Sunday November 3 2019

06:00 Busy busy busy again! Lois and I, the two old crows, have to get up early today so we can make sure that Josie, our 13-year-old granddaughter, shows up on time (at 7:30) at the local swimming pool to take part in today's school swim event . I drive her and Rosalind (11) over to the swimming pool and drop Josie off in front of the entrance. Meanwhile, Lois looks after Isaac (9) and makes breakfast for him.

We talk a bit on whatsapp with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, and with one of Sarah's two 6-year-old twins, Jessie. Lily, the other twin, is a little cold today.

09:30 I drive over to the swimming pool again to pick up Josie: the first part of the competition is over, but unfortunately there is another part this afternoon.

10:30 Rosalind has to play in a school football match this morning, but fortunately one of the other players' mother can pick her up. The match ends at 11:15 am, but our daughter Ali and our son-in-law Ed have promised to pick Rosalind up themselves after the match and bring her home. Ali and Ed have spent the night in Oxford after attending Ed's sister Alison's 50th birthday party at a restaurant in the city centre.

Rosalind in her football shirt. She scored the goal,

that saved her team from defeat. You go girl !!!!

11:45 Ali, Ed and Rosalind arrive, and Lois rushes into the kitchen to make lunch for 7. It's a bit of a relief, to say the least, for Lois and me that Ali and Ed have come home and can resume responsibility for the children - we find it all a little worrying at times, to put it mildly. We're getting old, no doubt about that !!!! And we are so lucky that Ali and Ed's three "little ones" are all so charming and well-behaved, I have to say.

(left to right) Josie, Ali and Isaac

Ali and Ed are now back, thank goodness and they can now resume

responsibility for the kids, which is nice!

12:15 We have lunch and afterwards I go upstairs and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Mine and Lois's responsibilities regarding childcare are now over - and I can enjoy my nap, which is nice.

I go upstairs and take a gigantic afternoon nap

surrounded by posters of Isaac’s footballing heroes – scary !!!!!

Ed drives Josie over to the swimming pool at 3 pm so she can attend the second part of the school swim competition.

Meanwhile, Lois, Ali, Rosalind and Isaac take a walk around the neighbourhood with Sika, the family's Danish dog. The family moved back to England in the summer of 2018, after Ed was laid off from his job in Copenhagen after 6 years’ residence in Denmark. Since then, he has taken a number of temporary jobs while on the hunt for his dream job.

After Ed and Josie come back from the swimming pool at the end of the school swim event, Ed locks himself away in his study with his computer to start applying for yet another new job. Nowadays, the interview process and the selection process are all done via the computer - he has to video his answers to the questions and send them to the company via email.

And it is software that decides which candidates to eliminate in the earlier stages of the process – my god, what a crazy world we live in !!! And the software, for example, can even analyse his facial expressions and tones of voice while he is answering the questions, and use the results as part of the decision to reject him as a candidate or move him to the next stage. What madness !!!! And very exhausting and agonising from the candidate's point of view, no doubt about that !!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television. It's a lot of fun to watch a few TV shows with Ali, Ed and the kids, although Lois and I always feel a little cold in the family's house at night - Ed lights the fire, but it's one of those modern types of fire that can be seen behind a glass screen, but you can't feel anything warm coming from it. The living room is completely open plan type, and there are no partitions to protect us from the cold - damn!

And the sofas and armchairs are the modern ones - very deep, so you can only half-lie and half-sit, and it is impossible to get comfortable - yikes! Lois and I just do not understand the modern ways of doing things - I have no doubt about that!!!!

But it is us who are in the wrong: all young people's houses are the same, for some reason we cannot fathom.

And in any case, our 2 daughters, and their families, are all our joy, so we hardly notice the trivial difficulties that result from our great old age ha ha ha! It's so wonderful to be in their company.

22:00 Lois and I go to bed, both of us with bed-socks on – my god, what madness !!!! Zzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation: søndag den 3. november 2019

06:00 Travlt travlt travlt igen! Lois og jeg, de to gamle krager, skal stå tidligt op i dag, så vi kan sikre, at Josie, vores 13-årige barnebarn, dukker op til tiden (kl 7:30) på den lokale svømmepøl for at deltage i dagens skolesvømmestævne. Jeg kører hende og Rosalind (11) over til svømmepølen og sætter hende af foran indgangen. I mellemtiden passer Lois på Isaac (9) og laver morgenmad til ham.

Vi taler lidt på whatsapp med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, og med én af Sarahs to 6-årige tvillinger, Jessie. Lily, den anden tvillinge, er lidt forkølet i dag.

09:30 Jeg kører over til svømmepølen igen for at afhente Josie: den første del af stævnen er slut, men desværre er der en anden del i eftermiddag.

10:30 Rosalind skal spille i en skolefodboldkamp i formiddag, men heldigvis kan én af de andre spilleres mor henter hende. Kampen slutter kl 11:15, men vores datter Ali og vores svigersøn Ed har lovet at afhente Rosalind efter kampen og køre hende hjem. Ali og Ed har overnattet i Oxford efter at have deltaget i Eds søster Alisons 50. fødselsdagfest på en restaurant midt i byen.

Rosalind i sin fodboldskjorte. Hun scorede det mål,

der reddede sit hold fra nedrag. Kom så, Rosalind!!!!

11:45 Ali, Ed og Rosalind ankommer, og Lois skynder sig ind i køkkenet for at lave frokost til 7. Det er lidt af en lettelse, for at sige mildt, for Lois og mig, at Ali og Ed er kommet hjem og kan genoptage ansvaret for børnene – vi finder det hele lidt bekymrende indimellem, for at sige mildt. Vi bliver gamle, ingen tvivl om det!!!! Men vi er så heldige i, at de alle er så artige og charmerende, det må jeg nok sige.

(fra venstre til højre: Josie, Ali og Isaac)

Ali og Ed er tilbage, gudskelov, og de kan nu genoptage

ansvaret for børnene, hvilket er rart!

12:15 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Min og Lois’s ansvar, hvad angår børnepasning, er nu slut – og jeg kan nyde min lur, hvilket er rart. Ed kører Josie over til svømmepølen kl 15, så hun kan deltage i den anden del af skolesvømmestævnen.

jeg går i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur, omgivet

af plakater af vores barnebarn Isaacs fodbold-helte: skræmmende!!!!

I mellemtiden går Lois, Ali, Rosalind og Isaac en tur rundt omkring i nabolaget sammen med Sika, familiens danske hund. Familien flyttede tilbage til England i sommeren 2018, efter Ed blev afskediget fra sit job i København efter 6 års ophold i Danmark. Siden da, har han taget en række midlertidlige jobs, mens han går på jagt efter sit drømmejob.

Efter Ed og Josie kommer tilbage fra svømmepølen efter endt skolesvømmestævnen lukker Ed sig ind i sin studerekammer med sin computer, for at gå i gang med at ansøge om endnu ét nyt job. Nutildags er interviewprocessen og valgprocessen alt foretaget via computeren – han skal optage sine svar til spørgsmålene og sende dem til firmaet via email.

Og det er software, der beslutter hvilke kandidater til at eliminere i de tidligere stadie af processen – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i!!! Og softwaren kan for eksempel analysere hans ansigtsudtryk og tonefalde, mens han besvarer spørgsmålende, og bruge resultaterne, som en del af beslutningen om, om at afvise en kandidat eller lade ham komme videre til det næste stadie. Sikke et vanvid!!!! Og meget udmattende og sindsoprivende fra kandidatens synspunkt, ingen tvivl om det!!!! 

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. Det er meget sjovt at se et par tv-programmer med Ali, Ed og børnene, selvom Lois og jeg føler os altid lidt kolde om aftenen i familiens hus – Ed tænder ilden, men det er én af de der moderne typer af ild, der kan ses bag en glasskærm, men man kan ikke føle noget varmt fra den. Stuen er helt kontorlandskabtype, og der er ingen skillevægge til at beskytte os fra kulden – pokkers!

Og sofaer og lænestole er de der moderne typer – meget dybe, så man kun kan halv-ligger, halvsidder, og det er umuligt at blive komfortable – yikes! Lois og jeg forstår ikke de moderne måder – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om !!!!

Men det er os, der er forkerte: alle unge menneskers huse er det samme, af en eller anden grund.

Og vores 2 døtre, og deres familier, er hele vores glæde, så vi næsten ikke bemærker de triviale vanskeligheder, der resulterer fra vores store alderdom ha ha ha! Det er så vidunderligt at være i deres selskab.

22:00 Lois og jeg går i seng, begge to med sengsokker på – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!! Zzzzzzz!!!!