Tuesday December 24 2019:
It rains heavily all day. Lois and I get ready to travel
to Haslemere, Surrey tomorrow to spend Christmas with our daughter Alison and
her family - Ed, Alison's husband, and their 3 children: Josie (13), Rosalind (11)
and Isaac (9). Our plan is to leave early (7 am), arrive at 9:30 or so, and
hopefully miss all the Christmas traffic and the traffic jams - ha!
We know that one of Josie's Christmas presents is a tiny
kitten who has for the moment been confined to Josie's room: the family already
has an ex-Danish street cat, Dumbledore, and a Danish dog, Sika, and the family
is afraid that Dumbledore will attack the newcomer and / or Sika will eat it -
yikes!
Josie’s new little kitten Christmas present
Meanwhile, Sarah, our second daughter, who lives in
Perth, Australia, along with Francis and their 6-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie,
have arrived at a campsite just outside Hopetoun to spend a few days in the
Albany area, on Australia's southern coast.
Sarah took a couple of charming
pictures today of her husband Francis
and their 6-year-old twins Lily and Jessie,
at the famous Wave Rock, and at the campsite
Sarah says it's almost too hot to sleep in their tent. My
goodness - what a crazy planet we live on !!! The weather is totally different
over there on the other side of the world, for some reason !!!!! What total madness!!!!
Wednesday December 25 2019:
Lois and I get up early (5 am) and we leave at 7 am, as
planned. As expected, there is hardly any traffic on the road, but an
unexpected freak of nature unfortunately causes us some problems: the sun -
yikes! Who would have thought it! And we are mostly travelling east, so the
rising sun is very "in my face" - damn !!!!
The Christmas lunch is set for 1 pm, as usual, so there
is time afterwards to open the Christmas tree gifts, hear the Queen's Christmas
speech and go for a walk (family) or take a nap (Lois and me) -
"simples" !!
the Christmas dinner: Isaac is, as ever, keen to choose the “best”
Yorkshire puddings, before anyone else can
get involved
the meal: turkey, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding,
sausage, sausage meat,
stuffing, vegetables, cranberry sauce... you name it.
afterwards we pull the Christmas
crackers, which each contain a one-note
whistle tuned to a different note, and we
try to play a Christmas carol
without laughing too much – ha!
After the meal, we open the Christmas tree presents.
Rosalind's and Josie's hoodies
Alison's juicer
Lois's earrings
Rosalind's "smart" football
the children's new board game, designed to re-educate them in English
geography after their 6 years in Denmark
Ed's Lindt chocolates
the family's personalised new jigsaw
some of my 10 pairs of new socks
Isaac's mini-soccer stars
Josie's "smart" football
In the meantime, Sarah, Francis, Lily and Jessie are
enjoying themselves on the beach on Australia's southern coast - my god, sheer
madness !!!!
Meanwhile Sarah, Francis, Lily and Jessie sun
themselves in the Hopetoun area
on the coast of Australia’s Southern Ocean –
what madness!!!!
I think the UK is the only country in Europe to celebrate
Christmas on December 25 and not December 24. My goodness, why are we always
out of step with the others???? They will be happy to see us go when Brexit
finally happens - that's something I have absolutely no doubts about!!!!
Fortunately, Australia is the same as us, which is something of a comfort.
Thursday December 26 2019:
It rains most of the day, so we enjoy some of our
Christmas presents indoors.
Josie and Rosalind's women's soccer calendar -
with little Danish Christmas "nisse" figures watching from the window sill.
The highlight of the day is the pizzas that Ed cooks on the
patio with his brand new pizza oven, a Christmas gift from Alison.
Friday
December 27 2019:
Lois and I travel back to Cheltenham - dozens of traffic
jams this time, including a 5 mile tailback on the M4 highway due to a massive
truck that has overturned on its side - damn! Sheer madness !!
Meanwhile, we see pictures of our youngest daughter Sarah
and her family continuing to enjoy themselves on the beach on Australia's
southern coast. Lucky old them !!!!!
Danish
translation: tirsdag den 24. december 2019
Det regner
kraftigt hele dagen. Lois og jeg forbereder os på at rejse til Haslemere,
Surrey i morgen for at tilbringe julen hos vores datter Alison og hendes
familie (Ed, hendes mand, og deres 3 børn: Josie (13), Rosalind (11) og Isaac
(9). Vores plan er at tage tidligt af sted (kl 7), ankomme kl 9:30 eller
deromkring, og forhåbenligt at gå glip
af juletrafikken og trafikpropperne -
ha!
Vi ved, at én
af Josies julegaver er en lillebitte killing, som for øjeblikket er blevet
begrænset til hendes værelse: familien har allerede en eks-dansk gadekat,
Dumbledore, og en dansk hund, Sika, og familien er bange for, at Dumbledore
angreber tilflytteren og/eller Sika vil æde den – yikes!
I mellemtiden
har Sarah, vores anden datter, der bor i Perth, Australien, sammen med Francis
og deres 6-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie, er ankommet til en campingplads
lige udenfor Hopetoun for at tilbringe et par dage i Albany-området, på
Australiens sydlige kyst.
Sarah siger,
det er næsten for varmt til at sove i deres telt. Du godeste – sikke en skør
planet vi lever på!!! Vejret er helt anderledes derovre i den anden side af
verden, af en eller anden grund !!!!! Sikke et totalt vanvid!!!!!
onsdag den
25. december 2019
Lois og jeg står
tidligt op (kl 5) og vi tager af sted kl 7, som planlagt. Som forventet er der
næsten ikke nogen trafik på vejen, men en uforventet freak af naturen voldeer
os desværre nogle problemer: solen – yikes! Hvem ville have tænkt det! Og vi
rejser for det meste mod øst, så den stigende sol er meget ”in my face” –
pokkers!!!!
Julefrokosten
er bestemt til kl 13, som sædvanligt, så der er tid derefter til at åbne
juletrægaverne, høre dronningens juletale og gå en tur (familien) og tage en
lur (Lois og mig) – ”simples” !!
Efter måltiden
åbner vi juletrægaverne.
I mellemtiden,
Sarah, Francis, Lily og Jessie hygger sig på stranden på Australiens sydlige
kyst – du godeste, et rent vanvid !!!!
Jeg tror, at
Storbritannien er det eneste land i Europa, som fejrer jul på den 25. december
og ikke den 24. december. Du godeste, hvorfor er vi altid ude af trit med de
andre???? De vil være glade at se os gå, når Brexit omsider sker – det har jeg absolut
ikke nogen tvivl om !!!! Heldigvis er
Australien det samme som os, hvilket i lille grad er trøstende.
torsdag den
26. december 2019
Det regner
kraftigt det meste af dagen, så vi hygger os indendørs med nogle af vores
julegaver. Dagens højdepunkt er de pizzaer, som Ed koger på terrassen med sin
spritnye pizzaovn, en julegave fra Alison.
fredag den
27. december 2019
Lois og jeg
rejser tilbage til Cheltenham – snesevis af trafikpropper denne gang, herunder
en 5 mile bilkø på M4-motorvejen på grund af en massiv lastbil, der er væltet
på siden – pokkers! Rent vanvid!!
I mellemtiden
ser vi billeder af vores yngste datter Sarah og hendes familie, der fortsætter
med at hygge sig på stranden på Australiens sydlige kyst. Heldige dem !!!!!
Held og lykke til dem alle, velsign dem (sagde Tiny Tim)! Lois og jeg håber at se dem dernede næste år.
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