Thursday February 13 16:00 – Friday February 14 16:00 2020

20:00 We spend the evening with Channel Four’s madcap modern-world-admirer, Kevin McCloud, who, while staying himself in the UK has sent three young stand-up comics, whom Lois and I have barely heard of, around the globe to find the weirdest examples of what life in the future Is supposed to be like. Their target countries are perhaps not surprisingly USA, China and Japan. What a crazy world we live in !!!!

Amongst other things, we see Jon Richardson in California fondling his wife back in London, with the use of robotic gloves and a 5G data link. Lois and I don’t mind this too much because Jon’s wife is attractive and refreshingly down to earth. And the wife quickly warms to the experiment when she finds out Jon’s techniques have improved on his previous ones from the last time he was in London doing it in person, which is nice  – but oh! What madness!

Kevin also sends lovely broadcaster Alice Levine to Tokyo to investigate what Kevin said was a man in an “unconventional marriage”. Lois and I are expecting that, given it’s Japan, the man has probably married either a sex-robot or a sex-doll, but it turns out he’s actually married a tiny hologram of a famous Japanese singer, about 3 inches high (the hologram, not the singer herself haha).

Even the unshockable Alice Levine does a double-take when she realises this. The man says he was unpopular at high school, so after graduating he thought it wasn’t worth the bother trying to find a real girlfriend, and I can see his point in a way. We try to guess what the “couple’s” sex-life is like, but run out of ideas pretty quickly – we don’t think he has that many options. My god!

But good grief, what a crazy world we live in (again)  !!!!

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

07:30 I bring Lois a cup of tea in bed and we exchange Valentine’s Day cards and presents. Lois gets things to wear, while I get tonic (with “Wicked Wolf” gin coming later today or tomorrow), a giant coffee-mug, and a box of Turkish Delights.

We get up and drive over to Bishops Cleeve to shop at the local Tesco supermarket and Joyce Arnold’s greengrocer’s shop. We come back and go in the shower.

11:45 We walk up to the Kings Arms in the village for our Valentine’s Day lunch. The former pub is now a pub-bistro in tv chef Raymond Blanc’s chain – Raymond refurbished the old pub over a period of several months and it finally reopened just before Christmas. This is our first visit to the place since the reopening. We were frequent customers in years gone by, starting in the 1970’s, when it was just a Beefeater pub/restaurant.

flashback to November 30^th 2019: Lois and I sit in the Bakery-Stores and

have a couple of free mince pies, while on the other side of the street a small group of locals gather,

disappointed that the Kings Arms pub is not yet ready to take part in the village's "open day"

Finally, we decide to join the small queue of disappointed local residents,

waiting to pick up a menu card from a member of the pub's new staff.

The sample menu we pick up from one of the pub’s new staff

A great experience, both for the food and the ambience. We liked the decoration with echoes of Regency Cheltenham with lots of greenery and early 19^th architectural motifs on the walls. Gone are the tatty old Racecourse-themed pictures and various old tat from the pub’s Beefeater days, thank god!

 gone are the tatty old Racecourse-themed pictures

and other old tat from the pub’s Beefeater days, thank god !!!

Lois and I are old crows so we always try to turn up everywhere before anybody else does. We are the first through the door, but by the time we leave it looks like every table in the place is occupied by a big age-range of couples, some old crows like us, and some young whippersnappers, and every age in between – a good cross-section. But it isn’t noisy - the pub is divided into several different rooms/areas, so we aren’t conscious of a deafening hubbub of conversation, which is nice. The piped music could be a bit quieter, and more moody, though, we think. I’ll drop Raymond a line haha!

We both have the same starter, which the East European waitress says is their most popular choice: cheese soufflé, light as air and delicious. No bread rolls available. For main course I have a good quality salmon and smoked haddock fish cake topped by an egg, with kale in a delicious cheese sauce – yum yum! Lois has pork belly and crackling with baked apple, dauphinoise potatoes and red cabbage, well-cooked and tasty. Lois had a ginger ale and I had a Tanqueray  gin with Fever Tree tonic – yum yum (again)!

our starters – cheese soufflé

Lois’s pork belly

My fishcake and egg etc

the place is starting to fill up more now

We have no room for dessert, so just a cup of Earl Grey tea. A relaxing hour and a half.

13:30 We walk home and go up to bed for a gigantic nap. And we read about 20 pages each of our respective bedtime books. We get up at 4 pm and relax with a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit – yum yum. All over for another year.

Danish translation:  

20:00 Vi tilbringer aftenen med Channel Fours vanvittige moderne verdens-beundrer, Kevin McCloud, der, mens han opholdt sig i England har sendt tre unge stand-up-tegneserier, som Lois og jeg næppe har hørt om, over hele kloden til find de underligste eksempler på, hvordan livet i fremtiden skulle være. Deres mållande er måske ikke overraskende USA, Kina og Japan. Hvilken skør verden vi lever i !!!!

Vi kan blandt andet se, at Jon Richardson i Californien befinder sin kone tilbage i London, ved hjælp af robothandsker og et 5G-datalink. Lois og jeg har ikke noget imod dette for meget, fordi Jons kone er forfriskende jordnær. Og kona varmer hurtigt op til eksperimentet, når hun finder ud af, at Jons teknikker er forbedret i forhold til hans forrige - men hvilken galskab!

Kevin sender også dejlige Alice Levine til Tokyo for at undersøge, hvad Kevin sagde var en mand i et ”ukonventionelt ægteskab”. Lois og jeg forventer, at da det er Japan, har manden sandsynligvis gift sig med en sexrobot eller en sexdukke, men det viser sig, at han er gift med et lille hologram af en berømt japansk sanger, ca. 3 inches høj (hologrammet, ikke sangeren selv haha).

Selv den urokkelige Alice Levine tager dobbelt, når hun er klar over dette. Manden siger, at han var upopulær på gymnasiet, så efter uddannelsen mente han, at det ikke var værd at bryde med at prøve at finde en rigtig kæreste, og jeg kan se hans pointe på en måde. Vi prøver at gætte, hvordan ”parets” sexliv er, men løber tør for ideer temmelig hurtigt - vi tror ikke, at han har så mange muligheder. Min Gud!

Men god sorg, hvad en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

07:30 Jeg bringer Lois en kop te i sengen, og vi udveksler Valentinsdagskort og gaver. Lois får ting at bære, mens jeg får tonic (med "Wicked Wolf" gin kommer senere i dag eller i morgen), en kæmpe kaffekrus og en kasse med tyrkiske lækkerier.

Vi står op og kører over til Bishops Cleeve for at shoppe i det lokale Tesco-supermarked og Joyce Arnolds grønthandlerbutik. Vi kommer tilbage og går i bruser.

11:45 Vi går op til Kings Arms i landsbyen til vores Valentinsdag frokost. Den tidligere pub er nu en pub-bistro i tv-kokken Raymond Blancs kæde - Raymond renoverede den gamle pub over en periode på flere måneder, og den åbnede endelig lige før jul. Dette er vores første besøg på stedet siden genåbningen. Vi var hyppige kunder i åren der gik, begyndte i 1970'erne, da det kun var en Beefeater pub / restaurant.

flashback til 30. november 2019: Lois og jeg sidder i bageri-butikker og

har et par gratis hakket tærter, mens på den anden side af gaden samles en lille gruppe lokale

skuffet over, at Kings Arms pub endnu ikke er klar til at deltage i landsbyens "åbne dag"

Endelig beslutter vi at deltage i den lille kø af skuffede lokale beboere,

venter på at hente et menukort fra et medlem af pubens nye personale.

Eksempelmenuen henter vi fra en af ​​pubens nye medarbejdere

En god oplevelse, både for mad og stemning. Vi kunne lide dekorationen med ekko af Regency Cheltenham med masser af grønne omgivelser og tidlige 19. arkitektoniske motiver på væggene. Borte er de tatoverede gamle Racecourse-billeder og forskellige gamle tat fra pubens Beefeater-dage, gudskelov!

væk er de tatoverede gamle Racecourse-billeder

og anden gammel tat fra pubens Beefeater-dage, gudskelov !!!

Lois og jeg er gamle krager, så vi prøver altid at dukke op overalt, før nogen anden gør det. Vi er de første gennem døren, men når vi forlader det, ser det ud til, at hvert bord på stedet er besat af en stor aldersgruppe af par, nogle gamle krager som os og nogle unge piskesnappere og hver alder derimellem - et godt tværsnit. Men det er ikke støjende - pubben er opdelt i flere forskellige rum / områder, så vi er ikke opmærksomme på et øredøvende knudepunkt for samtale, hvilket er rart. Den pipede musik kan dog være lidt mere støjsvag og mere lunefuld, synes vi dog. Jeg vil droppe Raymond en linje haha!

Vi har begge den samme starter, som den østeuropæiske servitrice siger er deres mest populære valg: ostesoflé, let som luft og lækker. Ingen brød til rådighed. Til hovedret har jeg en god kvalitet laks og røget kuller fiskekage toppet af et æg, med grønnkål i en lækker ostesauce - yum yum! Lois har svinekødmand og knitrende med bagt æble, dauphinoise kartofler og rødkål, godt kogt og velsmagende. Lois havde en ingefær ale, og jeg havde en Tanqueray gin med Fever Tree tonic - yum yum (igen)!

vores starter - ostesoflé

Lois svinekødmaven

Min fiskekage og æg osv

stedet begynder at blive fyldt op nu

Vi har ikke plads til dessert, så bare en kop Earl Grey te. En afslappende halvanden time.

13:30 Vi går hjem og går op i sengen for en gigantisk lur. Og vi læser cirka 20 sider hver af vores respektive sengetidbøger. Vi står op kl 16 og slapper af med en kop te og en chokoladekiks - yum yum. Alt forbi for endnu et år.