Tuesday January 14 2020

09:00 Lois and I tumble out of the shower cabinet and hurry down to the breakfast table. My friend, "Magyar" Mike is turning up at 10am to take part in our weekly "Hungarian hour". He has become a bit of a nervous driver, and he is eager to get safely home to Nailsworth again after the session, before the threatened  "Storm Brendan" arrives in the area - yikes!

We don't study a lot of Hungarian, but it's nice to see Mike again after our month-long "Christmas break" and hear a little about the Christmas he had with his wife, "Magyar" Mary, and hear more than a little also about his grandchildren and all that kind of "old crow” chit-chat haha.

flashback to 1994 and my first ever visit to Hungary:

me (left) with my friend "Magyar" Mike:  showcasing

our newly-purchased second-hand "excellent worker" medals

from the communist era

12:00 Lunch and afterwards I spend the afternoon in bed. I get up at 4 and remember my 2 New Year's resolutions - I jump up on my bike and cycle 4.5 miles: I resumed my bike training yesterday after a couple of months’ break with a 3 mile "circuit" and my goal is to resume my usual 6 mile sessions starting from tomorrow. I get off the bike and then I listen to a few basic oral Danish lessons on my Window 10 tablet, my other resolution.

Our other computers use Windows 7, but I get an email later from Steve, my American brother-in-law, who tells me it's not too late to upgrade to Windows 10 for free, which is good news. I make a mental note to try that out in a few days’ time after copying our most important files onto a few memory sticks: better be on the safe side ha ha!

17:30 Storm Brendan rages outside while we have dinner, a little earlier than usual. Lois wants to take part in her sect's Bible seminar, taking place tonight in Brockworth library: tonight's seminar is the first one of the new semester. She doesn't want to drive in the storm, and she has asked me to drive her over to her friend Fran's house, and Fran is going to drive her over to Brockworth, where both women will take part in the seminar.

photos from a typical seminar: in the 2nd picture Fran sits # 2 from the right

With Storm Brendan It’s a bit of a drive from hell, but I manage to drop Lois off in front of Fran’s house and drive home again. I have some alone time and spend the evening watching some television.

20:00 An interesting documentary is on, all about women who sell sex to customers they come into contact with online through social media etc, mostly as a spare-time job, although many are single mothers. The programme's host is the lugubrious-looking Louis Theroux.

The women Louis talks to are all very positive when chatting about their work, unlike Louis, the programme’s host, who always looks a little depressed – my god, what madness !!! I have trouble finding the right words to describe Louis's facial expression, but fortunately our "Radio Times" magazine comes up with the right words,when it talks about Louis's "uncomfortable vicar look", the look which has very much become his trademark.

We hear some strange back-stories: Caroline, in her 50’s, and her husband, Graham, both came from a religious background and were both virgins when they got married. Their sex life was incredibly difficult from the start. It was only later in life, when she began selling sex to strangers, that she really thought she had finally found her true calling, which seems a little strange to put it mildly. Graham is okay with it all, it seems.

Caroline and Graham when they got married

Caroline today, all dressed up (?) and ready to go on a "date" 

with one of her regular customers

The question in my mind is how much these women are exposing themselves to dangerous risks by meeting up with strange men, but in fact most of their customers are regulars  and the women know them well. And it turns out that women belong to an online network where men are awarded performance ratings (5 star, 4 star, etc.) in their role as buyers, as well as the women themselves who get ratings for their performance as sellers, a bit like Ebay . My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!

21:00 I continue to watch some television, an interesting episode in Ben Fogle's series "New Lives in the Wild", which is all about people who voluntarily give up the benefits of modern life to move somewhere out in the countryside and live in very primitive circumstances.

Tonight, Ben travels to Siberia to meet with Nikita Zimov, an unconventional scientist who thinks he can solve the problem of melting permafrost by removing the area's forests and planting grass and importing thousands of animals, such as cows and the like. Good grief, what madness !!! But many scientists from other countries agree with him, and they come and work with Nikita on his giant "experiment".

Lois comes back from Brockworth midway through the programme, and we both agree that we feel totally confused about what things are making global warming worse and what things are stopping it, not to mention what vegans are teaching us about, etc. Are cows good or bad? There must be someone who knows the answer ha ha ha! Help!!!!

In a moving scene Nikita shows Ben where he is to stay during his weeklong visit: a rusting old communist-era barge - at least there's a toilet, which is a bit of a relief to Ben, to put it mildly!

2:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation: tirsdag den 14. januar 2020

09:00 Lois og jeg vælter ud af brusekabinen og skynder os ned til morgenmadbordet. Min ven, ”Magyar” Mike skal dukke op hos os kl 10 for at deltage i vores ugentlige ”ungarske time”. Han er blevet til lidt af en nervøs chauffør, og han er ivrig efter at køre hjem til Nailsworth igen straks efter sessionen, før den truede ”Storm Brendan” ankommer til området – yikes! Vi studerer ikke en masse ungarsk, men det er rart at se Mike igen efter vores månedlange ”julepause” og høre lidt om den jul, han havde med sin kone, ”Magyar” Mary, og høre lidt om hans børnebørn og den slags ”gamle krage” snik-snak haha.

Tilbageblik til 1994 og mit første nogensinde besøg i Ungarn:

mig (til venstre) med min ven ”Magyar” Mike: vi fremviser

vores nykøbte brugte ”udmærket arbejder”-medaljer fra den kommunistiske æra

12:00 Frokost og bagefter tilbringer eftermiddagen i seng. Jeg står op kl 16 og mindes om mine 2 nytårsforsæt – jeg hopper op på min kondicykel og cykler 4, 5 miles: jeg genoptog min cykeltræning i går efter et par måneders pause med en 3 miles ”omgang” og mit mål er at tilbagelægge mine sædvanlige 6 miles sessioner startende fra i morgen. Bagefter lytter jeg lidt til et par grundlæggende mundlige danske lektioner på mit Window 10 tablet.

Vores andre computere bruger Windows 7, men jeg får en email senere fra Steve, min amerikanske svigerbror, der fortæller mig, at det ikke er for sent til at opgradere gratis til Windows 10, hvilket er en god nyhed. Jeg laver en mental bemærkning om, at forsøge mig med det om et par dage, efter jeg har kopieret vores vigtigste filer til et par hukommelsesstik: hellere være på den sikre side ha ha!

17:30 Stormen Brendan hærger udenfor, mens vi spiser aftensmad, lidt tidligere, end normalt. Lois ønsker at deltage i sin sekts bibelseminar, der finder sted i aften i byen Brockworths bibliotek:  aftenens seminar er det første i den nye semester. Hun har ikke lyst til at køre bil i stormen, og hun har bedt mig om at køre hende over til hendes veninde Frans hus, og Fran skal køre hende over til Brockworth, hvor begge kvinder vil deltage i seminaret.

fotoer fra et typisk seminar: Fran sidder nr 2 fra højre

Lidt af en kørsel fra helvede, men jeg sætter Lois af foran Frans hus og kører hjem igen. Jeg har lidt alenetid og bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn.

20:00 De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om kvinder, der sælger sex til kunder, de kommer i kontakt med på nettet, for det meste som et fritidsjob, selvom mange er enlige mødre. Programmets vært er den sørgelig-udseende Louis Theroux.

De kvinder Louis taler med er alle meget positive, når de snakker om deres arbejde, i modsætning til Louis, programmets vært, der altid ser lidt deprimeret ud – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!  Jeg har svært med at beskrive Louis’ ansigtsudtryk, men heldigvis kommer vores ”Radio Times”-tidsskrift med de rigtige ord: Louis’ ” uncomfortable vicar look”, som er blevet hans varemærke.

Vi hører nogle mærkelige tilbagehistorier: Caroline, i 50’erne, og hendes mand, Graham, stammede begge fra en religiøs baggrund og var begge jomfur, da de giftede sig. Deres sexliv var utrolig svært fra starten af. Det var kun senere i livet, da hun begyndte at sælge sex til fremmede mænd, at hun virkelig troede, at hun omsider havde fundet sit sande kald, hvilket ser lidt mærkeligt ud for at sige milst. Graham er okay med det hele, lader det til.

Caroline og Graham, da de giftede sig

Caroline i dag, klædt på (?) og klar til at tage på ”date” 

med en eller anden af sine faste kunder

Jeg undrer mig, om hvor meget disse kvinder er udsatte for farlige risikoer ved at mødes med fremmede mænd, men faktisk er de fleste kunder faste, og kvinderne kender dem godt. Og det viser sig, at kvinderne hører til et online-netværk, hvor mændene bliver tildelt præstationsratings (5-stjerne, 4-stjerne osv) i deres rolle som kunder, udover kvinderne, der får ratings for deres præstationer også. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i!!!

21:00 Jeg fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, et interessant afsnit i Ben Fogles serie ”New Lives in the Wild”, der handler om folk, der frivilligt opgiver fordelene af det moderne liv for at flytte et eller andet sted ude på landet og leve under meget primitive omstændigheder.

I aften rejser Ben til Siberien for at mødes med Nikita Zimov, en ukonventionel videnskabsmand, der tror, han kan løse problemet af smeltende permafrost ved at fjerne områdets skove og plante græs og importere tusindvis af dyre, såsom køer og den slags. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!! Men mange videnskabsmænd fra andre lande er enige med ham, og kommer og arbejder med Nikita på sit kæmpe ”eksperiment”.

Lois kommer tilbage fra Brockworth midtvejs i programmet, og vi er begge to enige om, at vi føler os totalt forvirrede over, hvilke ting gør global opvarmning værre og hvilke ting stopper den, for ikke at navne, hvad veganerne belærer os om osv. Er køer gode eller dårlige? Der må være én eller ander, der kender svaret ha ha ha! Hjælp!!!!

Nikita viser Ben i en rørende scene hvor Ben skal opholde sig under sit ugelange besøg: en rustende gammel kommunistisk æra  pram – i det mindste er der et toilet, hvilket er lidt af en lettelse for Ben, for at sige mildt!

Du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!!