Friday September 29th 2023

Oh dear - Lois and I had a great day yesterday: celebrating our 51st wedding anniversary a month late, with a 5 hour excursion to a leisurely "lunch-and-more" at the historical 12th century Buckland Manor Hotel near Broadway, followed by a 2.5 hour "lie-down" at home, here in Malvern. 

flashback to yesterday: with some amusing "amuse-bouches", Lois and I start on

our 5-hour anniversary "lunch-and-more" excursion to the 12th century 

Buckland Manor Hotel, near Broadway, as one of the manor house's 

17th century owners looks down on us inquiringly from his portrait

08:00 But that was yesterday - and, unfortunately, today's going to be one of those not-so-nice days. And we remember this with a jolt when we wake up in bed after our post-anniversary snore-fest.

Today is going to be crammed with "tasks". It'll be lovely having the pleasure of our daughter Sarah and our twin-granddaughters staying over the weekend again, but sadly, while anticipating and relishing our 51st orgy of conjugal celebration, we've somehow let the tidiness and cleanliness of the house go to pot a bit this week, and this will have to be remedied, so that the house is fit for our guests. Oh dear!

We've also got to get some extra food into the house, which means a trip to the Coop mini-supermarket at Barnard's Green. It's really gratifying to watch our 10-year-old granddaughters, for instance, tucking happily into mountains of Cheerios on the mornings when they're staying with us, but today we've got to replenish some of our empty larder shelves in order to feed them again for the next 2 days - that's for sure.

we visit the local Coop mini-supermarket at Barnard's Green -

as usual, I push the trolley around, while Lois selects the goods

I've also today got to fill in my copy of the Oxford Hip Score form that our doctor's surgery sent me online this week. Lots of other old codgers that we know have had hip replacements, and I'm feeling a little left out, to put it mildly. I'm looking for the doctors to arrange for me something that will cut down on some of the stresses and strains I experience at times, so step up to the plate, local doctors! I've also got to arrange an appointment with the surgery's physiotherapy department - they can see me Wednesday morning they say. 

our local NHS doctor's surgery and the local Peak Pharmacy

16:00 Lois and I have also fallen a bit behind with our preparation for next week's meeting of the local U3A Intermediate Danish group that we manage. Is there anybody else out there who manages an Intermediate Danish group? If so, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about!

Our group is going to be reading a Danish crime novel, Judaskysset (The Judas Kiss), written by Anna Grue, a novel centring on an affair between a 63-year-old menopausal twice-divorced art teacher, Ursula, and the muscular young 29-year-old paint-maker, Jakob, who wants to become Ursula's regular supplier of organic paints, amongst other things. 

Anna Grue, Danish crime novelist

her novel "Judaskysset" (The Judas Kiss)

This cross-generation affair starts at the couple's very first meeting, when Jakob demonstrates how non-toxic his paints are by licking the paint smudges suggestively off his hands, while looking Ursula in the eyes. And when she hands him a cup of coffee and their fingers brush, the frisson "makes her pelvic floor dissolve", the book says. 

Let's hope that that's not meant literally, however, that bit about Ursula's pelvic floor. And Lois confirms that this is simply a way of describing how it can feel for women when they experience a sudden sexual desire. She would know, she's a woman, you see, so she knows about literally everything [Really? Literally???? - Ed]. So it's always handy to get her perspective, to put it mildly! 

Incidentally, don't you think that "bækkenbund", the Danish word for it, sounds so much more romantic than our rather architectural expression "pelvic floor", which always makes me think of wooden floorboards and carpets etc. See? The Danes have really got a talent when it comes to naming their body parts, that's for sure!

Suzanne Akasha's standard Danish textbook on the 

"bækkenbund" (pelvic floor), and the secrets of keeping it "in top form"

17:00 We stop for a rest after struggling through 2 pages of Danish, and for a bit of relaxation we have a go at the puzzles in next week's Radio Times.

We score an unexpectedly high 6.5 out of 10 on the Popmaster questions. Some of these were lucky guesses, needless to say. For us, it's nostalgic just to read the questions, because they remind us of good times from long ago - do you know what I mean?

And we score a massive 9 out of 10 on the intellectually more prestigious "Egghead" questions. Luckily I overrule Lois, insisting on Napoleon for question 5, and the only question we don't get right is no.7 - well, who would know something like that - it's plain madness just to ask about such a thing, isn't it. That's what we think!

19:15 A car pulls up outside, and it's Sarah and the twins, arriving unexpectedly late for their 2 day stay here. It gets dark quite early now, and the clocks don't go back an hour to GMT for another 3 or 4 weeks, which is a pity.

In the dark, they got lost driving here, because Sarah "has run out of data" on her phone, she says. Lois and I have often wondered what that means, and later in bed, we discuss it and make a note to ask her about it. The mysteries of modern technology, eh?!!!

It's so wonderful to see the twins breezing in, totally at home, chattering happily away from the moment they first come in through the door, and then taking their little suitcases up to their usual room. And it's not long before they're starting on some more of their artwork, on the floor of the living room.

Our daughter Sarah and our twin granddaughters, Lily and Jessica

the finished picture

After a salmon-and-noodles dinner, we spend a pleasant evening all five of us together, till 10pm. Yes, the twins go to bed really late, by the standards Lois and I remember from long ago, but then it isn't a school night is it, so fair enough maybe.

And we don't watch any TV tonight, but just chat and watch some old YouTube videos of UK children's TV shows, which is nostalgic.

Lois and I used to look after the twins 2 days a week, every Monday and Friday, before the family moved to Australia in December 2015, and tonight we test them, to see if they remember any of the children's TV programmes they loved to watch when they used to be at our house for those 2 days a week. 

However, as they were only 2 and a half years old when they left England, it's hardly surprising that they don't remember any of those shows, with the exception of series that are also shown in Australia.

just a few of the many old YouTube videos of kids' TV shows

November 2015 was the last month when Lois and I were looking after them at our house in Cheltenham:

And then, on November 29th 2015, we looked after them for the last time, while Sarah and Francis were loading up their rental car, and preparing to drive to Heathrow, for the flight to Australia:

their last day in Cheltenham, the twins watching Peppa Pig, while Sarah 

and Francis were loading up their rental van to drive to the airport

a tearful farewell

And then a couple of weeks later Lois and I were speaking on zoom to a very puzzled and bewildered-looking Lily and Jessica, now suddenly 9,000 miles away from us, on the other side of the world.

Turbulent times !!!!!

22:30 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!