Sunday January 26 2020

09:00 No whatsapp call this morning with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia - she sends me a text message: the family is driving down to the harbour. They want to see the fireworks for Australia Day.

Later, Francis posts a few photos on Facebook, but where are the kids, the couple's 6-year-old twins Lily and Jessie? I suspect they are asleep in the back of the car and Sarah sitting with them, but we'll see!

our son-in-law Francis's pictures of the fireworks

in Perth Harbour tonight for Australia Day

10:00 Lois wants to attend her sect's two worship services, taking place today in Tewkesbury library. She has been suffering from back pain over the past few days and she has asked me to drive her over there. She is taking a bag of food with her: cans for the most part.

The sect's local leadership recently assigned her a project to get the sect's local members to donate food every Sunday, which she would then take to the food bank in the local Tesco mini-market.

The project officially started last Sunday, but despite calls from the leadership and emails from Lois, not one member remembered to bring food in with them last Sunday: only Lois had come with any - actually two bags worth, bless her. Even the leadership’s members forgot. It was all a bit pitiful, I think. Let’s hope some of them contribute something today, and it’s not just Lois donating. Good grief, what madness !!!!

I drive Lois over to Tewkesbury and drop her off at 10:30 am in front of the library. But we find that the library is still closed - the two members holding the keys have not yet appeared, which is typical, I have to say! If I knew it was only me and another member holding the keys, I would make sure I showed up at least on time and preferably even a bit earlier, but I feel I'm a little out of step with the times. My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Tewkesbury Library

14:00 After eating my lunch I drive back to Tewkesbury and pick Lois up in the car park closest to the library. She says that this week a few members actually remembered to donate cans of food to the food bank and Lois feels very pleased now with the progress she’s made on the project, which is nice.

We drive home again and I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap while Lois sits down in the living room to watch some movie on television. I get up at 4 pm and we relax with a cup of tea and a slice of home-grown, homemade greengage jam - yum yum!

17:00 I start reading another 4 pages of Anna Grue's Danish crime novel, "The Further You Fall", which is our U3A Danish group's current project. The group will be holding its regular meeting here on Thursday, our first meeting since the Christmas break.

Anna Grue's novel, which is

our U3A Danish group's current project.

The hero of the novel is Dan Sommerdahl, an advertising man and amateur detective, who is trying  to help local police solve two murders: Lilliana, an Estonian cleaning woman who worked in Dan's advertising agency, and Sally, Lilliana's Nigerian roomie.

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, a doctor, whom both men are in love with - yikes!

Both the murdered women had become involved in Denmark's sex and porn industry. And when police investigated Lilliana's body, they found that she had given birth "vaginally" a few months earlier, though none of her work colleagues seemed to realise she was pregnant. But she was a cleaning woman after all, so maybe she had the habit of showing up for work wearing something not very tight-fitting or revealing, but that’s something I'm not entirely sure about - the jury is still out on that one.

In the pages I read today, Dan, the amateur detective, discovers that Lilliana's baby was adopted by a woman named Regitze, who is actually one of the doctors in his wife Marianne's medical practice, even though Marianne doesn't seem to have any knowledge of it.

My goodness, what a coincidence! But Denmark is a much smaller country than the UK with a much smaller population, so maybe some such things happen from time to time.

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television, the 6th (and last) episode  of an interesting drama documentary about the model Christine Keeler and the so-called Profumo scandal that first hit the headlines early in the 1960’s, when Lois and I were young teenagers. Keeler had an affair with the then Secretary of War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, John "Jack" Profumo.

Stephen Ward, the distinguished osteopath who was friends with a number of important personalities in government and others in high social positions, used to invite Profumo and others to parties where they met models such as Christine Keeler, and other beautiful women ready to go to bed with them in exchange for expensive gifts and a luxury lifestyle and the like.

But as soon as Profumo was forced to resign as Minister of War and the scandal hit the headlines, Stephen Ward suddenly found himself isolated and shunned by his former rich and powerful friends. And his wealthy patients began cancelling their appointments with him. Not "The Establishment’s" finest hour, to put it mildly.

Tonight is another rather sad episode. Ward gets found guilty on a ridiculous charge, in part based on Christine's evidence, that he was living on "immoral earnings", but he actually dies of an overdose before he can hear the jury's verdict.

And Christine's perjury in a minor trial is punished by a few months in prison. After being released, she is filled with misgivings about her role in helping the police get Ward convicted.

And finally we hear Profumo's wife, Valerie, an ex-actress who has mostly been silent during the saga, scolding him for his affair with Christine, and scolding men in general - yikes!

But it is clear that Profumo sincerely regrets what he did, and we see him later accepting a job as an assistant at Toynbee Hall, a charity and drop-in centre for various local residents in a suburb of London, mostly the elderly, the lonely, the poor, etc. Valerie decides eventually that she can forgive him: and we see her turn up one day at the centre and "invite" him out for lunch with her.

A touching scene, but I tell Lois that I'm not sure I could ever be friends with a man who doesn't like rissoles, I have to say: they're so yummy ha ha.

Christine was a bit of a tortured soul, but not her friend, Mandy. There are some people who never seem to be affected by any disaster or scandal that strikes them: they have a talent for making the most of their lives, no matter what happens. And they always come up smelling of roses. Mandy Rice-Davies was such a one. And we see her tonight in the recording studio, exploiting her notoriety to record a lively version of the hit song "Baby You’ve Got It Takes".

A fantastic series, Lois and I think. The acting was really top-notch, and the script was absolutely incredible.

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

Danish translation: søndag den 26. januar 2020

09:00 Ingen whatsapp-opkald i formiddag med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien – hun sender mig en sms: familien er ved at køre ned til havnen. De har lyst til at se fyrværkeriet i anledningen af Australia Day.

Senere lægger Francis et par fotoer op på Facebook, men hvor er børnene  - parrets 6-årige tvillinger Lily og Jessie? Jeg mistænker, de sidder og sover på bilens bagsædet, og Sarah sidder med dem, men vi får se !

vores svigersøn Francis’ billeder af fyrværkeriet

 i aften i anledning af Australia Day ved byen Perths havn

10:00 Lois ønsker at deltage i sin sekts to gudstjenester, der finder sted i dag i byen Tewkesburys bibliotek. Hun har lidt af rygsmerter igen de seneste få dage, og hun har bedt mig om at køre hende derover. Hun medbringer en pose fødevarer: dåser for det meste.

Sektens lokale ledenskab tildelte hende for nylig et projekt til at få sektens lokale medlemmer til at donere fødevarer hver søndag, som hun så tager med til madbanken i det lokale Tesco-minisupermarked.

Projektet startede officielt sidste søndag, men på trods af appeller fra ledeskabet og emails fra Lois, huskede ikke ét medlem at medbringe mad sidste søndag: kun Lois var kommet med en pose – faktisk to poser. Endda ledeskabets medlemmer glemte. Det hele var lidt ynkeligt, synes jeg. Lad os håbe, at medlemskabet bidrager med noget i dag, og det er ikke bare Lois, der donerer. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!

Jeg kører Lois over til Tewkesbury og sætter hende af kl 10:30 foran biblioteket. Men biblioteket er stadig lukket – de to medlemmer, der holder nøglerne, har ikke dukket op endnu, hvilket er typisk, det må jeg nok sige! Hvis jeg vidste det var kun mig og et andet medlem, der holdt nøgler, ville jeg sørge for, at jeg dukkede op i det mindste til tiden og helst endnu tidligere, men jeg føler, jeg er lidt ud af trit med tiderne. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Byen Tewkesburys bibliotek

14:00 Jeg afhenter Lois i den parkeringsplads, der er tættest på biblioteket. Hun siger, at denne uge huskede faktisk et par medlemmer at donere dåser mad til madbanken og Lois føler sig meget tilfreds med sit fremskridt, hvilket er rart.

Vi kører hjem igen og jeg går i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur, mens Lois sætter sig til rette i stuen og ser en eller anden film i fjernsyn. Jeg står op kl 16 og vi slapper  af med en kop te og et stykke brød med hjemmedyrket, hjemmelavet reineclaude-marmelade – yum yum!

17:00 Jeg går i gang med at læse endnu 4 sider af Anna Grues danske krimiroman, ”Dybt at falde”, som er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt. Gruppen holder sit regelmæssige møde på torsdag hos os, vores første møde siden julepausen.

Anna Grues krimiroman, som er

vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt.

Romanens helt er Dan Sommerdahl, en reklamemand og amatørdetektiv, der prøver at hjælpe det lokale politi med at løse to mord: Lilliana, en estisk rengøringskvinde, der arbejdede i Dans reklamebureau, og Sally, Lillianas nigerianske roomie.

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, en læge, som begge mænd er forelskede i – yikes!

Begge kvinder var blevet involveret i Danmarks sex- og porno-industri. Og da politiet undersøgte Lillianas lig, fandt de ud af, at hun havde født ”vaginalt” nogle måneder tidligere, selvom ingen af hendes arbejdskollegaer syntes at være klar over, at hun havde været gravid. Men hun var trods alt rengøringskvinde, så måske havde for vane at dukke op til arbejde  iført noget ikke særlig stramtsiddende eller tætsiddende, men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på – juryen er stadig ude om det.

I de sider, jeg læser i dag, opdager Dan, den amatørdetektiv, at Lillianas barn blev adopteret af en kvinde ved navn Regitze, faktisk en af lægerne i hans kone Mariannes lægepraksis, selvom Marianne ikke virker ikke at have den fjerneste anelse om det. Du godeste, sikke en sammenfald! Men Danmark er et meget mindre land end Storbritannien med en meget mindre befolkning, så måske sker der sådanne nogle ting fra tid til anden. Men det er jeg ikke helt sikker på - juryen er stadig ude om det.

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, det 6. (og sidste) afsnit i en interesssant dramadokumentar, der handler om modelen Christine Keeler og den såkaldte Profumo-skandale, der ramte overskrifterne først i 1960’erne, da Lois og jeg var unge teenagere. Keeler havde en affære med den daværende krigsminister i Harold Macmillans konservative regering, John ”Jack” Profumo.

Stephen Ward, den fornemme osteopat, der var venner med en række vigtige personligheder i regeringen og andre i høj sociale positioner, havde for vane at invitere dem til fester, hvor de mødte modeller såsom Christine Keeler, og andre smukke kvinder klar til at gå i seng med dem i bytte for dyre gaver og et luksuslivsstil og den slags.

Men så snart Profumo blev tvunget til at sige op som krigsminister, og skandalen ramte overskrifterne, befandt Stephen Ward sig pludselig isoleret og skyet af sine tidligere rige og magtfulde venner. Og hans rige patienter begyndte at aflyse deres aftaler hos ham. Ikke ”The Establishments” fineste time, for at sige mildt.

I aften endnu et lidt trist afsnit. Ward er dømt på en latterlig sigtelse, altså, delvis baseret på Christines bevis, at han levede af ”umoralske indtægt”, men han faktisk dør af en overdosis, før han kan høre juryens dom.

Og Christines mened i en mindre retssag bliver straffet med et par måneders fængsel. Efter hun bliver løsladt, er hun fyldt med dårlige anelser om sin rolle i at hjælpe politiet til at få Ward dømt.

Endeligt hører vi Profumos kone, Valerie, en eks-skuespillerinde, der for det meste er blevet tavs under sagaen, skælde ham ud for hans affære med Christine og skælde mænd ud generelt – yikes!

Men det er klart, at Profumo virkelig fortryder dét han gjorde, og vi ser ham acceptere et job som assistent på Toynbee Hall, en velgørenhedsinstitution og drop-in center til forskellige lokale indbyggere i en forstad til London, for det meste de ældre, de ensomme, de fattige osv. Valerie kommer senere til at tilgive ham: vi ser hende dukke op en dag på centret og ”invitere” ham til at gå ud til frokost med sig.

En rørende scene, men jeg fortæller Lois, at jeg ikke er sikker på, at jeg nogensinde kunne godt være venner med en mand, der ikke kan lide frikadeller, det må jeg nok sige: de er så lækre ha ha.

Christine var lidt af en tortureret sjæl, men ikke hendes veninde, Mandy. Der er nogle mennesker, der aldrig bliver forandret af noget katastrofe eller skandale som helst, der rammer dem: de er meget gode til at få mest muligt ud af deres liv, uanset hvad der sker. De kommer altid ud af det duftende af roser. Mandy Rice-Davies var sådan et menneske. Og vi ser hende udnytte sin berygtethed til at optage en livlig version af hitsangen ”Baby You’ve Got What It Takes”.

En fantastisk serie, Lois og jeg synes. Skuespillerne var rigtig toptunede, og scriptet var helt utroligt.

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzz!!!!