Angela recalls how unreliable Welles was - if he didn't have to attend a day's filming, he simply buggered off, often to another country: Paris for example, and he was often completely out of touch with the production unit. Sometimes they used doubles  and photographed the double from behind, or replaced shots of the character with "creepy" “part-shots” of his shoes, or his fingers, for example.

Welles himself was on screen for only 10 minutes of the entire movie.

My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Welles was also notorious for changing writer Graham Green's screenplay and script at the drop of a hat, but this actually worked out well, as it resulted in one of the film's most famous quotations, from the scene where Harry Lime is talking to his friend Holly Martins on a Ferris wheel .

 the dialogue from the famous "Ferris wheel scene"

21:30 Lois returns from Tewkesbury - her friend Alf drops her off in front of the house. We watch a little television, by coincidence a documentary about Welles.

I only watch the first 10 minutes of the documentary, but it includes the famous "Ferris wheel scene" between Harry Lime (Welles) and Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten).

It is a bit nostalgic for Lois and me to see the city of Vienna again - we visited the city twice, in 1998 and again in 2002, both times en route to Hungary. But we didn't see any Ferris wheel in the city - it might have been torn down at some point since "The Third Man" was recorded in 1949, but we're not entirely sure - the jury is still out on that one.

Flashback to 1998: Lois and me at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna

Happy times!

22:15 I go to bed, but Lois needs to relax a little longer and wind down after tonight's stimulating Bible class. She jumps up into bed with me at 11 pm. Zzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation: onsdag den 25. september 2019

Jeg kan ikke koncentrere mig i formiddag på grund af min overhængende aftale hos Daria, min charmerende rumanske tandlæge. Aftalen er bestemt til kl 11:20, så pusler jeg bare i huset uden at opnå noget specielt.

Jeg spiser en stor morgenmad, for det tilfælde, jeg ikke kan spise frokost umiddelbart efter min aftale, selvom jeg ved godt, at dette begreb er uddateret – nu til dags ved alle, at den nye eller repareret plombe stivner meget meget hurtigt. Og man kan høre en lille bip, da plomben er blevet dejlig og fast, hvilket er behjælpeligt.

Jeg reder mit hår, og sikrer, at jeg giver mig en tæt barbering, fordi jeg ved godt, at både Daria og Ursula vil kunne se min ansigtshud i closeup.  En anden lokal tandlæge, Robert Cowan, velkendt i nabolaget,  ramte overskrifterne for nylig, efter han fortalte journalister, at en af hans patienter havde alvorlige hårproblemer (kilde:  Onion News).

Den stedlige tandlæge Robert Cowan bekræftede at han kunne se, at sin patient ikke har børstet håret og sagde, at det ikke krævede en uddannet professionel til at diagnosticere kvindens alvorlige hygiejneproblemer.

"De fleste mennesker prøver i det mindste at børste håret lige før deres aftale, men denne dame har helt klart ikke gidet at ordne håret i nogle uger," sagde Cowan og tilføjede, at ud at dømme fra hendes ødelagte rødder var hun i fare for at tabe håret fuldstændigt, hvis hun ikke hurtigt begyndte en regimenteret hårplejeplan.

"Hun fortalte mig, at hun børster parykken to gange om dagen, men det er noget sludder. Hendes hele hoved lugter og der er små stykker mad, der sidder fast derinde. Du får ikke de slags krusede, splittede hårender på grund af at du lejlighedsvis glemmer at vikler dine krøller fri. "

På pressetiden havde Cowan sendt kvinden hjem med en gratis kam med ekstra brede tænder og et håndfuld shampooprøver.

En lykkelig slutning, men publiciteten, der omgav Cowans pertentlighed og krævende standarder, har gjort mange lokale tandlæge-patienter lidt nervøse, tror jeg, mindst i overskuelig fremtid, eller indtil shitstormer er overstået.

10:00 Lois og jeg har fået et cirkulære fra det lokale landsbykommune – de har planer om at forbedre og opgradere den lokale fodboldbane, hvor Lois har til vane at gå en daglig tur, for at lindre sine fordøjelsesproblemer. Kommunen har en ny sekretær, sandsynligvis en ung fyr, fordi han har oprettet et websted: landsbyen er omsider kommet ind i internetalderen ha ha!

De planlægger blandt andet om at oprette et multi-use projektøbelyst spilområde, motionsudstyr og en parkeringsplads.

Jeg fortæller Lois om nyheden – jeg har forventet, at hun ville blive glad for forandringerne, men hun er faktisk lidt sur over dem. Hun foretrækker, at området forbliver uplanlagt, med friheden til at vandre hvor som helst. Men jeg forventer, at kommunen kun har reageret til pres fra landsbyens yngre bebyggere, der vil have mere omfattende faciliteter – gamle krager bliver de, der taber (igen ha ha!).

kommunens nye planer om den lokale fodboldbane

”tilbageblik” til nuet – fodboldbanen og omkringsliggende område,

som det ser ud i dag.

10:50 Jeg skal af sted. Jeg giver mig selv tid (normalt mindst 30 minutter) til at parkere bilen og ankomme til tandlægeklinikken: altid lidt bekymrende, fordi hvis der ikke er nogen parkeringspladser i Westcliffe Gardens, har jeg faktisk ikke nogen plan B, hvilket er lidt foruroligende, for at sige mildt.

Men i dag er der igen ikke noget problem med at få en parkeringsplads, og jeg ankommer til tandlægeklinikkens ventesal med 15 minutter tilovers, hvilket er rart.

Og aftalen går bedre, end forventet. Daria begynder med at tage to ”rutinemæssige” røntgenbilleder – det hele tager ikke særligt lang tid, og jeg formår at holde min gag-refleks under kontrol. Et af røntgenbillederne giver hende forårsag til bekymring, men efter undersøgelse beslutter hun, at alt faktisk er okay med den pågældende tand, gudskelov. Og er hun snart færdig med at lave den nye plombe, hvilket er rart. Moderne teknikker har gjort en forskel på hastigheden af processen, ingen tvivl om det.

Jeg kommer hjem – jeg føler mig meget lettet.

Daria, den rumanske tandlæge med de gode, afslappede samtalefærdigheder

og det charmerende smil, fotograferet her sammen med en typisk klinikpatient

12:00 Lois og jeg spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og går i gang med at rydde op og støvsuge overalt i huset, fordi vores U3A danske gruppes regelmæssige fjortendagsmøde finder sted hos os i morgen eftermiddag. Der vil ikke være tid til at gøre dette i morgen, fordi vi skal deltage i endnu en begravelse – Shirley, et medlem af vores tidligere U3A franske gruppe bliver begravet i morgen formiddag i Churchdown.

Du godeste, begravelser, begravelser, begravelser!  Stakkels Shirley.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter skal vi af sted. Lois ønsker at deltage i sin sekts ugentlige bibelklasse, der finder sted i aften i byen Tewkesburys bibliotek. Lois kan ikke lide at køre bil i mørket, så jeg kører hende over til Tewkesbury – sin ven, Alf, en anden sektmedlem, har lovet at køre hende hjem igen efter klassen.

20:30 Jeg kommer hjem. Jeg har lidt alenetid og bruger aftenen på at lytte til radio, det seneste afsnit i serien ”Free Thinking”. Programmets vært er den charmerende Matthew Sweet.

Et interessant program, der inkluderer et besøg aflagt til British Film Institutes bibliotek af Matthew og den 79-årige Angela Allen, der som 19-årig var én af de oprindelige skriptgirlene til den berømte efterkrigsfilm ”The Third Man” (1949: for nøjagtigt 70 år siden).

Filmen spillede sig ud i Wien, og fremviste den berømte amerikanske skuespiller Orson Welles i filmens hovedrolle, den internationale svindler Harry Lime.

Angela mindes om, hvor upålidelig Welles var – hvis han ikke behøvede at deltage i en eller anden dags optagelser, stak han simpelthen af, ofte til et andet land: Paris for eksempel, og han var ofte totalt ude af kontakt med produktionsenheden. Nogle gange brugede de dubleanter, og fotograferede dubleanten bagfra, eller erstattede lynskud af karakteren med ”uhyggelige” lynskud af hans sko, eller hans fingre, for eksempel.

Selve Welles var på skærmen i kun 10 minutter af hele filmen.

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Welles var også notorisk for at ændre forfatteren Graham Greenes manuskriptet og drejebog på en slip af en hat, men dette lykkedes faktisk, da det resulterede i én af filmens mest berømte citationer, fra scenen hvor Harry Lime snakker med sin ven Holly Martins på et pariserhjul.

dialogen fra den berømte ”pariserhjul-scene”

21:30 Lois kommer tilbage fra Tewkesbury – hendes ven Alf sætter hende af foran huset. Vi ser lidt fjernsyn, tilfældigvis en dokumentarfilm om Welles.

Jeg ser kun de første 10 minutter af dokumentarfilmen, inklusive den berømte ”pariserhjul-scene” mellem Harry Lime (Welles) og Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten).

Det er lidt nostalgisk for Lois og mig at se byen Wien igen – vi besøgte byen to gange, i 1998 og igen i 2002, begge gange på vej til Ungarn. Men vi så ikke noget pariserhjul i byen – måske var det blevet revet ned på ét eller andet tidspunkt siden ”The Third Man” blev optaget i 1949, men det er vi ikke helt sikre på – juryen er stadig ude om det.

tilbageblik til 1998: Lois og mig på Hofburg-slottet, Wien

Lykkelige tider!

22:15 Jeg går i seng, men Lois trænger til at slapper lidt længere af og geare ned efter aftenens stimulerende bibelklasse. Hun hopper op i sengen til mig kl 23. Zzzzzzzz!!!!!