Thursday October 31 2019

07:30 Lois and I roll out of bed - busy busy busy! I need to post two urgent letters - both of them actually birthday cards - in the local mailbox, and on the way, I swing the car past the gas station: the tank is almost empty - yikes! And we have a long journey tomorrow.

Also, Martin (or is it Mark?) from QBD Windows and the door company has promised to swing by early today to repair our windows and we don't want to get caught by him in bed or in the shower cubicle.

Flashback to last week: I stick a piece of duct tape over the wndow's 

protective strip to anchor it - yikes, do-it-yourself is not

one of my most obvious talents to put it mildly !!! 

08:30 Mark / Martin arrives and starts repairing and strengthening our windows. We start collecting our things and packing them in our medium-size  suitcase - we plan to spend a few days with our daughter Ali and her family. She has asked us to babysit their 3 children while they spend 2 days in Oxford: Ed's sister Alison turns 50 this weekend and she has invited Ali and Ed to her birthday party.

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3 pm and we hop into the shower.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening listening to the radio and watching some television. We hear an interesting radio programme about Britain's most spooky places: a programme designed specifically for Halloween. The programme's host is the charming Simon Hollis.

We hear about the Chanctonbury hill in the county of West Sussex, a particularly eerie place, with a prehistoric fortification, the Chanctonbury Ring, on top. It appears, according to local pagan sources, that women who spend a night under the trees in the Chanctonbury Ring find that their fertility has increased significantly, which is nice, and much less trouble, than IVF treatment, for example. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

Chanctonbury hill: women sleeping under the trees have an increased chance

of getting pregnant, according to sources close to the Devil.

20:00 I see a photo of our oldest grandson, Josie (13). Ali's children are very excited tonight - and looking forward to going on a trick-or-treat tour around the neighbourhood. Ali posted a creepy photo of Josie on Instagram. Scary but elegant!!!

Josie, our 13-year-old granddaughter in Haslemere, Surrey

Also there are a couple of photos taken earlier in the day (Perth time) of our 6 year old twin grandchildren, Lily and Jessie, in Australia.

Lily and Jessie, our 6-year-old twin grandchildren in Perth, Australia,

with some of their young friends

Yikes !!!!

21:00 We realise that we have not been visited by any trick-or-treaters again. The last visit was approx. 10 years ago, we think. It's the location of the house, we suspect, on a busy main road and outside the large residential neighbourhoods.

We devour the contents of one of the candy bags I bought yesterday. Maybe it's lucky that we didn't get a visit. According to Steve, my American brother-in-law, and Matt, the famous cartoonist, young trick-or-treaters have begun threatening to explain the Labour Party's Brexit policy if they don't get any treats – oh dear, that’s going a bit too far, we think!

We turn on the television. They’re showing an old episode of the Top of the Pops from September 8, 1988, which is nostalgic. Phil Collins had just shot to the top of the charts with "Groovy Kind of Love".

It was also the week our younger daughter Sarah became a student at the local high school, at 11 years old. Her sister Alison had already been a student there for two years. For Sarah, it was the start of a whole new phase in her life.

Flashback to the summer of 1988 when Sarah was on the threshold of

a big new phase in his life,

and when we four were still the centre of the universe - happy days !!!!

22:00 We go to bed, but we are strangely restless. We both wake up at midnight and I read 20 pages of my bedtime book before finally drifting off to sleep - zzzzzzzz !!!

Danish translation: torsdag den 31. oktober 2019

07:30 Lois og jeg vælter ud af sengen – travlt travlt travlt! Jeg skal lægge to presserende brev – begge to faktisk fødselsdagskort – i den lokale postkasse, og på vej svinder jeg bilen ind forbi tankstationen: tanken er næsten tom – yikes!

Også har Martin/Mark fra QBD-vinduer og dørefirmaet lovet at komme tidligt i dag for at reparere vores vinduer, og vi har ikke lyst til at blive fanget af ham i sengen eller i brusekabinen.

tilbageblik til sidste uge: jeg stikker et stykke gaffer-tape over strimlen

for at forankre den – yikes, gør-det-selv er ikke

én af mine mest iøjenfaldende talenter for at sige mildt!!! 

08:30 Mark/Martin ankommer og går i gang med at reparere og forstærke vores vinduer. Vi begynder at samle vores ting og pakker dem i vores mellemstore kuffert – vi planlægger at tilbringe et par dage hos vores datter Ali og hendes familie. Hun har bedt os om at babysitte deres 3 børn, mens de tilbringer 2 dage i Oxford: Eds søster Alison fylder 50 i weekenden og hun har inviteret Ali og Ed til hendes fødselsdagsfest.

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og vi hopper op i brusekabinen.  

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at lytte til radio og se lidt fjernsyn. Vi hører et interessant radioprogram, der handler om Storbritanniens mest uhyggelige steder: et program designet specielt for Halloween. Programmets vært er den charmerende Simon Hollis.

Vi hører om Chanctonbury-bakken i grevskabet West Sussex, en specielt uhyggelige sted, med en forhistorisk fastningsværk, Chanctonbury Ring, på toppen . Det viser sig ifølge lokale hedenske kilder, at kvinder, der tilbringer en nat under træerne i Chanctonbury Ring, finder at deres frugtbarhed er øget betydeligt, hvilket er rart, og meget mindre ballade, end IVF-behandling, for eksempel. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!

Chanctonbury-bakken: kvinder der sover under træerne

har en øget chance for at bliver gravid, lader det til.

20:00 Jeg ser et foto af vores ældste barnebarn, Josie (13). Alis børn er meget begejstrede i aften – og glæder sig til at gå en slik-eller-ballade-tur rundt omkring i nabolaget. Ali har lagt et uhyggelige billede af Josie op på Instagram. Skræmmende!!!

Josie, vores 13-årige barnebarn i Haslemere, Surrey

Også et par fotoer taget tidligere på dagen (Perth-tid) af vores 6-årige tvillingebørnebørn, Lily og Jessie i Australien. Skræmmende (igen) !!!!!

Lily og Jessie, vores 6-årige tvillingebørnebørn i Perth, Australien

Yikes!!!!

21:00 Vi opdager, vi ikke har fået besøg af nogle slik-eller-ballade grupper igen. Det sidste besøg var ca. 10 år siden, tror vi. Det er husets beliggenhed, mistænker vi, på en travlt hovedvej og udenfor de store villakvarterer.

Vi sætter til livs indholdet af én af de slikposer, jeg købte i går. Måske er det heldigt, at vi ikke fik noget besøg. Ifølge Steve, min amerikanske svigerbor, og Matt, den berømte tegneserietegner, er unge slik-eller-ballade grupper begyndt at true med at forklare arbejdepartiets Brexit-politik, hvis de ikke får slik – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Vi tænder for fjernsynet. De viser et gamle afsnit af Top of the Pops fra den 8. september 1988, hvilket er nostalgisk. Phil Collins havde lige skudt til tops på hitlisterne med ”Groovy Kind of Love”.

Det var også den uge, vores yngre datter Sarah blev elev på det lokale gymnasium, på 11 år. Vores søster Alison havde allerede været en elev der i to år. For Sarah var det starten på en hel ny fase i hendes liv.

Tilbageblik til sommeren 1988, da Sarah var på tærsklen til

en stor ny fase i sit liv,

og da vi fire var centret af universet – lykkelige dage!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng, men vi er mærkeligt rasteløse. Vi vågner begge to ved midnatstiden, og jeg læser 20 sider af min sengetidbog, før vi endelig glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzzz!!!