Tuesday, July 14, 2020

07:30 Lois and I go early into the shower, because Mark is coming at 08:30 to do two hours of garden work for us.

09:30 Quite an unusual morning compared to the usual ones in our lockdown period. Lois has an appointment with James, her hairdresser, to get her hair cut, and she has to wear mask and gloves. James is dressed up a bit like a riot policeman, she tells me afterwards. What madness!

After she comes back, we relax with a cup of coffee on the sofa.

11:00 Then we drive over to Tewkesbury, partly to give the car a little run – we go out in it every 5 or 6 days, to keep the battery in good order. Lois drives on the outward journey and me on the way back.

The other reason for the outing is to see Hilary’s garden pond. We have been planning to create a mini-meadow in our back garden, complete with pond, to do our part to foster some healthy wildlife in the area.

We sit with Hilary and Richard on the patio and have a cup of tea and a piece of cake: coffee and walnut cake  – yum yum!

Hilary talks non-stop about her garden and her garden projects. Richard also talks a lot, often at the same time as Hilary, but he suffers from dementia, so not a lot of what he says makes much sense – oh dear! It’s a pity, because I would have liked to have been able to talk to him about something unconnected with gardening: he used to work in IT on software to check electronic systems for the former Smiths Industries (now GEC) and their various aeronautical projects.

Nevertheless  it’s very nice this morning to break away from our usual self-isolating routine – with several firsts: including being fed by other people, and (for Lois) using somebody else’s toilet – my god, we’re being daring today!

The evening: we spend the evening watching TV, the first part in a series on the composer Beethoven.

It’s interesting that Beethoven never had much luck with “the ladies”. His first infatuation was with a young singer, Magdalena Willman, but she rejected him for being “ugly and weird” – Lois and I think that Beethoven could have got away with being one of those things – either ugly or weird – but probably not both. Poor Ludwig!!!!

He was a restless soul. He lived at 80 different addresses during his time in Vienna. Lois suggests they should put up a few plaques in the city centre: "Beethoven didn't live here". What madness!

22:00 It’s 10 o’ clock and here we are in bed again already.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!

Danish translation:  Tirsdag den 14. juli 2020

07:30 Vi går tidligt i badet, fordi Mark kommer kl. 08:30 for at lave to timers havearbejde for os.

09:30 En ganske usædvanlig morgen sammenlignet med de sædvanlige i vores lockdown-periode. Lois har en aftale med James, hendes frisør, for at få sit hår klippet, og hun skal bære maske og handsker. James er klædt ud lidt som en optændingspolitimand, fortæller hun mig bagefter. Hvilken vanvid!

Når hun kommer tilbage, slapper vi af med en kop kaffe i sofaen.

(2 fotos)

11:00 Derefter kører vi over til Tewkesbury, dels for at give bilen en lille kørsel - vi går ud i den hver 5. eller 6. dag for at holde batteriet i orden. Lois kører på den udadgående rejse og mig på vej tilbage.

Den anden grund til udflugten er at se Hilarys havedam. Vi har planlagt at oprette en mini-eng i vores baghave, komplet med dam, for at gøre vores del for at fremme et sundt dyreliv i området.

Vi sidder med Hilary og Richard på gårdhaven og har en kop te og et stykke kage: kaffe og valnødskage - yum yum!

Hilary taler non-stop om hendes have og hendes haveprojekter. Richard taler også meget, ofte på samme tid som Hilary, men han lider af demens, så ikke meget af det, han siger, giver meget mening - åh kære! Det er en skam, for jeg ville gerne have været i stand til at tale med ham om noget, der ikke var forbundet med havearbejde: Han arbejdede inden for IT med software til at kontrollere elektroniske systemer til de tidligere Smiths Industries (nu GEC) og deres forskellige luftfartsprojekter.

Ikke desto mindre er det meget dejligt i morges at bryde væk fra vores sædvanlige selvisolerende rutine - med flere firsts: herunder at blive fodret af andre mennesker, og (til Lois) ved at bruge en andens toilet - herregud, vi dristige i dag!

Billeder

Aftenen: vi bruger aftenen på at se på tv, den første del i en serie om komponisten Beethoven.

BB1 / BB2

Det er interessant, at Beethoven aldrig havde meget held med ”damerne”. Hans første forelskelse var i en ung sanger, Magdalena Willman, men hun afviste ham for at være ”grim og underlig” - Lois og jeg tror, at Beethoven kunne have sluppet sig væk med at være en af disse ting - enten grim eller underlig - men sandsynligvis ikke begge to. Stakkels Ludwig !!!!

Han var en urolig sjæl. Han boede på 80 forskellige adresser i sin tid i Wien. Lois foreslår, at de skulle lægge et par plaketter i byens centrum: "Beethoven boede ikke her". Sikke et vanvid!

22:00 Klokken er 10 og her er vi allerede i sengen igen.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz !!!!