Thursday January 30 2020

11:30 Alison, our daughter in Haslemere, Surrey, calls us. It's her husband Ed's last week in his current temporary job as a legal expert at a London-based company that runs hundreds of gas stations in Africa - what a crazy world we live in !!!! He has held a number of temporary jobs since the family moved back to England in 2018 after almost 6 years in Copenhagen, which had been a big Danish adventure for Ali, Ed, and their 3 children, and which also kick-started Lois's and my interest in the Danish language. For the past year and a half, meanwhile, Ed has been on the hunt for his dream job, so far without success.

(from left to right) Ed, Josie (13), Isaac (9), Ali and Rosalind (11) – a recent picture

Ed is looking forward to enjoying a few weeks off before starting another job - there are a couple of opportunities, Alison says, including two jobs at Dutch companies, though Ed expects to work from home mostly if he gets one or the other of those. We'll see.

The family also plans to have a week's skiing holiday in Norway in a few weeks' time (ie staying outside the EU haha) and it is possible that Lois and I will help out by spending a few days in their house and cat-sitting, but the jury is still out on that one.

- - - -

Apart from Ali's phone call, the day is dominated by our U3A Danish group's first meeting since our Christmas break: i.e. and us having to spend the morning clearing up and vacuuming everywhere in the house, moving the chairs from the dining room to the living room, walking around to the local convenience store and buying a few packets of biscuits, and that kind of thing – good grief, what madness!

The Burgage Stores, our local convenience store

flashback to 2014: the Burgage Stores in happier days - 

the days when Lois and I were still looking

after our other grandchildren, Jessie (here) and Lily (out of sight behind),

Sarah and Francis's twins, now 6 and a half, and living in Australia sob sob!!!!

Needless to say, the afternoon is dominated by the meeting itself, but as I expected, there is more chit-chat in English than any studying of Danish: we group members have not seen each other since early in December, so there is a lot to talk about, Christmas and New Year, and in particular Joy's holiday in Southeast Asia over the past 3 weeks: we hear about places Lois and I still associate with those awful nightmare news bulletins of the 1960’s and 1970’s: Da Nang, Hue, etc. - yikes! All looking completely different now, needless to say!

Joy's vacation in Southeast Asia, with Riviera Holidays, a travel company that pays for

frequent full-page advertisements in "Radio Times" – all us old crows’ favourite magazine:

Lois and I see these ads every week when we’re planning

(and drawing circles round) our various TV and radio choices haha!

Hanoi’s streets are crawling with motorcycles, it seems, and few cars. And the motorcycles ride everywhere on the streets, and on the pavement, swinging right and left to avoid each other and avoid the pedestrians - yikes, scary! Joy says the only way to cross the streets is to walk very slowly, so motorcyclists have time to slow down or zoom round you. My god, what madness!

The group meeting starts at 2:30 pm and ends at 4 pm, but I let the members talk as much as they like, which turns out to be until 3:15 pm or so. But we're all a bit rusty when it comes to the Danish language (except for Jeanette, the group's only real Dane haha), and we only actually read 3 pages of Anna Grue's Danish crime novel, "The Deeper You Fall", our current project, before it's time to end the meeting - the members have to leave, and Lois and I collapse on the couch and relax with a cup of tea and a pastry: yum yum!

20:00 We spend the evening watching some television, an interesting documentary about a group of young women trying to bring pubic hair back into fashion. Lois and I are just a pair of old crows, but we've gotten into the habit of watching these kinds of shows once in a while, so as not to be excessively behind the times, and also give ourselves something to talk about and grumble about when we meet up with other old crows haha.

Lois and I imagined that pubic hair (shaved or unshaven) was a completely personal choice, but that is not the case, it seems, and there is a lot of pressure on young women to keep up with the latest trends. Many of the young women we see in the programme are actually trend-setting "influencers" who live off of posting fashion bulletins and selfies of themselves in next to nothing, on twitter and the like, and persuading beauty products companies to advertise on their twitter pages – my god, what a way to earn your money! And what a crazy world we live in !!!!

And when these women pose for their selfies, they have to choose one or the other, needless to say: shaved or unshaven.

Also young men nowadays expect their girlfriends to be shaved without exception: even before they start dating, they have already seen a lot of porn on the web, where the women are all naked and completely shaved, so they imagine that " shaved” is normal and they are sometimes taken aback if the new girlfriend hasn’t done this service for them. And they believe that pubic hair is unhygienic and “dirty”.

So it has become a bit of a treadmill for young women, having to shave every week, and the like, and many of them are starting to get fed up with the whole thing – and that’s why this group of young women has embarked on the campaign we see in tonight's programme,  to "bring back the bush".

Unfortunately, there are few arguments in the programme about the health aspects, for example. Pubic hair has presumably been designed by evolution precisely for hygienic reasons: it must protect the genitals from bacteria and the like.

We hear tonight an interesting comment about Charles Darwin, who apparently said that nature had in fact made a mistake by giving pubic hair to both women and men, and saying that only men needed it. But the host of the programme does not provide any further details about Darwin's theory, which is a bit disappointing. Damn! 

And there’s no interview with Charles included either – a missed opportunity there, but perhaps he just wasn’t available for comment. He is a busy man, though not as busy as he was once, I’ve heard haha!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz !!!!

Danish translation: torsdag den 20. januar 2020

11:30 Alison, vores datter i Haslemere, Surrey, ringer til os. Det er hendes mand Eds sidste uge i sit nuværende midlertidige job som juridisk ekspert hos et selskab, baseret midt i London, der driver hundredvis af tankstationer i Afrika – sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!! Han har haft en række midlertidige jobs, siden familien i 2018 flyttede tilbage til England efter næsten 6 års ophold i København, en eventyr for Ali, Ed, og deres 3 børn, som også kickstartede Lois’ og min interesse for det danske sprog. I det seneste halvandet år har han været på  jagt efter sit drømmejob.

(fra venstre til højre) Ed, Josie (13), Isaac (9), Ali og Rosalind (11)

Ed glæder sig til at nyde et par ugers ledigang, før han starter et andet job – der er et par muligheder, siger Alison, herunder to jobs hos hollandske selskaber, selvom Ed forventer at arbejde hjemmefra for det meste, hvis han får ét eller andet. Vi får se.

Familien planlægger at holde en uges skiferie i Norge om nogle ugers tid (dvs blivende udenfor EU haha), og det er muligt at Lois og jeg vil hjælpe til med at bo nogle dage i deres hus og katsitte, men det er juryen stadig ude om.

- - - -

Bortset fra Alis telefonopkald, er dagen domineret af vores U3A danske gruppes første møde siden vores julepause: dét, at bruge formiddagen på at rydde op og støvsuge overalt i huset, rykke stolene fra spisestuen til dagligstuen, gå rundt til nærbutikken og købe et par pakker kiks, og den slags – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Burgage Stores (til venstre), vores lokale nærbutik

tilbageblik til 2014 og Burgage Stores i lykkeligere tider:

da Lois og jeg stadig passede på vores andre børnebørn,

Jessie (afbildet here) og Lily, Sarah og Francis'

tvillingerne, nu i Australien hulk  hulk !!!

Unødvendigt at sige er eftermiddagen domineret af selve mødet, men som jeg forventede, er der mere snik-snak, end dansk: vi har ikke set hinanden siden først i december, så er der en masse at snakke om, jul og nytår, og i sær Joys ferie i sydøstasien de seneste 3 uger: vi hører om steder, Lois og jeg stadig associerer med de der forfærdelige mareridtsnyhedsbulletiner fra 1960’erne og 1970’erne: Da Nang, Hue osv – yikes! Alle helt anderledes nu, unødvendigt at sige!

Joys ferie i sydøstasien, hos Riviera Holidays, et rejseselskab, der betaler for

hyppige fuldside-reklamer i ”Radio Times” – gamle kragers yndlingstidsskrift:

Lois og jeg ser disse reklamer hver uge, når vi planlægger

(og tegner cirkler om) vores forskellige tv- og radiovalg haha!

Hanois gaderne er propfyldt af motorcykler, lader det til, og få biler. Og motorcyklerne kører overalt på gaderne, og på fortovet, svingende til højre og til venstre for at undgår hinanden og fodgængere – yikes, skræmmende! Joy siger, den eneste måde at krydse gaderne på, er at gå meget langsomt, så motorcyklister har tid til at bremse eller køre udenom dig. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Gruppemødet starter kl 14:30 og slutter kl 16, men jeg lader medlemmerne snakke så meget de har lyst til, hvilket viser sig at være indtil kl 15:15 eller deromkring. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!! Men vi er alle lidt rustne, når det kommer til det danske sprog (bortset fra Jeanette, gruppens egen ægte dansker haha), og vi læser faktisk kun 3 sider af Anna Grues danske krimiroman, "Dybt at falde”, vores nuværende projekt, før det er tid at slutte mødet – medlemmerne skal af sted, og Lois og jeg kollapser i sofaen og slapper af med en kop te og et wienerbrød: yum yum!

20:00 Vi bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, et interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om en gruppe unge kvinder, som prøver at bringe kønsbehåring ”tilbage til møde”. Lois og jeg er bare 2 gamle krager, men vi er kommet i vane med at se disse slags programmer engang imellem, for ikke at være overordentlig bagud for vores tid haha, og vi har også noget at snakke om og brokke os om, når vi mødes med andre gamle krager haha.  

Lois og jeg forstilte os, at kønsbehåring (barberet eller ubarberet) var et helt personligt valg, men det er ikke tilfældet, lader det til, og der er en masse pres på unge kvinder til at holde sig i trit med den seneste trends. Mange af de unge kvinder, vi ser i programmet, er faktisk ”influencers”, der lever af at lægge modebulletiner og letpåklædte selfies op på twitter og den slags, og overtale skønhedsprodukter-selskaber til at lægge reklamer op på deres twittersider – du godeste, sikke en måde at tjene sit brød på! Og sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Og når disse kvinder poserer for deres selfies, bliver de nødt til at vælge en af delene, unødvendigt at sige: barberet eller ubarberet.

Også unge mænd forventer nu til dags, at deres kærester uden nogen undtagelse er barberet: endda før de starte at date, har de allerde set en masse porno på nettet, hvor kvinderne alle er splitternøgne og helt barberede, så de forestiller sig, at ”barberet” er det normale, og de bliver nogle gange overrumplet, hvis den nye kæreste ikke har gjort denne tjeneste for dem – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!! Og de mener, at kønsbehåring er ”ikke sundt” og beskidt.

Så er det blevet til lidt af en trædemølle for unge kvinder, dét, at måtte barbere sig hver uge, og den slags, og mange af dem begynder at blive ked af det hele, og derfor har en gruppe begyndt på den kampagne, vi ser i aftenens program, for at ”bringe dusken tilbage ”.

Desværre er der få argumenter i programmet, om eksempelvis helbredsaspekterne. Kønsbehåring er formodenligt designet af evoutionen for hygienske grunde: den beskytter kønsdelene fra bakterier og lignende.

Vi hører i aften en interessant bemærkning om Charles Darwin, der tilsyneladende sagde, at naturen faktisk tog fejl ved at give kønsbehåring til både kvinder og mænd, og at kun mænd havde brug for den. Men programmets vært giver ikke nogle detaljer om Darwins teori, hvilket er lidt skuffende. Pokkers!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!

Wednesday January 29 2020

A day hijacked by a hospital visit and a pub lunch.

Lois wants to visit Ursula, a member of her sect who has spent several weeks in the hospital, first in Gloucester, and now later in Stroud, with some typical "old-crow" sickness that involves some urinary tract infection. and other symptoms. I like Ursula - she's a quiet person, but always positive-looking, with very bright blue eyes: I tell her she is looking better than Lois and me, and I ask the nurse if the hospital has a double bed for me and Lois haha! I've become a wag!

12:00 On purpose we arrive at Ursula's ward about 30 minutes before the staff serve lunch for her. A half-hour visit is exactly the right duration from Ursula's point of view - it is not too tiring for her, and it also causes no embarrassment with saying goodbye and so  on, and we can leave her in peace to enjoy her hospital food - "simples"!

On the way home we have a pub lunch for the Royal William pub in Cranham, a small village high up in the Cotswold hills, where we have eaten many times before, but not for several years, I have to admit. A pleasant pub in an idyllic setting - the downside is that it is packed with old crows, just like us - damn it! But the pub staff are always very friendly and accommodating and they find us a free table, which is nice.

the starters: mine is soup obviously, but what is Lois's starter?

I have already forgotten unfortunately - I'm ageing fast, no doubt about that !!!

main courses: so-called local "Frocester" faggots for Lois: a rare treat for her:

they are rarely found on menus nowadays - and gammon and french fries for me

.... yum yum!

and, finally, the reason there are so many old crows here today:

a special offer on small portions haha!

14:30 We come back home, and I go to bed to take a gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois sits down with the computer and does even more work  on the administrative duties she does on her sect's behalf.

16:00 When I finally get up, we relax on the couch with a cup of tea. She has some news about Miss X [not her real name haha ​​- Ed] who has got into the habit of attending the sect's seminars and services, even though she is not a sect member.

Miss X is an unemployed woman who, in the past, has suffered from mild mental health problems, is living off benefits, and has insisted that she wants to join the sect. The local leadership of the sect has asked Lois and Fran, Lois's friend, to meet Miss X on a regular basis and try to determine if Miss X is sincere or not.

In my opinion, Miss X is just a freeloader who wants to join the sect so she can get small sums of money every now and then to pay for this and that, but I'm just an old cynic, I know that full well. And other rumours have emerged among sect members: that Miss X fancies some male sect member or other, and that sort of thing - it's all turned into a bit of a soap opera, I have to say!

Lois has said she expects that she and Fran will have to meet up several times over several weeks with Miss X to "instruct" her in the doctrines of the sect and "prepare" her to be baptised. I have suggested the café at the town’s "Everyman Theatre" as a suitable venue, but I have to admit, I feel a little annoyed at the thought that the sect's local leadership has relinquished their responsibility here and handed it to Lois and Fran, both in their 70’s, who have already taken on a lot of small ongoing tasks on behalf of its members. Grrrr !!!!!

And the worst part is that I've been almost certain that it will all be a waste of time from Lois' point of view. I find it hard to believe that Miss X is truly sincere, I have to say, or that she has the intelligence enough to grasp the sect’s complex doctrines.

Yesterday, Lois sent Miss X an email inviting Miss X to meet her and Fran at the Everyman Theatre café, and this afternoon Miss X's reply came - she thanks Lois for the invitation, but says that unfortunately she cannot travel to Cheltenham for the time being : she has not been well recently, her free bus pass has expired and she is not quite sure whether the council will issue a new one, and giving other such reasons.

I suspect that Miss X's bluff has actually now been called perhaps - that she thought she could join the sect just by saying she accepted the sect's beliefs, job done. But we'll see. Lois, as usual, always thinks the best about people, and gives them the benefit of the doubt: that's why she married me haha!

17:00  I look at my smartphone and I see that Alison, our daughter in Haslemere, Surrey, has posted a couple of charming photos on "Insta" - showing the family's 3 pets: Sika, the family's Danish dog, Dumbledore, their Danish ex-street cat, and the family's newly acquired English kitten, Otto.

Sika, the family's Danish dog, in peaceful coexistence with Dumbledore,

the Danish ex-street cat, and Otto, the family's newly acquired English kitten

Alison was a little worried earlier this month that Dumbledore would not accept Otto, so she is a bit surprised that there have been no problems in this regard. The other day it suddenly dawned on me that Dumbledore might have been lonely - his Danish brother or pal (whose name I’ve forgotten - some name to do with Harry Potter) was sadly killed last year in a traffic accident on the road in front of the house. “Now it makes sense”, the whole thing !!!!

There was never a problem with Sika, needless to say: cats, children, grandparents and the like - it's all the same from his point of view, which is quite a mature attitude, I have to say.

18:00 No dinner tonight because of our previous pub lunch, just a snack with toast and paté. We spend the evening watching some television, the 2nd episode of an interesting series designed to improve our health and welfare - yikes! How many more of these can we cope with? !!!!

It is interesting to know that protein supplements are a waste of time and money - if you are not vegan. They'll all just end up in your urine haha!

Apart from the above, I do not actually get much that is useful for me personally, I have to say.

I have noticed that this programme tends to suggest and test (using usually two groups of guinea pigs) a lot of unconventional methods for relieving common problems such as pain, stress, obesity, etc.

Tonight we see group-singing, knitting – if possible as part of a “knit-and-natter-group”, belly dancing, as well as placebo tablets (where the guinea pigs know full well that tablets are only placebos) being suggested as methods, and they all seem to be reasonably effective, which is interesting.

Belly dancing is one of the unconventional approaches

which the programme’s experts suggest.

Lois and I didn't know that belly dancing

was initially developed by the Bedouins to help pregnant women

cope with pregnancy and childbirth (allegedly haha).

Who knew that? !!!

But the whole thing makes me whether it is not the methods themselves that alleviate the problems, but the fun mood that people experience when participating in group activities or appearing on TV with a couple of celebrities:  in this case Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Steph McGovern, the programme's charming hosts.

The fun-effect: this is something Rabelais (1494-1553), the French writer / doctor / researcher, knew about over 400 years ago: and he wrote about it in many of his works: his observation that in many cases, if you entertain the patient, talk to him, and makes him laugh and have fun, he often forgets all about his illness. In my opinion a lot of unhealthy life-styles are the result of boredom.

Flashback to 2010: Lois and I visit

the French farm where Rabelais lived

Hence Rabelais’ extensive wine-cellar (see above) haha.

Happy times !!!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz !!!

Danish translation: onsdag den 29. januar 2020

En dag hijacket af en sygehusbesøg og en pubfrokost. Lois har lyst til at besøge Ursula, et medlem af sin sekt, der har tilbragt flere uge i sygehuset, først i Gloucester, og nu senere i Stroud, med ét eller andet typisk ”gamle-krage” sygdom, der involverer en eller anden urinvejnsinfektion og andre symptomer. Jeg kan godt lide Ursula – hun er en stille person, men altid positiv-udseende, med meget blanke blå øjer: jeg fortæller hende hun ser bedre ud, end Lois og mig, og spørger sygeplejersken, om sygehuset har en dobbeltseng til mig og Lois haha! Jeg er blevet til sikke en spasmager!

12:00 Med vilje ankommer vi til Ursulas stue omkring 30 minutter før personalet serverer frokost for hende. En halv time-besøg er præcis den rigtige varighed fra Ursulas synspunkt – det er ikke for trættende for hende, og det gør også, at der ikke er nogen pinlighed om at sige farvel og den slags, og vi kan forlade hende i fred til at nyde sin sygehusmad – "simples" !

På vej hjem spiser vi en pubfrokost til Royal William-pubben i Cranham, en lille landsby højt oppe i Cotswold-bakkerne, hvor vi har spist mange gange før, men ikke i flere år, det må jeg indrømme. En behagelig pub i idyllisk omgivelserne – ulempen er, at den er propfuld med gamle krager, ligesom os  - pokkers! Men pubbens personale er altid meget venligt og imødkommende og de finder os et ledigt bord, hvilket er rart.

forretterne: min er suppe åbenbart, men hvad er Lois’ forret?

Jeg har allerede glemt desværre – jeg ældes hurtigt, ingen tvivl om det!!!

hovedretterne: såkaldte lokale ”Frocester”-faggots for Lois: en sjælden overaskelse for hende:

de findes sjældent på menukort nu om dage – og gammon og pommes frites for mig

.... yum yum!

og, til sidst, grunden til, at der er så mange gamle krager her i dag:

et specielt tilbud på små portioner haha!

14:30 Vi kommer hjem igen og jeg går i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden sætter Lois sig med computeren og gøre endnu flere af sine administrative opgave på sin sekts vegne.

16:00 Da jeg endelig står op, slapper vi af i sofaen med en kop te. Hun har en nyhed om Frøken X [ikke hendes reelle navn haha – red], der er kommet i vane med at deltage i sektens seminarer og gudstjenester, selvom hun ikke er sektmedlem.

Frøken X er en arbejdsløs kvinde, der før i tiden har lidt af milde psykiske problemer, lever af bistand, og har insisteret på, at hun ønsker at slutte sig til sekten. Sektens lokale ledenskab har bedt Lois og Fran, Lois’ veninde, om at mødes på regelmæssig grundlag med Frøken X og prøve at afgøre, om Frøken X er oprigtig eller ej.

Efter min mening er Frøken X bare en nasser, der har lyst til at slutte sig til sekten, så hun kan få små summer penge af og til for at betale for dette og hint, men jeg er bare en gammel kyniker, det ved jeg godt. Og der er fremdukket andre rygter blandt sektmedlemmer:  at Frøken X sværmer for et eller andet mandligt sektmedlem, og den slags – det hele er blevet til lidt af en sæbeopera, det må jeg nok sige!

Lois har sagt, at hun forventer at hun og Fran skal mødes flere gange over flere uger med Frøken X for at ”undervise” hende i sektens doktriner og ”forberede” hende på at blive døbt. Jeg har foreslået caféen tilknyttet byens ”Everyman-teater” som en passende mødested, men jeg må indrømme, jeg føler mig inderst inde lidt irriteret ved tanken om, at sektens lokale ledeskab har fralagt sig dette ansvar og rakt det til Lois og Fran, begge to i 70’erne, som allerede har påtaget sig en masse små igangværende opgaver på vegne af dens medlemmer. Grrrr!!!!!

Og det værste er, at jeg har været næsten helt sikker på, at det hele vil være lidt af et spild af tid fra Lois’ synspunkt. Jeg finder det svært at tro, at Frøken X er virkelig oprigtig, det må jeg nok sige, eller at hun har den tilstrækkelig intelligens til at fatte sektens komplicerede doktriner.

I går sendte Lois Frøken X en email, hvori hun inviterede Frøken X til at mødes på Everyman-teatrets café, og i eftermiddags kom Frøken X’s svar – hun takker Lois for invitationen, men siger, at desværre kan hun ikke rejse til Cheltenham for tiden: hun har ikke haft det godt for nylig, hendes gratis busskort  er løbet ud og hun er ikke helt sikker på, at kommunen vil udstøder et nyt, og den slags.

Jeg mistænker, at Frøken X’s bluffnummer faktisk er blevet afsløret måske – at hun troede, hun kunne slutte sig til sekten bare ved at sige, at hun accepterede sektens tro, job done. Men vi får se. Lois, som sædvanligt, tænker altid det bedste om folk, og lader tvivlen komme dem til gode: det er derfor hun giftede sig med mig haha!

17:00 Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone og jeg ser,at Alison, vores datter i Haslemere, Surrey, har lagt et par charmerende fotoer op på ”Insta” – det viser familiens 3 kæledyr:  Sika, familiens danske hund, Dumbledore, deres danske eks-gadekat, og familiens nykøbte engelske kattekilling, Otto.

Sika, familiens danske hund, i fredelig koeksistens med Dumbledore,

den danske eks-gadekat, og Otto, familiens nykøbte engelske kattekilling

Alison var lidt bekymret tidligere på måneden, at Dumbledore ikke ville acceptere Otto, så er hun lidt overrasket over, at der ikke har været nogle problemer i denne retning. I aften gik det pludselig op for mig, at Dumbledore måske havde været ensom – hans danske bror eller kammerat (hvis navn jeg har glemt – ét eller andet navn, der har noget med Harry Potter at gøre) blev desværre dræbt sidste år i en trafikulykke på vejen foran huset. Now it makes sense, det hele !!!!

Der var aldrig noget problem med Sika, unødvendigt at sige: katte, børn, bedsteforældre og lignende – det er alle det samme fra hans synspunkt, hvilket er en moden holdning, det må jeg nok sige.

18:00 Ingen aftensmad efter vores tidligere pubfrokost, bare en snack med toast og postej. Vi bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, det 2. afsnit i en interessant serie designet til at forbedre vores sundhed og velfærd – yikes! Hvor mange flere kan vi hamle op med?!!!!

Det er interessant at få at vide, at protein-kosttilskud er et spild af tid og penge – hvis du ikke er veganer. De vil alle bare ende ud i din urin haha!

Bortset fra det overstående, skaffer jeg mig faktisk ikke ret meget, der er nyttigt for mig personligt, det må jeg nok sige.

Jeg har bemærket, at programmet har tendens til at foreslå, og prøve (ved hjælp sædvanligt af to grupper prøvekaniner) en masse ukonventionelle metoder, at lindre almindelige problemer (såsom smerter, stress, overvægtighed osv) på.

I aften ser vi gruppesynging, strikning (hvis muligt som medlem af en snak-og-strik-gruppe), mavedansning, samt placebo-tabletter (hvor prøvekaninerne ved udmærket godt, at tabletter er kun placeboer)  blive forslået som metoder, og de virker alle at være rimeligt effektive, hvilket er interessant.

Mavedansning er én af de ukonventionelle tilgange,

som programmets eksperter foreslår.

Lois og jeg vidste ikke, at mavedansning oprindeligt

blev udviklet af beduinerne for at hjælpe gravide kvinder

med at halme op med graviditeten og fødslen (angiveligt haha).

Det vidste hvem?!!!

Men det hele får mig til at tænke, at det er ikke metoderne, der lindrer problemerne, men den sjove stemning, som folk oplever, når de deltager i gruppeaktiviter eller optræder på tv med et par kendisser: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall og Steph McGovern, programmets charmerende værter.  Efter min mening er mange usunde livsstile resultatet af kedelighed.

Det vidste Rabelais (1494-1553), den franske forfatter / læge / forskner for over 400 år siden: og det skrev han om i mange af sine værker:  hans observation, at i mange tilfælde, hvis du underholder patienten, snakker med ham, og gør ham til at grine og få det sjovt, glemmer han ofte alt om sin sygdom.

tilbageblik til 2010: Lois og jeg besøger

den franske gård, hvor Rabelais boede

Derfor havde han sikke en omfattende vinkælder haha.

Lykkelige tider!!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!