Friday January 17 2020

10:00 Lois and I drive over to Bishop's Cleeve to shop at the local Tesco supermarket. On the way, we check in with local greengrocer, Joyce Arnold, to buy our fruits and vegetables. We come home and relax with a cup of coffee on the couch.

Bishop's Cleeve's local Tesco supermarket

Joyce Arnold on the left, in front of her greengrocer’s shop

Afterwards, I sit down with the computer and download some of my most important computer files onto one of my brand new memory sticks in preparation for upgrading our biggest computer to Windows 10, now that Microsoft has stopped maintaining Windows 7, dammit!

Now my job is to persuade Lois to do the same, which will not be easy, to put it mildly - she tends to postpone that kind of thing, I have to say. But we have to hurry - Steve, my brother-in-law in Pennsylvania, has told me that you can still upgrade for free, but who knows how long that will last - yikes !!!!

11:30 I take a look at my smartphone and I see that our daughter Alison in Haslemere has posted a charming photo up on "Insta", which shows the family's new kitten, Otto.

Otto has turned out to be as crazy about football as Alison's 3 children: Josie (13), Rosalind (11) and Isaac (9). My god, what madness !!!!!

The family's new kitten, Otto - already a football fan:

my god, what madness !!!!!

Lois and I know from experience that Alison's house is chock-full with footballs. Alison uses a robotic vacuum cleaner to clean the floors of the house, and every day she has to pick up all those footballs and put them on sofas or armchairs, so that the robot vacuum cleaner can do its job.

Poor robot !!!!

flashback to earlier this week: eight of the children's soccer

sitting quietly on the couch - what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Later in the day, Alison calls us. She says Rosalind is going on a school outing on Sunday to see the latest match between Chelsea and the Arsenal club's women's soccer teams - please, what madness !!!! But very exciting for little Rosalind, no doubt about that !!!!

I have noticed that the Arsenal team is packed with charming Dutch football stars, while Chelsea have a bunch of charming Norwegian and Swedish stars, for some reason. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Flashback to November: Rosalind (left) with 2 of the Arsenal's women's soccer team’s

Dutch stars: Danielle van der Donk (right) and Jill Roord (standing behind)

- my god, what an incredible experience for Rosalind!

I continue to look at my smartphone and browse the Danish news media. I am surprised to see that the media have already reported the story about Derek Fawlds, who died this morning. It turns out that he is well known in Denmark because of his appearances in the sitcom "Yes Minister", a sitcom from the 1980’s, which Lois and I loved dearly. I had always assumed the series was "too British" to be enjoyed abroad, but I was wrong about that, it seems.... from ekstrabladet.dk

12:30 Lunch and afterwards I spend the afternoon in bed. I get up at 4 pm and sit down with the computer. I read another page of Anna Grue's Danish crime novel, "The Further You Fall", which is our U3A Danish group's current project. And, at the same time, I compile an ongoing vocabulary list for the benefit of our group members, to save them having to look up the harder words in their dictionaries.

Anna Grue's crime novel, which is our U3A Danish group

current project.

The page I read yesterday was the first page of a new chapter, "Friday," and the action seemed a bit weird, to say the least - the novel's hero, Dan, the amateur detective, had to venture out onto a plank hanging from a 5th floor window and throw himself down on to the ground in front of a large crowd, all shouting at him and thirsting for his blood. What is the right word for that? - oh yes, I remember - "YIKES" !!!!

However, the whole scene seemed like a bit of an unlikely scenario for today's Denmark, and I guessed he was in the middle of a dream or nightmare of some sort - but we'll see!

The three main characters in the novel:

advertising man and amateur detective Dan Sommerdahl (right)

with his best friend, Police Detective Flemming Torp (left),

and Dan's wife, Marianne, whom both men are in love with - yikes!

Today I read on, and it turns out Dan is dreaming, as I suspected - which is a bit of a relief for me, to put it mildly.

The dream turns out to be a recurring dream that Dan has had from time to time during most of his adult life, according to the writer of the novel. It sounds like the dream is Dan's own alarm-signal that his own subconscious sends him whenever he has to take action to solve some kind of major crisis in his life.

Dan interprets the dream as a warning that he must resign from his job as a Kurt & Ko advertising man, but the worst thing is that he will be forced to give up his beloved black Audi.

I myself have never been so crazy about a car that the thought of giving it up would give me nightmares, in which I am forced to throw myself out of a high window in front of a screaming mob, I have to say. For me, a car is just a way to get from A to B.

18:00 We have lunch and spend the rest of the evening watching some television, a fun series all about performances of an accident-prone local amateur drama group.

Lois and I give the drama group performance "7 out of 10" again tonight: a good effort, given that the group had so many problems that they were not to blame for.

But for the many fans of the series's star actress, Charlie Russsell, the biggest question is, "Is Charlie pregnant?" In some scenes, she looks very obviously pregnant, but maybe that's just an effect of the lighting: it's the jury's still out on that one.

In some scenes, Charlie looks definitely pregnant:

In other scenes, Lois and I come to the conclusion that it was just an effect of the lighting perhaps. We're pretty sure it was all a bit of an illusion, so actress Charlie's many male fans can breathe a sigh of relief, she’s still single, thank goodness!

Maybe not so pregnant after all - and actress Charlie Russell's

many young male fans can breathe a sigh of relief - she is still single and available, lads !!

But it's hard to be sure when it comes to pregnancy, because it usually starts slowly, Lois and I know from experience.

Flashback to January 1975, 45 years ago this month: Lois and me, soon after

Lois became pregnant with Alison, our first child

Happy days !!!!

And if Charlie really is pregnant, we wish her the best of luck with all that. She’ll find out that it’s a game-changing experience, no doubt about that.

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

Danish translation: fredag den 17. januar 2020

10:00 Lois og jeg kører over til Bishops Cleeve for at købe ind i det lokale Tesco-supermarked. På vej smutter vi ind hos den lokale grønthandler, Joyce Arnold, for at købe vores frugt og grøntsager. Vi kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.

Bishops Cleeves lokale Tesco-supermarked

Joyce Arnold til venstre, foran sin grønthandlerforretning

Bagefter sætter jeg med computeren og downloader nogle af mine vigtigste computerfile på ét af mine spritnye hukommelsestik i forberedelse på, at jeg opgraderer vores største computer til Windows 10, nu hvor Microsoft har holdt op med at vedligeholde Windows 7 – pokkers!!!

Nu er min opgave at overtale Lois til at gør det samme, hvilket ikke vil være nemt, for at sige mildt – hun har tendens til at udskyde den slags, det må jeg nok sige. Men vi må skynde os – Steve, min svigerbror i Pennsylvania, har fortalt mig, at man stadig kan opgradere gratis, men hvem ved, hvor længe det der vil vare – yikes!!!!

11:30 Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone, og jeg ser, at vores datter Alison i Haslemere har lagt et charmerende foto op på ”Insta”, som viser familiens nye kattekilling, Otto, der viser sig at være så vild med fodbold som Alisons 3 børn: Josie (13), Rosalind (11) og Isaac (9). Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!!

Familiens nye kattekilling, Otto – allerede en fodboldfan:

du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!!

Lois og jeg ved af erfaring, at Alisons hus er fulde af fodbolde. Alison bruger en robot-støvsuger til at rengøre husets gulve, og hver dag er hun nødt til at samle dem alle de fodbolde op og lægge dem på sofaer eller lænestole, så robotstøvsugeren kan klare sit arbejde.

Stakkels robot!!!!

tilbageblik til tidligere på ugen: otte af børnenes fodbolde

sidder stille og roligt i sofaen – sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Senere på dagen ringer Alison til os. Hun siger at Rosalind på søndag skal på skoleudflugt for at se den seneste kamp mellem Chelsea og Arsenal klubbers damefodboldhold – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!! Men meget spændende for lille Rosalind, ingen tvivl om det!!!!

Jeg har bemærket at Arsenal-holdet er propfyldt med charmerende hollandske fodboldstjerner, mens Chelsea har et bundt charmerende norske og svenske stjerner, af en eller anden grund. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

tilbageblik til november: Rosalind (til venstre) sammen med 2 af Arsenals damefodboldholds

hollandske stjerner: Danielle van der Donk (til højre) og Jill Roord (stående bagved)

- du godeste, sikke en utrolig oplevelse!

Jeg fortsætter med at kigge på min smartphone og bladrer igennem de danske nyhedsmedier. Jeg er overrasket at se, at medierne har rapporteret historien om Derek Fawlds, der døde i morges. Det viser sig som han er velkendt i Danmark på grund af sin deltagelse i sitcommen ”Yes Minister”, en sitcom fra 1980-erne, som Lois og jeg elskede højt. Jeg havde altid antaget, at serien var ”for britisk” til at blive nydt i udlandet, men det var jeg forkert om, ser det ud til. Fra ekstrabladet.dk...

12:30 Frokost og bagefter tilbringer jeg eftermidagen i sengen. Jeg står op kl 16 og sætter jeg med computeren. Jeg læser endnu en side af Anna Grues danske krimiroman, ”Dybt at falde”, som er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt. Og jeg udfærdiger samtidigt en ordforrådsliste til siden til fordel for vores gruppemedlemmer, for at spare dem for at måtte slå de sværere ord op i deres ordbøger.

Anna Grues krimiroman, der er vores U3A danske gruppes

nuværende projekt.

Den side, jeg i går læste var den første side af et nyt kapitel, ”Fredag”, og handlingen syntes lidt underlig, for at sige mildt – romanens helt, Dan, den amatørdetektiv, skulle vove ud på en planke, der hænger ud af et 5. etagevindue og smide sig selv ned på jorden foran en stor folkemængde, der alle råbte på ham og tørstede efter hans blod. Hvad er det rigtige ord – åh ja, jeg husker det - ”YIKES” !!!!

Det hele scenario syntes imidlertid som lidt af en usandsynlig scene i nutidens Danmark, og jeg gættede, at han var midt i en drøm eller mareridt af en eller anden slags – men vi får se!

De tre hovedfigurer i krimiromanen:

reklamemanden og amatørdetektiven Dan Sommerdahl (til højre)

sammen med sin bedste ven, politidetektiven Flemming Torp (til venstre),

og Dans kone, Marianne, som begge mænd er forelskede i – yikes!

I dag læser jeg videre, og det viser sig, at Dan drømmer, som jeg mistænkte – hvilket er lidt af en lettelse for mig, for at sige mildt.

Drømmen viser sig at være en gentagende drøm, som Dan har haft fra tid til anden  i løbet af størstedelen af sit voksenliv, ifølge krimiromanens forfatter. Det lyder som om, det er Dans egen alarmsignal, som sin egen underbevidstheden sender ham, når han skal skride til handling for at løse en eller anden slags større krise i sit liv.

Dan fortolker drømmen som en advarsel, at han må takke af fra sit job som reklamemand hos Kurt & Ko, men det værste er, at han vil blive tvunget til at opgive sin elskede sorte Audi.

Jeg selv har aldrig været så vild med en bil, at tanken om at give den op ville give mig mareridt hvori jeg ville blive tvunget til at kaste mig ud af et højt vindue foran en skrigende pøbel, det må jeg nok sige. For mig, en bil er bare en måde at komme fra A til B på. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

18:00 Vi spiser frokost og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, en morsom sitcom, der handler om forestillinger af en lokal dramagruppe.

Lois og jeg giver dramagruppens præstation ”7 ud af 10” igen i aften: godt forsøgt, i betragtning af, at gruppen havde så mange problemer, som de ikke var skyld i.

Men for de mange fans af seriens stjerneskuespillerinde, Charlie Russsell, er det største spørgsmål, ”Er Charlie gravid?”. I nogle scener ser hun meget åbenligt gravid ud, men måske er det et effekt af lysningen: det er juryen stadig ude om.

I nogle scener ser Charlie gravid ud:

I andre scener kommer Lois og jeg til den konklusion, af det bare var et effekt af lysningen. Vi bliver helt sikre på, at det hele var lidt en illusion, så kan skuespillerinden Charlies mange mandlige fans ånde lettet, stadig single, gudskelov!

q1: måske ikke gravid trods alt – og skuespillerinden Charlie Russells

mange unge mandlige fans kan ånde lettet – hun er stadig single, lader det til!!

Men det er det svært at være sikker på, når det kommer til graviditet, som sædvanligt starter langsomt, ved Lois og jeg af erfaring.

tilbageblik til januar 1975, for 45 år siden: Lois og mig, snart efter

Lois blev gravid med Alison, vores første børn

Lykkelige dage!!!!

Og hvis Charlie virkelig er gravid, ønsker vi hende held og tillykke med alt det der. Det vil være en spilskiftende oplevelse, ingen tvivl om det.

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!!