Monday December 2 2019

09:30 Lois and I drive over to Leckhampton. Lois wants to find a couple of calendars in the Dodwell's magazine store that she can send to Sylvia, and Stephen, her cousins in Australia. Afterwards we step into CookShop to buy some high quality low fat ready meals that we can use when we are too old and tired to cook in the evening – good grief, poor us !!!!!

Our local CookShop

Finally, we head into the Cookshop store's café to sit and recharge our batteries, surrounded by a bunch of other old crows – my god! On the walls we see the store's usual display of classic newspaper covers showing happy moments, starting with VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) in May 1945, the Queen's coronation in 1953, and the like. Nostalgic ha ha ha – except that Lois and I weren't alive on VE Day of course. Although I may have been conceived shortly afterwards, considering I was born the following March - but the jury's still out on that one.

We pop into the Cookshop store's café

to recharge our batteries, surrounded by other old crows

a happy smiling me with my parents in the winter of 1946-7,

but I had just missed out on the excitement of VE Day,

which was a bit of a shame - damn!

12:00 We come home and have lunch. Afterwards, I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois settles down on the couch and watches two sentimental American Christmas movies in a row. Is this what the young people call binge-watching, I ask myself. On a small scale maybe, yes.

But I have the feeling she's starting to get a little tired of some of the repetitive clichés of the Christmas tv-movie genre - the return to one's hometown at Christmas time: the friendly family members, neighbours and old friends, the snow in the streets, the Christmas trees in the houses, groaning with Christmas tree ornaments and Christmas presents, Christmas carols, and most of all, the attractive potential partner that the main character gets to know - perhaps a young widow or widower with a touching back-story – plus the clincher: the arrival of news of a game-changing job offer from afar, forcing the hero/heroine to choose between a potential local life partner and a successful and fulfilling dream job elsewhere in the country or abroad. Et voilà - the recipe for the perfect Christmas tv-film movie.

Actually, I think Lois is being a little disingenuous when she says she is getting a little tired of it all - I suspect she's turned into a bit of a Christmas movie addict - I have to say. But we'll see. And the movies are quite modern, I have to admit, with smartphones and the like, which is nice.

Fun fact: the heroines in both of this afternoon's movies are called "Sydney" - what are the chances of that happening, eh? !!!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television. Tonight is our "TV quiz night", where Lois and I try to compete with the two quizzes’ young participants, and come up with answers to questions that have completely mystified their healthy young brains. But typically it’s first and foremost the questions about the good old days where we score big time - I have to admit that.

In "Only Connect", where participants are challenged to show their skills in lateral thinking, for example, it’s the "Peter Sellers" question where we score - none of the participants recognises the face of the famous comedian and movie star Peter Sellers (they suspect it could be Henry Kissinger) and they fail to remember the famous old children's rhyme "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" - when I say "famous", I mean "famous among old crows", needless to say.

And we enjoy the programme's charming host Victoria Coren Mitchell's fun opening monologue, as usual.

And in the 2nd TV quiz, University Challenge, we come up with 8 correct answers, which the programme's participants have no idea about, which is nice. Three questions about British geography, two about the mustelidae family (weasels and the like), one about Shakespeare (a quote from Henry the 5th), one about the geography of the Pacific, and one about Greek mythology. So all in all, a great evening for us, I have to say. We must be in top form tonight, that's all I can say.

22:00 We go to bed - I read about 20 pages of my bedtime book before we drift off to sleep - zzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation: mandag den 2. December 2019

09:30 Lois og jeg kører over til Leckhampton. Lois har lyst til at finde et par kalendere i Dodwells-bladhandleren, hun kan sende til Sylvia, sin kusine, og Stephen, sin fætter, i Australien. Bagefter træder vi ind i CookShop for at købet nogle fedtfattige færdigretter i høj kvalitet, som vi kan bruge, når vi er for gamle og trætte til at lave mad om aftenen – du godeste, stakkels os !!!!!

vores lokale CookShop

Til sidst smutter vi ind i Cookshop-butikkens café for at genoplade vores batterier, omgivet af et bundt  andre gamle krager – du godeste! På væggene ser vi butikkens udstilling af klassiske avisforsider, der viser lykkelige øjeblikke, startende med VE-dag (sejr i Europa-dag), dronningens kroning i 1953, og den slags. Nostalgisk ha ha ha – bortset fra, Lois og jeg ikke var i live på VE-dag selvfølgelig.

Vi smutter ind i Cookshop-butikkens café

for at genoplade vores batterier

en lykkelig, smilende mig i vinteren 1946-47, 
men jeg var gået glip af spændingen af VE-dag,
hvilket var lidt af en skam - pokkers!

12:00 Vi kommer hjem og spiser frokost. Bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden sætter Lois sig til rette i sofaen og ser to sentimentale amerikanske julefilm i træk. Er dette dét, de unge kalder bingewatching, spørger jeg mig selv om. I lille skala måske!

Men jeg har på fornemmelse, at hun begynder at blive lidt træt af nogle af den gentagende klichéer af tvjulefilm-genren – tilbagevenden til éns hjemmeby ved juletiden: de venlige familiemedlemmer, naboer og gamle venner, sneen på gaderne, juletræerne i husene, bugnende med juletrærornamenter og julegaver, julesangene, og først og fremmest den smukke potentielle kæreste, som hovedfiguren lærer at kende – måske en ung enke/enkemand med en rørende tilbagehistorie– og ankomsten af nyhederne om et spilskiftende jobtilbud fra langt væk, som tvinger én til at vælge mellem en potentiel lokal livspartner og en succésfuld og opfyldende drømmejob andetsteds i landet eller i udlandet.

Faktisk synes jeg, Lois lyver lidt men hun siger hun bliver lidt træt af det hele – jeg mistænker, hun er blevet til lidt af en julefilmaddict – det må jeg nok sige. Men vi får se. Og filmene er helt moderne – det må jeg indrømme, med smartphones og den slags, hvilket er rart.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. I aften er det vores ”tv-quiz-aften”, hvor Lois og jeg prøver at dyste med de 2 quizzers unge deltagere, og komme med svar til spørgsmål, der har helt mystificeret deres friske unge hjerner. Men typisk er det først og fremmest de spørgsmål om de gode gamle dage, hvor vi scorer big time – det må jeg indrømme.

I ”Only Connect”, hvor deltagerne blive udfordret til at vise deres færdigheder i lateral tænkning, er det, for eksempel, det ”Peter Sellers”-spørsgmål, hvor vi scorer – deltagerne genkendte ikke den berømte komiker og filmstjerne Peter Sellers’ ansigtet (de mistænker, han er Henry Kissinger), og det mislykkedes dem at huske den berømte gamle børnerim ”Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater” – hvad jeg siger ”berømte”, mener jeg ”berømte blandt gamle krager”, unødvendigt at sige.

Og vi nyder programmets charmerende vært Victoria Coren Mitchells morsomme åbnende monolog, som sædvanligt.

Og i den 2. tv-quiz, University Challenge, kommer vi med 8 korrekte svar, som programmets deltagere ikke har det fjerneste anelse om, hvilket er rart. Tre spørgsmål om britisk geografi, to om mårfamilien (væsler og den slags), ét om Shakespeare (en citation fra Henry den 5.), ét om égeografien af Stillehavet, og ét om græske mytologi. Så alt i alt en flot aften, det må jeg nok sige.

22:00 Vi går i seng – jeg læser omkring 20 sider af min sengetidbog, før vi glider over i søvnen – zzzzzzzz!!!!