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!!!