Friday February 7 09:00 – Tuesday February 11 16:00 2020

Friday February 7 2020

Friday – we drive over to Bishops Cleeve to go food shopping at Joyce Arnold’s greengrocer shop and the local Tesco supermarket. Lois is driving because of my “nasty turn” yesterday, just to be on the safe side – and it’s nice to be driven for once. I decide to get “loadsamoney” (ie £200, the maximum) from a cash machine, in case my condition gets worse and I’m stuck indoors – yikes!!! Yes, at this stage I’m still thinking I could be on my death bed before another week is out. Not that I’m a hypochrondiac or anything like that haha.

Bishop Cleeve's Tesco supermarket

The next door house, where Bill and Mary used to live has been empty for a few months. Bill died of pancreatic cancer unfortunately, and his wife Mary, who suffers from dementia, has moved into a local care home. When we got back home from Bishops Cleeve, Bill’s son Andrew was there with his car. He told us that the house had been sold to a local single mother with two small children, just coming out of a divorce. Her brother is a builder or at least a practical man and he will be doing some of the many repairs needed, mainly to do with the roof.

Saturday February 8 2020

Saturday – we don’t do much, other than to batten down the hatches for tomorrow’s storm, Storm Ciara. We put some of the patio furniture in the shed or in the greenhouse and bring some into the house: now we have to inch our way past a load of patio furniture to get to the downstairs loo – damn!

Weathermen say we should expect heavy rain most of the day and winds of over 50 mph.

Storm Ciara – what’s that word? Oh yes, it’s “YIKESSSSSS” !!!!

Our daughter Sarah calls us from Perth, Australia. Sarah and Francis are settling into their new rental home in Lower Chittering, after the move from Ocean Reef. 

Their 6-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie, have been going to their new school for 2 weeks: the class size is only 14, which must be great. The twins are certainly enjoying it there and they both like their new lady teacher, who’s both nice and fun: - you can’t get better than that!

I wish I was nice and also fun haha!

Puzzlingly, there is a Greek-born male teacher at the school who is teaching the children a bit of Greek – we’re not sure whether it’s classical or modern, but the big question remains – YOU WHAT??????!!!!

It’s a private Catholic school, and Francis asks us if we have any idea why there would be Greek lessons there – we tell him that Catholics seem to like Latin, but not Greek especially, to our knowledge. There aren’t a lot of Greek immigrants in the area, he says, and nobody else in the school is Greek apart from this one teacher.  What madness!!!!

Perhaps the idea is to expose the children to the idea that English isn’t the only language in the world, but Lois and I are uncertain about the exact motivation  – so the jury’s still out on that one.

Overnight Francis sends us a picture of the twins in their new uniforms just about to start the first day of their second year: on February 3^rd.

Our 6-year-old twin granddaughters Lily and Jessie

in their new catholic school uniforms – how cute they are though!!!!

In the evening we see the Graham Norton chat-show – two of the guests are David Schwimmer and Nick Mohammed, who are about to launch a new sitcom about GCHQ – David plays an NSA analyst who comes over here to set up some new links and ends up trying to run the place. Nick is the show’s creator and also plays Nick’s British buddy.

We see an amusing clip where the two friends are trying to get past all the security devices designed to stop unauthorised personnel accessing the men’s toilets: fingerprint and/or eyeball recognition devices and that sort of thing.

My god, what madness! In my day the toilets at high security establishments were free for anyone to use, whether you were “authorised” or not!!! And so they should be in my opinion. This is a case of “security gone mad”, that’s for sure! Wake up to reality, you guys, and let people pee when they need to, and not 15 minutes after it’s too late! haha!!! What a crazy world we live in !!!!!!

Apparently David Schwimmer and Nick Mohammed talked to PR people from GCHQ but were not  allowed into the place, for security reasons. 

Lois and I will not  be able to see the show, however, because we're too stingy to pay for Sky TV. How completely crazy - penny-pinching gone mad!!!!

Sunday February 9 2020

We stay in and listen to the heavy rain and strong winds battering the house and garden. Later we find that part of our trellis has been blown down. The official advice is to stay off the roads unless your journey is absolutely necessary, so Lois does not drive to Tewkesbury to attend her sect’s two worship services. She listens in online but frustratingly the audio for both services cuts out well before the end. Nobody seems to know why this happens. Alf says it’s because of Boots pharmacy next door to the library where the sect meets, and the staff’s heavy use of the internet – it’s not clear to me how this would be, or why. So the jury’s still out on that one too.

 Later we find that Storm Ciara has blown down most of 

one of our two trellises - my god, what sheer spitefulness!

we collect the broken pieces as firewood for Mari-Ann and Alf

22:00 We go to bed. I read 20 pages of my bedtime book before I drift off to sleep - zzzzzzzzz!!!!!

Monday February 10 2020

I ring up our new doctor’s surgery and get an appointment for 4:15 pm with one of the doctors. Lois comes in to see the doctor with me as she has the full story – she was in bed with me when the “nasty turn” happened, and saw the whole thing.  It’s quite a relief, to put it mildly, when the doctor says he’s not unduly concerned. He doesn’t seem to think there was any serious condition underlying my dizzy attack followed by about 5 seconds unconsciousness, but to confirm this, he orders a blood test and ecg, which I’ll take on Thursday. He measures my blood pressure and pulse rate in the surgery and says they’re satisfactory, which is nice.

On the way out, I book my blood tests etc with the receptionist, and we notice it’s raining heavily outside. The young man in front of us in the queue, who’s carrying a toddler says he’s just driven to Cheltenham from Derby, which is covered by a blanket of snow.

My god, what a crazy country we live in!!! Derby is only about 100 miles away – they ought to have the same weather as us in my humble opinion, thank you very much!!!!

In the evening we watch the second (and final) part of Mary Beard’s series on Nudity in Art. 

Last week’s episode was about beautiful but sexist nudes, giving Mary the chance to air her feminist world-view.

a nice fantasy nude from last week's show

Tonight’s nudes are mostly the other sort of nudes, i.e. real ones, including some “not very nice nudes”: the old, the fat etc, some of them a bit like Lois and me!!! But to our credit, although we are old ourselves, we still prefer the beautiful but sexist nudes we saw last week. Sorry Mary, I know you’re trying to give us a dose of reality, but we still prefer the fantasy option. Leave us with our dreams at least – for pity’s sake - that's all we've got left haha!!!

a couple of this week's "not very nice nudes"

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

Tuesday 11 February 2020 till 16:00

Lois has her exercise class at 1 pm today with her friend Fran, so it’s my turn to make the lunch: two portions of poached egg on toast, one of my so-called “signature dishes”.  While she is out, I have a gigantic afternoon nap, and afterwards I hop up on my exercise bike for the first time in a few weeks. I’m being cautious so I only do 3 miles. After that I go out in the back garden and put the patio furniture back in place and cover them with our covers. Lois comes back at 15:30 and we relax with a cup of tea on the couch.

Danish translation:

Fredag ​​7. februar 09:00 - Tirsdag 11. februar 16:00 2020

Fredag ​​den 7. februar 2020

Fredag ​​- vi kører over til Bishops Cleeve for at shoppe med mad i Joyce Arnolds grønthandelbutik og det lokale Tesco-supermarked. Lois kører på grund af min "grimme sving" i går, bare for at være på den sikre side - og det er dejligt at blive kørt en gang. Jeg beslutter at få "loadsamoney" (dvs. £ 200, det maksimale) i tilfælde af, at min tilstand bliver værre, og jeg sidder fast indendørs - yikes !!! Ja, jeg tænker stadig på, at jeg kunne være på min dødsleje, før en anden uge er forbi.

Det næste dørhus, hvor Bill og Mary plejede at bo, har været tomt i et par måneder. Bill døde desværre af kræft i bugspytkirtlen, og hans kone Mary, der lider af demens, er flyttet ind i et lokalt plejehjem. Da vi kom hjem fra Bishops Cleeve, var Bills søn Andrew der med sin bil. Han fortalte os, at huset var solgt til en lokal enlig mor med to små børn lige ved at komme ud af en skilsmisse. Hendes bror er en bygmester eller i det mindste en praktisk mand, og han vil udføre nogle af de mange reparationer, der er nødvendige, hovedsageligt med taget.

Lørdag 8. februar 2020

Lørdag - vi gør ikke meget, andet end at slå ned lugerne til morgendagens storm, Storm Ciara. Vi lægger nogle af havemøbler i skuret eller i drivhuset og bringer nogle ind i huset: nu er vi nødt til at gå forbi en masse havemøbler for at komme til nedenunder loo - forbandet!

Vejrfolk siger, at vi bør forvente kraftig regn det meste af dagen og vind på over 50 mph.

Vores datter Sarah ringer til os fra Perth, Australien. Sarah og Francis bosætter sig i deres nye lejebolig i Lower Chittering. Deres 6-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie, har gået på deres nye skole i 2 uger: klassestørrelsen er kun 14, hvilket må være godt. Tvillingene nyder bestemt det der, og de kan begge lide deres nye damelærer, som både er sød og sjov: - Du kan ikke blive bedre end det!

Jeg ville ønske jeg var dejlig og også sjov haha!

Forundrende er der en græskfødt mandlig lærer på skolen, der underviser børnene lidt græsk - vi er ikke sikre på, om det er klassisk eller moderne, men det store spørgsmål er stadig tilbage - DU HVAD ?????? !! !!

Det er en privat katolsk skole, og Francis spørger os, om vi har nogen idé om, hvorfor der ville være græskundervisning der - vi fortæller ham, at katolikker ser ud til at kunne lide latin, men ikke græsk, især til vores viden. Der er ikke mange græske immigranter i området, siger han, og ingen andre på skolen er græsk bortset fra denne ene lærer. Hvilken vanvid !!!!

Tanken er måske at udsætte børnene for tanken om, at engelsk ikke er det eneste sprog i verden, men Lois og jeg er usikre på den nøjagtige motivation - så juryen er stadig ude på den ene.

Overnatning Francis sender os et billede af tvillingerne i deres nye uniformer lige ved at starte den første dag i deres andet år: den 3. februar.

Vores 6-årige tvillingebødre Lily og Jessie

i deres nye katolske skoleuniformer - hvor søde er de dog !!!!

Om aftenen ser vi chat-showet Graham Norton - to af gæsterne er David Schwimmer og Nick Mohammed, der er ved at lancere en ny sitcom om GCHQ - David spiller en NSA-analytiker, der kommer her for at oprette nogle nye links og ender med at prøve at køre stedet. Nick er showets skaber og spiller også Nick's britiske ven.

Vi ser et morsomt klip, hvor de to venner forsøger at komme forbi alle sikkerhedsenheder, der er designet til at forhindre uautoriseret personale i at få adgang til mændets toiletter: fingeraftryks- og / eller genkendelsesapparater til øjenæble og den slags ting.

Min gud, hvilken vanvid! På min dag var toiletterne frie for enhver at bruge, uanset om du var "autoriseret" eller ikke !!! Og så skulle de være efter min mening. Dette er et tilfælde af ”sikkerhed blevet gal”, det er helt sikkert! Vågn op til virkeligheden, I fyre, og lad folk tisse, når de har brug for det, og ikke 15 minutter efter det er for sent! haha !!! Hvilken skør verden vi lever i !!!!!!

Søndag 9. februar 2020

Vi bliver i og lytter til det kraftige regn og kraftige vinde, der mister huset og haven. Senere finder vi ud af, at en del af vores espalier er blevet sprængt. Det officielle råd er at holde sig ude af vejen, medmindre din rejse er absolut nødvendig, så Lois ikke kører til Tewkesbury for at deltage i hendes sekts to gudstjenester. Hun lytter online, men frustrerende slår lyden fra begge tjenester ud inden slutningen. Ingen ser ud til at vide, hvorfor dette sker. Alf siger, at det skyldes Boots-apotek ved siden af ​​biblioteket, hvor sektet mødes, og personalets tunge brug af internettet - det er ikke klart for mig, hvordan det ville være, eller hvorfor. Så juryen er stadig ude på den ene.

Mandag 10. februar 2020

Jeg lukker vores nye lægekirurgi og får en aftale kl. 16:15 hos en af ​​lægerne. Lois kommer ind for at se lægen med mig, da hun har den fulde historie - hun var i sengen med mig, da den “grimme vending” skete, og så det hele. Det er en lettelse, mildt sagt, når lægen siger, at han ikke er urimeligt bekymret. Han ser ikke ud til at tro, at der var nogen alvorlig tilstand, der lå til grund for mit svimmelhedsangreb efterfulgt af ca.

iousness, men for at bekræfte dette bestiller han en blodprøve og ecg, som jeg vil tage på torsdag. Han måler mit blodtryk og puls i operationen og siger, at de er tilfredsstillende, hvilket er rart.

På vej ud booker jeg mine blodprøver osv hos receptionisten, og vi bemærker, at det regner kraftigt udenfor. Den unge mand foran os i køen, som bærer et lille barn, siger, at han lige er kørt til Cheltenham fra Derby, som er dækket af et tæppe af sne.

Herregud, hvilket skørt land vi lever i !!! Derby er kun ca. 60 miles væk - de burde have det samme vejr som os efter min ydmyge mening, meget tak !!!!

Om aftenen ser vi den anden (og sidste) del af Mary Beards serie om nøgenhed i kunst. Sidste uges episode handlede om smukke, men sexistiske nøgenheder, der gav Mary chancen for at udsende sit feministiske verdenssyn.

Aftens nøgner er de andre nøgenheder, det vil sige de ikke særlig pæne nøgner: de gamle, fedt osv., Nogle af dem lidt som Lois og mig !!! Men til vores ære, selvom vi selv er gamle, foretrækker vi stadig de smukke, men sexistiske nøgenheder, vi så i sidste uge. Undskyld Mary, jeg ved, at du prøver at give os en dosis af virkelighed, men vi foretrækker stadig fantasimuligheden.

Tirsdag 11. februar 2020 til 16:00

Lois har sin træningsklasse kl. 13 i dag med sin ven Fran, så det er min tur til at lave frokosten: to portioner kogt æg på toast, en af ​​mine såkaldte "signaturretter". Mens hun er ude, har jeg en gigantisk lur eftermiddag, og bagefter hopper jeg på min motionscykel for første gang i et par uger. Jeg er forsigtig, så jeg tager kun 3 miles. Derefter går jeg ud i baghaven og sætter havemøbler på plads og dækker dem med vores dæksler. Lois kommer tilbage kl. 15.30, og vi slapper af med en kop te på sofaen.