Monday, 10 August 2020

Sunday August 9th 2020


09:15 Lois and I feel like having a bit of a lie-in – and, unusually for us, we don’t get downstairs till 9:15am. I switch on my phone and I see that Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia has arranged a zoom call with us for 9:30 am – yikes! But it’s a good idea of hers – she’s set it up as a regular weekly “meeting”, so at last we’ll know where we stand with the timing of our calls with Sarah on future Sundays, which is good.

We talk also with Sarah’s 7-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie. Lily is rightly pleased with herself because yesterday she plucked up her courage and joined Jessie in their weekly swimming class. Lily has a problem with swimming lessons because she doesn’t like putting her head under water, so it was a big deal for her to put that fear aside yesterday and “take the plunge” haha. The girls show us their shiny-new goggles for good measure.

The state of Western Australia is sticking with its policy of closed borders, not allowing travellers in from other states in the country, much to the annoyance of the other states like Victoria for example. But the WA premier has the population’s firm backing, no doubt about that! It’s pretty much COVID-free now, and life has returned to normal, which is nice.



we talk to our daughter Sarah and the twins in Perth, Australia -
the twins show us their shiny new yellow swimming goggles - how cute they are!

16:00 Steve, my American brother-in-law, has sent me another interesting article about human DNA, taken from bigthink.com .


A new study of the genomes of Modern Humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans suggests the three were interbreeding quite often. The study also found DNA from an unidentified, archaic human ancestor which we inherited from the Denisovans, and Homo Erectus is the most likely source of this DNA.

Modern Humans are the last members of the genus Homo. While we've managed to outlast an extensive list of cousins and genetic ancestors, their genetic heritage lives on through us. More than a few studies have reported that many people today can trace their ancestry back to the Neanderthals and the Denisovans.

The analysis confirmed previous studies that showed that Modern Humans interbred with Neanderthals and Denisovans. However, this analysis suggests that some of this mixing took place between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago, long before what previous studies had suggested. It also indicates that more instances of interbreeding occurred than previously suspected.

Most interestingly, the researchers noticed that one percent of the DNA in the Denisovans from an even more ancient human ancestor. Fifteen percent of the genes that this ancestor passed onto the Denisovans still exist in the Modern Human genome.

Exactly who this ancestor was remains unknown, but some clues point to who it was. The fact that this ancestor separated from the linage that would lead to modern humans about 1,000,000 years ago is the most useful one we currently have. This led the researchers to suggest Homo Erectus as the most likely candidate.


the genus Homo

How fascinating – and chilling also to be reminded that we humans today are the last survivors of the genus Homo.

At one of our last face-to-face Danish group meetings before the lockdown, Scilla told us what her doctor had said to her 50 years ago – that he thought a virus would spell the end of the human race some day. Yikes!

Pandemics have played a major part in our history in the UK, though, no doubt about that. The Black Death in the 14th century killed off so much of the working population that the survivors could demand higher wages and better representation in Parliament.

Then in the time of the religious conflicts in the 16th century, an epidemic called “The Sweats”, which killed you in less than 24 hours, helped Queen Mary to briefly re-establish England as a Catholic country, by killing off the former King Edward’s young protestant supporters – “The Sweats” targeted the young. 

Then after Mary died, a flu epidemic that affected the old, killed off all the powerful elderly Catholics, and enabled Queen Elizabeth to bring back Protestantism.

What a crazy world we live in !!!!

16:30 Lois and I go over to our neighbour Frances’s house to water the numerous plants and vegetables in her enormous garden, including in her greenhouse. She is staying with her daughter Elizabeth in Eastbourne this week, so Lois and I are praying for rain, so as to minimise the work – after all we have our own enormous garden to do as well – yikes!



This little chore, however, enables us to see how the builders are getting on with building the 6 horrible new houses right next to Frances’s property line – ugh!!!!

some of the horrible new houses being built next door to Frances's house

20:00 We spend the evening watching TV. More and more we seem to be driven to watching documentaries we probably wouldn’t have considered watching before the lockdown.


We find the programme really enthralling, however, and are astonished again at how hard 70-year-old Anne works, doing so very many engagements a day, working tirelessly for charities, doing her homework before every event, and talking to anyone anywhere with all of the father’s directness and sense of humour. The Royal Family, and the country, are lucky to have her on the strength, no doubt about that.

Also nice to be reminded of her glamour days as a young woman when she appeared on the cover of Vogue.


 22:00 We go to bed – zzzzzzzzzzz!!!


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