Saturday February 15 16:00 – Sunday February 16 16:00 2020

20:00 Lois and I settle down in the sitting-room to watch tv: a Channel 5 documentary about an archaeological excavation at Sudeley  Castle, which is only about 8 miles from here, and a place we have been visiting on and off for nearly 50 years, with our children and later our grandchildren, and with a mixed bag of relatives and friends.

Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire

The trouble with this Channel 5 archaeological series is that there isn’t usually much archaeology in it. There are 2 presenters – Alex Longlands and Raksha Dave. Alex covers the actual excavation, while Raksha travels all round the country talking to experts and seeing other sites, to find out about the historical background.

Mostly we see Raksha, because although the archæologists sort of find what they’re looking for, what comes out of the trenches is unfortunately not visually spectacular.

what comes out of the trenches is a tray of rubble and other rubbish, some of it modern 

- and not visually spectacular, to put it mildly – yikes!!!

Eventually we see a few traces of a massive ornamental garden, created by Lord Chandos to impress Queen Elizabeth I and her courtiers during their 3 week visit to the castle in 1592. The visit was part of the festivities to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, a victory that saved us from the Pope's legendary "long arm".

the castle and its grounds as it looks today

a computerised concept of what Chandos's massive ornamental garden

would have looked like, with a red-roofed banqueting hall in the upper left corner

Chandos actually went bankrupt due to his massive attempt to impress the queen, and to make matters worse, he failed to win any special favours from the queen in compensation.

Lord Chandos

Poor Chandos !!!!!!

flashback to July 2014: Sudeley Castle in happier times.

We visit the castle with our daughter Alison and her 3 children -

we dress up as medieval vip’s

21:00 We continue to watch some television, the second episode of an interesting new series that goes behind the scenes at the V&A Museum in London.

The series is about the members of the museum staff responsible for repairing and refurbishing old exhibits to make them look top-notch and ready to showcase to the public. The programme is Lois' choice, but I find it unexpectedly fascinating, I have to say.

Tonight we see a jewelled butterfly ring, commissioned by Jay Z, as a gift for his wife, Beyoncé.

The wings of the butterfly flutter automatically whenever the person wearing it moves their ring-finger, which is totally captivating, especially for James, one of the museum's many experts, and we get a rare chance to see James's famous "butterfly face".

James's "butterfly-face"

Last night, Lois and I saw another of the world's most famous "butterfly faces", Michael Portillo’s. As a reminder, I reproduce images of Portillo's version, included for comparison:

flashback to last night: a brief glimpse of Michael Portillo's iconic "butterfly face",

included here for comparison

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!! But we toss and turn a little - I have to say. Storm Dennis is raging outside - it's raining heavily and the winds are terribly strong. And sometimes we hear strange sounds as if something in our garden or our neighbours' gardens is crashing to the ground - yikes! We huddle under the duvet. Can this be the much-heralded Doomsday ???? !!!!

09:00 Apparently not! We get up and everything looks okay in the garden thank goodness. 

Sarah, our daughter in Lower Chittering, near Perth, Australia, calls us at 10 am on whatsapp.

Sarah is the family breadwinner, but she says that Francis, her husband and "papa latte" (stay-at-home dad) to the couple’s 6-year-old twin daughters, is now in search of a part-time job. However finding one far out in the countryside is not easy when he has to drive the kids to school every morning and pick them up at the end of the school day.

Could he qualify as a wildlife photographer perhaps? Earlier in the day, he posted a few pictures of the wildlife he has seen in the couple's backyard: a kangaroo and a lizard. He says the lizards eat the snakes, which is good news, to put it mildly. Now we just want something to eat the lizards.

the pictures that our son-in-law Francis has taken today in their backyard

It is reassuring that the lizards over there eat the snakes - Lois in particular is very happy to hear that. We don't want to become yet another statistic for the newspapers over there to write scary headlines about, when we visit the family later in the year - yikes!!!!

11:00 Here in Cheltenham it’s still raining heavily this morning and Lois decides to listen to her sect's two services online, instead of attending them in person in Tewkesbury. After lunch, the storm quietens down a bit of thank goodness - I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3pm and hop on my fitness bike. I notch up another 4.5 miles.

Alison, our daughter in Haslemere, Surrey, is flying to Norway this afternoon, along with Ed and their 3 children. They will land in Bergen and travel by train to Geilo and the area's Vestlia ski centre. Their flight has not been delayed by Storm Dennis thank goodness.

Bergen to Geilo by train

Ed on the train, a few minutes ago!

Danish translation: lørdag 15. februar 16:00 - søndag 16. februar 16:00 2020

20:00 Lois og jeg sætter os til rette i stuen for at se tv: en Channel 5-dokumentarfilm om en arkæologisk udgravning ved Sudeley Castle, som kun ligger cirka 8 mil herfra, og et sted, vi har besøgt af og til i næsten 50 år sammen med vores børn og senere vores børnebørn, og med en blandet landhandel af slægtninge og venner.

Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire

Problemet med denne arkæologiske serie af Channel 5 er, at der normalt ikke er meget arkæologi derinde. Der er 2 værter - Alex Longlands og Raksha Dave. Alex dækker selve udgravningen, mens Raksha rejser rundt onkring i hele landet for at tale med eksperter og se andre lignende steder for at finde ud af om den historiske baggrund.

Oftest ser vi Raksha, for selv om arkæologerne finder det, de leder efter, er det, der kommer ud af gravene, desværre ikke visuelt spektakulært.

det, der kommer ud af gravene, desværre ikke visuelt spektakulært,

for at sige mildt – yikes!!!

Endelig ser vi nogle spor af en massiv ornamental have, skabt af Lord Chandos for at imponere dronning Elizabeth I og hendes hovmestre under deres 3 ugers besøg i slottet i 1592. Besøget var en del af festlighederne for at fejre nederlaget for den spanske Armada i 1588.

slottet og dets omgivelser, som det ser ud i dag

en computeriseret begreb om Chandos’ massive ornamentale have,

med en taget festsale i  det øverste venstre hjørne

Chandos gik faktisk konkurs på grund af sit massive forsøg på, at imponere dronningen, og det lykkedes ham ikke at vinde nogle særlige tjenester fra dronningen som kompensation.

Lord Chandos

Stakkels Chandos !!!!!!

tilbageblik til juli 2014: Sudeley Castle i lykkeligere tider.

Vi besøger slottet sammen med vores datter Alison, og hendes 3 børn –

vi klæder os ud som middelalderlige vip-er

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, det 2. afsnit i en interessant ny serie, der går bag scenerne i V&A-museet i London.

Serien handler om de medlemmer af museets personale, der er ansvarlige for at reparere og istandsætte gamle udstillingsgenstande, så de ser toptunet ud, og klar til at fremvise til pubikummet. Programmet er Lois’ valg, men jeg finder der uventet fascinerende, det må jeg nok sige.

I aften ser vi en sommerfuglring, bestilt af Jay Z, som en gave til sin kone, Beyoncé.

Sommerfulgens vinger basker automatisk, når selve ringfingeren bevæger sig, hvilket er totalt fængslende, især for James, én af museets mange eksperter, og vi får en sjælden chance for at se James’ berømte ”sommerfugl-fjæs”.

James' ikoniske "sommerfugl-fjæs"

I går aftes så Lois og jeg et andet af verdens mest berømte ”sommerfugl-fjæs”, Michael Portillos. Som en minde, gengiver jeg billeder af Portillos version, medtaget til sammenligning:

tilbageblik til i går aftes: Michael Portillos ikoniske ”sommerfugl-fjæs”,

medtaget til sammenligning

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!! Men vi kaster og vender lidt i sengen – det må jeg nok sige! Storm Dennis hærger udenfor – det regner kraftigt og det blæser forfærdeligt.  Og af og til hører vi underlige lyde som om et eller andet i vores have eller vores naboers haver ramler til jorden – yikes! Vi kryber sammen under dynen. Kan det være dommedag????!!!!

09:00 Vi står op og alt ser ok ud i haven gudskelov. Sarah, vores datter i Lower Chittering, nær Perth, Australien, ringer til os kl 10 på whatsapp.

Sarah er familieforsørgeren, men hun siger at Francis, hendes mand og deres 6-årige tvillingers ”latte papa”, er på jagt efter et deltidsjob, men det er ikke nemt at finde ét langt ude på landet, når han skal køre børnene i skole hver morgen og hente dem ved slutningen af skoledagen.

Kunne han kvalificeres som en dyrelivfotograf måske? Han har tidligere på dagen lagt et par billeder op af det dyreliv han har set i parrets baghave: en kenguru og en firben. Han siger, at firbenene spiser slangerne, hvilket er en god nyhed, for at sige mildt.

vores svigersøn Francis’ billeder taget i dag i deres baghave

Det er beroligende, at fibernene derover spiser slangerne – det er Lois i særdeleshed meget glad for at høre. Vi har ikke lyst til at bliver endnu en statistik for aviserne derovre til at skrive skræmmende overskrifter om, når vi besøger familien senere på  året haha!

11:00 Her i Cheltenham regner stadig meget kræftigt ii formiddagen og Lois beslutter at lytte til sin sekts to gudstjenester online, i stedet for at deltage i dem personligt i Tewkesbury.

Efter frokost stilner stormen lidt af gudskelov – jeg går i seng og tager en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15 og hopper op på min kondicykel. Jeg tilbagelægger endnu 4,5 miles.

Alison, vores datter i Haslemere, Surrey, flyver til Norge i eftermiddag, sammen med Ed og deres 3 børn. De skal lande i Bergen og rejse med tog til Geilo og områdets Vestlia-skicenter. Deres flyvetur er ikke blevet forsinket af Storm Dennis gudskelov.

Bergen til Geilo med tog

Ed på toget for nogle minutter siden !